{"slug": "carbon-copy-cloner", "name": "Carbon Copy Cloner", "category": "files", "category_name": "Files, sync and backup", "description": "", "recommenders": 1, "commenters": 2, "warners": 0, "score": 1.247, "rising": 1.0, "first": "2026-08-08", "latest": "2026-10-25", "why": "More recently there was a macOS release that put the category into crisis, and Carbon Copy Cloner figured it out first. I switched and I haven't looked back.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "More recently there was a macOS release that put the category into crisis, and Carbon Copy Cloner figured it out first. I switched and I haven't looked back.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Carbon Copy Cloner"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 787551457, "item_id": 49221966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49221966", "by": "Syzygies", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "More recently there was a macOS release that put the category into crisis, and Carbon Copy Cloner figured it out first. I switched and I haven't looked back.", "excerpt": "Backup is way too important to trust to Time Machine. One should evaluate SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner side by side, and make a choice. Buy them both, or use both trials. They both have decades of experience providing astounding support. I should know as an edge case that has tried to rip the wings off of both their programs (trying to migrate away from disastrous RAID software and ending up with duplicate UUID", "context": "", "use_case": "Mac backup", "switched_from": "SuperDuper!", "story": "SupererDuperer"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "pardner", "context": "US citizen traveling abroad", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50227044", "date": "2026-10-25"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["backups before border travel", "mac backup"], "compared": [{"slug": "superduper", "name": "SuperDuper", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50217600", "title": "Password, Please: Border Searches of Laptops, Phones Up 32% This Year", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49135261", "title": "SupererDuperer", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803632704, "item_id": 50227044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50227044", "by": "pardner", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Carbon Copy Cloner to an SSD encrypted APFS volume", "excerpt": "Unfortunately non-citizens probably don't have this luxury, but before entering certain countries - including returning to the USA as a citizen from a recent trip abroad, I wipe and do a fresh OS reinstall (simple new password not used anywhere else, zero user data, no email or chat or cloud accounts configured). Right before the wipe I update my cloud backups of course, and if I've been doing a lot of work I use Car", "context": "US citizen traveling abroad", "use_case": "backups before border travel", "switched_from": "", "story": "Password, Please: Border Searches of Laptops, Phones Up 32% This Year"}, {"id": 787551457, "item_id": 49221966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49221966", "by": "Syzygies", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "More recently there was a macOS release that put the category into crisis, and Carbon Copy Cloner figured it out first. I switched and I haven't looked back.", "excerpt": "Backup is way too important to trust to Time Machine. One should evaluate SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner side by side, and make a choice. Buy them both, or use both trials. They both have decades of experience providing astounding support. I should know as an edge case that has tried to rip the wings off of both their programs (trying to migrate away from disastrous RAID software and ending up with duplicate UUID", "context": "", "use_case": "Mac backup", "switched_from": "SuperDuper!", "story": "SupererDuperer"}]}