# Carbon Copy Cloner

15 Hacker News commenters recommended Carbon Copy Cloner and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Mac backup app people use for reliable clones and selective backups, with a graphical interface rsync lacks. Caveat: bootable backups unsupported since Big Sur.

## Why people recommend it

- Rock-solid and battle-tested reliability (3 comments): "it just made sense to use something battle-tested" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49220445)) "A few months in and it has been rock solid." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48590101)) "Rock-solid reliable and well-supported." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46851135))
- Easy drive cloning and bootable backups (3 comments): "Luckily, I periodically clone my drive with CCC onto a single external SSD." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49736205)) "ultra easy clone/boot with something like CCC and TDM" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46582077)) "For bootable backups, Carbon Copy Cloner." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46850300))
- Easier than rsync scripts (2 comments): "They won't do anything rsync cannot already do, except present data and copy history in a graphical environment." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49416690)) "I figured giving Carbon Copy Cloner a try would be faster and easier" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49219333))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Time Machine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/time-machine.md): 70 recommend
- [SuperDuper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/superduper.md): 12 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://bombich.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Carbon Copy Cloner", https://hackerapproved.com/p/carbon-copy-cloner/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).