Cannot get SuperDuper authorized to use on Mojave

[krs]

I'm running a 2012 MacMini with a 500 GB SSD which was clone from the original 500 GB HDD.
Worked great since I did that three weeks ago.
Now I want to clone the 500 GB SSD to a 1 TB SSD in an external USB 3.0 enclosure;plan is to eventually install that 1 TB SSD in the Mini to replace the existing 500 GB spinner drive.
So my existing copy of SD obviously does not work cloning from one APFS volume, the 500 GB SSD to the new 1 TB SSD.
I downloaded the latest version of SD which is fully APFS compatible and when I launch it from my Application folder,I get the message that SD must be authorized (screen shot below)
OK,no problem, I follow the steps, drag SD into the Privacy window, check to enable it happens automatically, I shut down SD as instructed, but when I lunch SD again, the same message pops up - "SD must be authorized"
Tried the process again just to make sureI didn't miss any steps, but no - same problem.

It's getting late here, I really wanted to run this clone to the 1 TB SSD tonight, but now I have to wait until tomorrow.

If anyone has any suggestions what to do to get SD "authorized", I would appreciate it.

 

[krs]

I thought I would add a screen shot of the Privacy window for good measure.

 

[krs]

After some more searching this morning, I eventually came across this buried deep in some Super Duper comments:

Note: after SuperDuper! 3.3 is installed, if you keep getting prompted for Full Disk Access, you need to restart your Mac. Welcome to Windows 95!

Tried that and this seems to have fixed the problem.
The "must be authorized" message doesn't pop up any more, but I haven't actually run a back up.

 

[pm-r]

Tried that and this seems to have fixed the problem.
The "must be authorized" message doesn't pop up any more, but I haven't actually run a back up.

I would sure run it and give it a full test, including a complete Backup and Boot, and if anything is amiss, personally I would switch and try using Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC).



- Patrick
=======

 

[krs]

I have used CCC in the distant past but SD in the last few years.
Don't remember why I switched - there was a reason, it was not 'let's just try something different'
However, I have recently seen several posts here in the forum where Randy leans more towards SD than CCC,and I really pay attention (and take to heart) when Randy posts something, so I will stick to SD right now unless I have some concrete evidence there is a problem with that.

With any of these complete backups, either with SD or CCC, I always wonder if everything was REALLY backed up.
There is really no way to verify that - one has to trust that the developers of those two apps know what they are doing, especially now with the change in the Mac file system.

 

[pm-r]

With any of these complete backups, either with SD or CCC, I always wonder if everything was REALLY backed up.
There is really no way to verify that - one has to trust that the developers of those two apps know what they are doing, especially now with the change in the Mac file system.

Get Info and Disk Utility will give you a pretty close idea of the total data and a number of files if you do a comparison, but I believe that CCC leaves out some files and surplus stuff intentionally that Apple suggests doing. I'm not sure what Superduper does, and I do not use it.



- Patrick
=======

 

[chscag]

Both CCC and SD work well. SD also has a free version lacking the frills of its paid version. (I beta test new versions of CCC and have been using it for well over 10 years.)

Our recommendation here in Mac-Forums is to make a cloned backup of your data in addition to Time Machine backups. The choice is yours.

 

[krs]

Get Info and Disk Utility will give you a pretty close idea of the total data and a number of files if you do a comparison....

I occasionally do a comparison - like you said,gives one an "idea"
and there won't be tons of data missing, but small chunks or data becoming corrupted is always a possibility.
And if these arefiles one doesn't use often, one only might find out weeks or months later.

 

[krs]

Our recommendation here in Mac-Forums is to make a cloned backup of your data in addition to Time Machine backups. The choice is yours.

Nobody in my family has ever used Time Machine, just SD or CCC.
Maybe I better set something up to use TM over WiFi since all Macs except mine are laptops.

 

[pm-r]

I occasionally do a comparison - like you said,gives one an "idea"
and there won't be tons of data missing, but small chunks or data becoming corrupted is always a possibility.
And if these arefiles one doesn't use often, one only might find out weeks or months later.

You can check here if you like to see what files and data are not included in a CCC clone:

Some files and folders are automatically excluded from a backup task

Carbon Copy Cloner maintains a list of certain files and folders that are automatically excluded from a backup task. The contents of this list were determined based on Apple recommendations and years of experience. The following is a list of the items that are excluded along with an explanation of why they are excluded.

Some files and folders are automatically excluded from a backup task - Bombich Software

bombich.com

- Patrick
=======

 

[krs]

You can check here if you like to see what files and data are not included in a CCC clone:

Thanks - a lot more than I expected.
Not that I understand each specific one and the reason why it is excluded, I assume it makes sense.
However I was a bit surprised to find out that the trash folder is not included in the back unless specifically set up that way, I wonder if SD does that as well.

 

[chscag]

I wonder if SD does that as well.

