Greatest Mac backup software program 2025: Prime backup software program for Mac in contrast

We’re beginning with Apple’s Time Machine software program as a result of it’s included with each Mac. However that doesn’t essentially imply it is going to be the most suitable choice for you.

Time Machine is a dependable instrument for native backups of Macs, offering a full-sized preliminary backup of each file on the Mac and incremental backups all through the day so long as the Mac is hooked up to a chosen Time Machine exterior drive. That drive will be disconnected and used as an exterior drive for different computer systems or paired with a number of Macs for backups.

The primary backup takes the longest whereas each file on the Mac is rolled into the Time Machine backup, but it surely will get faster from there. Time Machine’s Restore operate permits customers to open and scroll by way of previous backups to find and restore recordsdata, which is beneficial if one thing was by chance deleted otherwise you made adjustments to a file and want to return to an earlier model.

When paired with Apple’s Migration Assistant, porting information and person profiles from an outdated Mac to a brand new one is easy. When importing a Time Machine backup to a brand new Mac, Time Machine inherits earlier backups as effectively.

For safety, customers can designate a password to encrypt their Time Machine backups and there are reminders in regards to the variety of days for the reason that final backup that encourage you to maintain it plugged in.

Nevertheless, Time Machine is extra geared in the direction of exterior arduous drives, which will be misplaced, broken, or stolen, and it depends on mentioned drive being linked to your Mac (you might use a NAS drive). It’s best to have each an area and safe off-site copy of your information, and the web backup market has grown over the previous few years with companies like iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Field.

Regardless of its limitations, Time Machine is a superb answer for native backups of Macs. Whereas it requires an exterior arduous drive linked to the Mac for constant performance, it gives wonderful safety constructed into the working system.

ChronoSync for macOS, from Econ Applied sciences, may give those that need it tighter management over their backup choices in a format that doesn’t overwhelm. The software program is predicated on a number of core modules together with Residence Folder Backup, Information Quantity, Synchronize Two Folders, A number of Folder Backup, Bootable Backup, Backup to a Disk Picture, and Folder Backup.

Merely choose your required operate from the ChronoSync Organizer/dwelling display screen. For instance, choose the duty you wish to create, specify your settings (e.g. folders you wish to copy over, file varieties to repeat, a schedule, and so on.), and hit “Synchronize”.

Synchronizations can be set as much as simulate capabilities. For the really die-hard and geeky, rule-based copies and duties will be arrange. 

You’ll be able to readily again as much as NAS and file servers, this system supporting Apple’s HFS+ and APFS file codecs in addition to others. ChronoSync additionally helps backing as much as Google Cloud and Amazon storage.

For customers seeking to make bootable clones, that is simply as simple as what SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner have change into identified for. Select a supply quantity, select a goal quantity, hit “Synchronize,” let the method run. ChronoSync can create two kinds of bootable clones: commonplace and mirrored. The previous creates a bootable system on the vacation spot quantity, leaving different recordsdata on the quantity intact. Mirror replaces your complete contents of the vacation spot quantity with recordsdata from the supply.

A readily-accessible guide gives fast entry to a guidebook that turns out to be useful and there’s quick access to the corporate’s ticketing system must you require tech assist. 

The place value and choices are involved, ChronoSync gives one thing legitimate in your cash. There’s additionally a entry-level ChronoSync Specific bundle that’s a part of the SetApp bundle (reviewed right here: SetApp evaluate). The corporate additionally gives a 15-day trial with out requiring a credit score or debit card.

Bombich Software program’s Carbon Copy Cloner has been a well-liked utility for cloning information on Macs because it launched in 2002. It helps HFS+ and APFS drive codecs, native volumes, and NAS-enabled networks. Nevertheless, it can’t again up Home windows file codecs, optical media, web-based platforms, or Apple’s Time Machine platforms.

Carbon Copy Cloner has a complete person interface, and customizable filters and grants entry to configuration choices like disk encryption, job notes, and bandwidth configuration for NAS backups. Different instruments, equivalent to scheduling, will be carried out with out subject. The duty supervisor permits customers to save lots of and configure a number of backup duties. A scripting function permits customized scripts to be loaded and activated as wanted.

The SafetyNet function permits for drive formatting or stopping processes earlier than overwriting information on a quantity. Nevertheless, there are some weak factors, together with Apple’s lack of openness and the necessity for bootable exterior volumes. Making a bootable exterior quantity in Carbon Copy Cloner is at present a hit-or-miss proposition, with makes an attempt at making a bootable exterior quantity failing attributable to Apple’s protocols. Different utilities face the identical points.

