It would copy the System volume but displayed errors like the “source volume format is not yet supported.”Īpple is fixing this in macOS 11.4. But asr doesn’t work properly with M1 Macs.

This is due to a change that Apple is bringing to the Mac.įor security reasons, Big Sur forced the use of Apple Software Restore, or asr, for backups that contain a System volume (that is, any startup volume). However, you won’t be able to boot from a SuperDuper backup unless you’re running the macOS 11.4 beta or later.

It’s a nice option to run alongside other backup solutions like Apple’s Time Machine. SuperDuper can help you create fully bootable backups for your Mac. But it only works under certain conditions. So for now I’m not going to post the steps to clone your internal disk until I’m actually asked to do so.In the latest beta version of SuperDuper, v.3.5 beta 1, it’s the first version to fully support bootable Big Sur backups on M1 Macs. Anyone who is unfamiliar with things such as diskutil etc must take great care not to destroy their internal storage. One caveat its a techy solution that has to be performed via a terminal session after the machine with Big Sur installed has been booted into recovery mode. I believe that any Mac that can run a macOS previous to Big Sur may be used to clone this O/S but without other Mac hardware I can’t actually test this. I can’t therefore put hand on heart and say that this will work for newer machines But I don’t see why not. I have even upgraded it from 11.1 to 11.6 booting via a USB port.Īlthough I have several Macs I only have one suitable to try this – a 2014 Macbook Air that I’ve upgraded to 1TB as the others I have are too old to support this O/S. I have on my desk an SSD connected over USB from which I can reliably boot a macOS 11 clone. This statement from Mr Bombich was like waving a red flag at a bull “nobody can make a proper copy of the System volume right now”. Unless I have missed something it appears that a bootable USB clone of Big Sur is not possible although some claim that this can be done with thunderbolt 3 connected devices.

Superduper backup mac