Creating a bootable backup is an essential task for any macOS user who wants to ensure that their data is safe and their system can be quickly restored in case of a failure. A bootable backup is a clone of your hard drive that can be used to boot your Mac, providing a complete copy of your operating system, applications, and files. This article will guide you through the steps to create a bootable backup on macOS using built-in tools and third-party software.

Examples:

Using Disk Utility

1. Prepare an External Drive:

   • Connect an external hard drive to your Mac. Ensure that it has enough space to hold all the data from your internal drive.
   • Open Disk Utility (found in Applications > Utilities).
   • Select the external drive from the list on the left and click "Erase."
   • Choose a format (APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) and give it a name. Click "Erase" to format the drive.

2. Clone the Internal Drive:

   • In Disk Utility, select your internal drive from the list.
   • Click the "Restore" tab.
   • Drag the external drive from the list to the "Destination" field.
   • Click "Restore" to start the cloning process.

Using Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC)

1. Download and Install CCC:

   • Visit the official Carbon Copy Cloner website and download the application.
   • Install CCC by dragging it to your Applications folder.

2. Create a Bootable Backup:

   • Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
   • In the main window, select your internal drive as the "Source."
   • Select your external drive as the "Destination."
   • Click "Clone" to start the process.

3. Verify the Bootable Backup:

   • Once the cloning process is complete, restart your Mac.
   • Hold down the Option (⌥) key during startup to access the Startup Manager.
   • Select your external drive to boot from it and verify that the backup is working correctly.

Using Terminal

1. Prepare an External Drive:

   • Follow the same steps as in the Disk Utility section to format your external drive.

2. Clone the Internal Drive:

   • Open Terminal (found in Applications > Utilities).
   • Use the asr (Apple Software Restore) command to clone the drive:

     sudo asr restore --source /Volumes/MacintoshHD --target /Volumes/ExternalDrive --erase --noprompt

   • Replace /Volumes/MacintoshHD with the name of your internal drive and /Volumes/ExternalDrive with the name of your external drive.