Which backup software do you recommend for Mac OS X?

As you probably know, Leopard comes with an integrated backup tool called Time Machine. It works pretty well despite it misses some advanced restore/search features.

Here's a list of backup software for Mac OS X:

  • Time Machine (integrated)
  • Carbon Copy Cloner (free)
  • SuperDuper (commercial)
  • iBackup (free)
  • iGousb (commercial)

Do you know more? What software do you use and which feature can't you live without?


I use Time Machine and (registered) SuperDuper. Time machine is good for being able to access old versions of files and generally "not having to think about it". I do a full drive clone with SuperDuper every week, so I have a backup I can boot from if my main drive fails. The smart copy feature is well worth the registration cost - a week's worth of changes on 60GB take about 20 mins to backup.


Time Machine. Set up and forget. Requires external hard drive.