Carbon Copy Cloner pairs effectively with utilities like Time Machine, Apple’s Migration Assistant, and SuperDuper!. The corporate’s buyer assist is pleasant and speedy, and the software program gives fast entry to assist guides. A supportive neighborhood and frequent developer updates are one other bonus. If Carbon Copy Cloner is just not in your arsenal of helpful utilities, you need to obtain it and provides it a attempt. There’s a full-featured 30-day trial. 

SuperDuper! (model 3.8 on the time of this evaluate) is a well-liked Mac cloning and restoration app that’s simple to put in. It helps APFS and HFS+ file codecs and will be custom-made to suit particular person wants. Along with cloning, the app helps scheduling and permits customers to specify recordsdata to be copied over, together with Unix-specific parts like person folders, shared customers, shared customers and purposes, and backup recordsdata.

SuperDuper! simply restores information from one quantity to a different, which is less complicated than utilizing Apple’s restoration choices in macOS’s Disk Utility. The person interface shows the variety of recordsdata copied, copy pace, information evaluated, time elapsed, and quantity of knowledge moved from the supply quantity to the goal quantity. Customers can edit supplied scripts or write their very own, select between strategies equivalent to Complete Backup and Good Backup, and arrange occasions like permission repairs earlier than a replica begins, scripts to execute after a replica has accomplished, and for the Mac to eject the goal quantity, shut down, fall asleep, or give up SuperDuper! as soon as the copy is completed.

Nevertheless, SuperDuper! has room for enchancment. For instance, it might probably’t again as much as community volumes and it doesn’t assist FAT, exFAT, or NTFS for Home windows and Linux volumes. We hope that the community backup comes with an additional replace.

We like the truth that SuperDuper! retails for a one-time cost reasonably than on a subscription plan You should utilize it without spending a dime, however it’s essential to pay to unlock scheduling, good updates, and another options.

Over time, Shirt Pocket has constantly supplied stable updates, pinned down bugs, supported new protocols launched by Apple, and communicated effectively by way of its tech assist and advertising. Total, SuperDuper! is a dependable native cloning and restoration app for the Mac that may be readily custom-made and scripted, and is superb worth.

lDrive is a backup utility that handles each native and net/cloud-based backups (much like Backblaze and Carbonite). It permits you to regularly backup your complete drive to the cloud, whereas additionally letting you drag and drop recordsdata to the cloud to entry remotely. lDrive additionally permits you to again up exterior arduous drives.

lDrive’s person interface could be very easy. Your Desktop, Paperwork, Music and Photos folders are routinely chosen for backup, together with the contents of ~/Library/Mail.

Options like Rewind and Snapshots let you restore from earlier variations of recordsdata or snapshots of the entire information set.

So as to add different folders, click on ‘Change’ on the backside of the window – that’s not precisely intuitive. You’ll be able to add movies to the backup, however finding them in lDrive’s interface will be sophisticated.

Each scheduling and restoring are easy, nevertheless. As is selecting an area drive because the vacation spot for a backup instead of lDrive’s servers.

All information is encrypted, with the choice to set your individual personal encryption key.

You will have the selection of restoring by having information bodily shipped to you. That is free for the primary restore every year, however if you’re primarily based exterior the US you’ll should pay for transport.

The subscription-based tier system gives a free Primary account with 10GB of on-line disk area without spending a dime with no credit score or debit card required. That 10GB free tier permits for native backups and is fairly beneficiant, however the actual steal is the IDrive Mini plan, which, for lower than 3 bucks a 12 months, offers you entry to 100GB of storage.

lDrive’s free tier and the power to unfold your information allocation within the paid tiers throughout a number of computer systems makes it enticing. Total, although, it’s costly for a single machine.

Get Backup Professional by BeLight Software program is simple to obtain, set up into the Functions folder, and run (though we did encounter a number of issues assigning full disk entry).

The person interface retains issues easy, scheduling full backups, cloning, and incremental backups labored like a appeal, and a slate of customization choices permits for particular recordsdata and folders to be chosen and app information to be added to the backup/clone course of.

The spectacular degree of customization makes it simple to set duties up, whereas a superb restoration system put in information the place it wanted to be with out fail. Get Backup Professional to be very succesful, working flawlessly underneath macOS Sequoia.

The software program is priced effectively and can be obtainable by way of MacPaw’s SetApp subscription service. The choice of a 30-day demo offers you time to mess around with it, and the licensing is versatile.

