Carbon Copy Cloner
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 8 backup software by recommenders
Mac backup app people use for reliable clones and selective backups, with a graphical interface rsync lacks. Caveat: bootable backups unsupported since Big Sur.
Mac backup app people use for reliable clones and selective backups, with a graphical interface rsync lacks. Caveat: bootable backups unsupported since Big Sur.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Rock-solid and battle-tested reliability
“it just made sense to use something battle-tested”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer” “A few months in and it has been rock solid.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Ubiquiti: Enterprise NAS, Built on ZFS” “Rock-solid reliable and well-supported.”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “TIL: Apple Broke Time Machine Again on Tahoe” Easy drive cloning and bootable backups
“Luckily, I periodically clone my drive with CCC onto a single external SSD.”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “Backups Aren't Simple” “ultra easy clone/boot with something like CCC and TDM”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe” “For bootable backups, Carbon Copy Cloner.”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “TIL: Apple Broke Time Machine Again on Tahoe” Easier than rsync scripts
“They won't do anything rsync cannot already do, except present data and copy history in a graphical environment.”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “Migrating a Synology NAS to a UniFi UNAS Pro 8 with Robocopy, SMB Multichannel” “I figured giving Carbon Copy Cloner a try would be faster and easier”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer”
Other backup software people recommend
The four most recommended other backup software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time Machine | 70 | 95 | 42% | 13 | 6 yrs13 owners | — |
| Arq Backup | 30 | 2 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Kopia | 16 | 2 | 89% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Carbon Copy ClonerThis page | 15 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
| BorgBackup | 12 | 1 | 92% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Carbon Copy Cloner to a local volume”
“Luckily, I periodically clone my drive with CCC onto a single external SSD.”
“They won't do anything rsync cannot already do, except present data and copy history in a graphical environment.”
“I switched and I haven't looked back.”
“it just made sense to use something battle-tested”
“I figured giving Carbon Copy Cloner a try would be faster and easier”
“since the latter was advancing and keeping up much faster”
“A few months in and it has been rock solid.”
“I now use Carbon Copy Cloner to avoid the TM headaches.”
“I rely on Carbon Copy Cloner to back up only what's important.”
“bootable backups haven't been supported for a while now, basically since Big Sur”
“Rock-solid reliable and well-supported.”
“For bootable backups, Carbon Copy Cloner.”
“ultra easy clone/boot with something like CCC and TDM”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.