SuperDuper! 4.0.7 — macOS

Experienced Mac users who need more than a simple file copy reach for SuperDuper!. This disk-cloning utility from Shirt Pocket creates and restores bootable backups of your startup drive, and offers tools for manual folder-level copying to external media. It supports both ARM and 64-bit x86 Macs, and runs on macOS 10.13 and later.

Key tools for experienced users

Bootable clone — Copies the entire startup volume to an external drive so you can boot from it directly if the internal drive fails.

Smart Update — Updates an existing clone by copying only changed files, which is faster than a full clone each time.

Sandbox — Creates a bootable copy that can be updated incrementally, keeping a running backup ready at all times.

Copy-Once — Performs a single manual copy from a selected source folder to an external destination, without scheduling.

Scripts and scheduling — Lets you set up automatic backups on a timer or via a script, useful for unattended overnight cloning.

Backup – all files — Copies every file from the source to the destination, preserving permissions and metadata for a true bootable clone.

How SuperDuper! compares with other Mac backup tools

Mac users have a handful of disk-cloning options, and each approaches the task a little differently. Time Machine is built into macOS and handles file-level backups to an external drive or network share, but it doesn't make a bootable clone. If your internal drive fails, you need to reinstall macOS first, then restore from the Time Machine backup. SuperDuper! gives you a drive you can boot from immediately, no reinstall required.

Carbon Copy Cloner is the other well-known commercial tool for these jobs. It shares many of the same features: bootable clones, scheduling, and Smart Update type copying. The main difference is that Carbon Copy Cloner has leaned more into a modern interface with preset backup schemes. SuperDuper! stays closer to its original straightforward form. Its Copy-Once and Sandbox tools are a little more direct for someone who just wants to make a one-off clone without stepping through a setup wizard. Which one you prefer comes down to whether you want the extra hand-holding or the simpler, more manual approach.

dd from the command line can clone a disk too, but it requires knowing the exact device paths and offers no safety checks. One slip with the of= parameter and you have overwritten the wrong drive. SuperDuper! presents a clear source and destination selection, and it checks that the destination is large enough before it starts. For most people, that alone is worth the time saved.

Runs alongside Time Machine without conflicts

Can I use it alongside Time Machine without conflicts? Yes. The two tools operate independently. You can keep Time Machine for daily file backups and use SuperDuper! for a weekly bootable clone. They write to separate volumes, and neither interferes with the other's metadata.

Will it clone to a smaller drive if the source data fits? The destination must be at least as large as the used space on the source, not the full capacity. SuperDuper! checks the used space before it begins.

Does the clone include the recovery partition? Yes, when you do a full disk clone it copies every partition on the source drive, including the EFI system partition and any recovery partitions. The cloned drive should be bootable on the same Mac model or a compatible one.

What about file systems other than APFS or HFS+? SuperDuper! works with the standard Mac file systems. External drives formatted as exFAT or NTFS are not suitable targets for a bootable clone, but you can use Copy-Once to transfer individual folders to those drives if needed.

Works with Disk Utility to verify your clone

SuperDuper! is a disk tool, not a file browser, so it works best when you let it do its one job and leave everything else alone. macOS's built-in Disk Utility can verify a clone after SuperDuper! finishes — just select the cloned volume and run Verify. That combo gives you a double-check without adding another app.

For IT administrators managing several Macs, SuperDuper!'s scripting support is useful. You can wrap a clone command in a shell script that runs over SSH, so you can trigger a bootable backup on a remote machine from your desk. Pair it with a cron job or launchd timer on the target Mac, and you have an unattended cloning setup that doesn't require anyone to sit at the keyboard.

If you use superduper mac download to get the latest copy from the catalog, installing it alongside tools like rsync or hdiutil gives you a layered approach: SuperDuper! for the full bootable clone when you need a safety net, and the command-line tools for quick file-level transfers. The scheduler inside SuperDuper! handles the timing for bootable clones, so you do not need to write a separate cron entry for it.

A common workflow for a system migration is to run a full clone with SuperDuper! onto an external SSD, connect that drive to the new Mac, hold the Option key during boot, and select the clone. After the new machine boots, macOS prompts you to copy user accounts and settings from the clone to the internal drive. That process relies entirely on the bootable clone that SuperDuper! created, and it works the same whether the new Mac is Intel or Apple Silicon.

• Added a workaround for a startup-drive visibility issue under macOS 27 Golden Gate.

• macOS 10.13 or later
• Intel or Apple Silicon Mac
• Interface language: English