Get Backup Professional presents a pleasant array of choices past what Apple’s free Time Machine utility provide and is superb for the informal person and the house market.

Mac Backup Guru gives what’s anticipated from a backup utility by way of core backup and archival functionalities and works to take it a step additional.

It gives each a synchronized clone backup, which might create commonplace copies of folders and drives in addition to incremental backups that monitor adjustments and again up the adjustments (like Time Machine does).

The appliance’s simply customizable settings provide tight management over facets equivalent to setting the supply and vacation spot volumes, and you may decide and select particular volumes and folders to incorporate and exclude. The scheduler function works like a appeal.

Apple’s Time Machine will create snapshots of your arduous drive at totally different instances all through the day, however there’s approach to management when these are created or after they’re deleted. Mac Backup Guru gives this function. Moreover, the variety of current snapshots will be designated as effectively earlier than older snapshots are deleted.

There’s additionally backup/cloning function that faucets into iCloud-related instruments and makes a replica of all of your iCloud-based recordsdata to assist full the cloned quantity.

Nonetheless, there’s room for enchancment. For instance, the app doesn’t affirm how a lot area it’ll want for a replica, leaving you rolling the cube as as to if you’ve sufficient area on the vacation spot drive for the complete copy.

Mac Backup Guru is an easy-to-use backup instrument that retains choices and settings to a minimal whereas providing a number of helpful options. It’s additionally good worth – on the time of writing it was on provide for lower than $9/£7.51, a major low cost on its ordinary $29/£24.15 value.

Backblaze is an internet, offsite backup service that permits you to again up your Mac to its servers routinely or based on a schedule you set.

Backblaze backs up the contents of your Paperwork, Photos, Films and Music folders, however excludes your Functions folder. Backblaze additionally excludes some file varieties from being backed up, equivalent to .dmg disk photos – that restriction will be switched off, nevertheless.

Backups are saved for 30 days, so you possibly can restore from any that ran throughout that point. As you’ll anticipate, backups are incremental so solely recordsdata which have modified because it final ran are copied. Information is encrypted and you may optionally add a six-digit passcode to supply an extra layer of safety.

In the case of restoring your information, you’ve three choices: you possibly can restore by way of Backblaze’s net interface or you possibly can have recordsdata despatched to you on a USB stick or arduous drive for an extra payment. And there’s a 100% refund for those who return the USB stick or arduous drive inside 30 days, although you’ll should pay transport and taxes.

You’ll be able to view particular person recordsdata and select which of them to obtain. And you’ll view and share backed up recordsdata on an iPhone or iPad with the Backblaze cellular app.

The Find your Laptop service tracks your Mac’s location that can assist you discover it if it’s stolen – much like Discover My. If a misplaced Mac remains to be working backups your Mac can let you know its present IP handle and present you latterly backed-up information.

Backblaze’s person interface contains a menu bar merchandise and a System Preferences pane. Nevertheless, that pane is extra like a totally fledged utility, with choices to exclude recordsdata, add folders and disks to the backup, and throttle bandwidth. It’s easy and really Mac-like.

When you solely have to again up one Mac, and significantly if you wish to again up exterior disks, Backblaze’s simplicity and value give it the sting over Carbonite and IDrive.

With Backblaze your information is saved in safe information centres and two-factor authentication provides an additional degree of safety.

Acronis True Picture for Mac works as a customizable backup utility in addition to an antiviral/anti-malware app. It begins at $49.99/£42.99 per 12 months for the Necessities model that features one pc with native backup and anti-ransomware. You’ll be able to pay extra for cloud primarily based backups, which is why we additionally embody it in our spherical up of cloud-based Mac backup apps.

You’ll discover Backup, Safety, Disk Cloning, and Archive modules. The Backup module permits you to designate supply and vacation spot volumes in addition to select which recordsdata are backed up and to the place. It’s simple to create exclusion lists as to which recordsdata can by bypassed with regards to backing up, and the scheduling function labored effectively.

The Backup module additionally results in True Picture’s Acronis Survival Package, which permits for a bootable backup drive to be created that your Mac can boot and set up a brand new working system from.

The Disk Cloning module works effectively, and makes fast copies of volumes as wanted. The Archive module permits you to offload native information to Acronis’ cloud construction, which is helpful for releasing up native area.

The Safety module supplied a superb diploma of antiviral safety, catching at least 23 potential threats from a pattern archive off the bat.

Sadly, throughout our testing there have been bugs that couldn’t be averted and person interface parts that have been both inconvenient or wanted an entire general.