I checked their FAQ and it really doesn't say. They do have a user forum where I'm sure that if you ask you can find out. I suspect though, after reading thru their latest version information that SD is very similar to CCC in the way it works.

 

[krs]

I will know tomorrow.
Now that SD on Mojave is ready to roll, I will do the backup/transfer tonight.
Right now I have a bunch of files in my trash folder (I only typically empty it once a week or so) I will see tomorrow if these files are in the trash folder of the clone.

 

[MacInWin]

Just a thought for you, krs. Trash is trash, and the system reserves the authority to delete anything in trash it needs to if it needs the space for any other reason. Which is why Trash should not be used as a storage place. If you don't want a file or folder where it is, move it to where you want, not Trash, or you risk it being deleted with no opportunity for you to change your mind.

I suspect that is why Trash is not in a cloned (or TM) backup. You put things in Trash, they are considered to be trash.

 

[krs]

Just a thought for you, krs. Trash is trash, and the system reserves the authority to delete anything in trash it needs to if it needs the space for any other reason. Which is why Trash should not be used as a storage place. If you don't want a file or folder where it is, move it to where you want, not Trash, or you risk it being deleted with no opportunity for you to change your mind.

I suspect that is why Trash is not in a cloned (or TM) backup. You put things in Trash, they are considered to be trash.

I understand all that and I don't use the trash folder as a storage space.

But I could counter argue two ways:
1. If items were meant to be deleted immediately then why even have a trash folder in the first place.
2. Items in a trash can at home can always be recovered untilthey are in the garbage can and the garbage truck has actually picked them up. The Mac trash icon looks pretty much like a trash an, to be filled and eventually emptied.

Reason I'm interested what SD does in this case is because every once in a while a file or folder ends up in the trash by mistake - so if SD doesn't clone the trash folder I would want to know that so I can double check the items in the trash to make sure that this has not happened before I run the back up.
Basically, with a clone, I expect the clone to have all the files and folders that were visible to me on the source volume.
If that is not the case I would expect to be specifically notified of that ahead of time.

 

[MacInWin]

I understand all that and I don't use the trash folder as a storage space.

But I could counter argue two ways:
1. If items were meant to be deleted immediately then why even have a trash folder in the first place.
2. Items in a trash can at home can always be recovered untilthey are in the garbage can and the garbage truck has actually picked them up. The Mac trash icon looks pretty much like a trash an, to be filled and eventually emptied.

Reason I'm interested what SD does in this case is because every once in a while a file or folder ends up in the trash by mistake - so if SD doesn't clone the trash folder I would want to know that so I can double check the items in the trash to make sure that this has not happened before I run the back up.
Basically, with a clone, I expect the clone to have all the files and folders that were visible to me on the source volume.
If that is not the case I would expect to be specifically notified of that ahead of time.

You sort of answered your own question. The reason for a Trash can is to give you one opportunity in case it's a mistake. Same as with photos you discard in Photos, they get put in a trash area for 30 days and then actually deleted. People make mistakes, it's nice to have a little grace period to recover from the mistake. And much like your trashcan with real rubbish, yes, you can rescue something until the garbage truck takes it away. Same thing, a little grace period just in case you make a mistake. But you don't store the family heirloom in the trash unless you've made a mistake. And you can't complain if the garbage truck comes early for some reason. (You can, but it won't make any difference.)

Also, the actual file is not in the trash. It's a marker that tells the OS that the area on the drive where that file is can be used for any system need. So there isn't anything there for the cloner to clone. The actual drive space for the file is right where it was, but not listed in the directory structure of the drive. So when CCC (and probably SD) comes along to clone, there isn't anything to clone. And the clone wouldn't work anyway because it is not a sector-by-sector clone, it's file-by-file. The references in the Trash to the sectors where the file used to be will most likely be overwritten on the restore of the clone and not be of any use, so no reason or need to clone the Trash. When you tell Trash to put the file back, it writes the data it has on where the file was back into the directory so Finder can now find the space where the file was.

As for being notified ahead of time, Bombich is very clear in their description of how it works. I don't use SD, but I suspect they should be as clear.

 

[krs]

Ran SuperDuper over night copying from a Seagate 500 GB external SSD which was my boot drive to a Crucial 1 TB in a SATA-USB 3.0 enclosure.
That Crucial SSD will be installed in the 2012 Mini to replace the original 500 GB spinner
Time to copy was just over 1 hour at just over 100 MB/s
And I just checked the Trash on the Crucial drive, SuperDuper copied that completely - all the files and folders I had in the Trash on the Seagate drive are intact on the Crucial copy.
So good to go with the Crucial as my boot drive from now on with the Seagate as my backup.
Booting up on the Crucial took 70 seconds - my 2012 Mini just became a 2020 Mini, good for another 8 years I hope.

 

[IWT]

Happy ending, krs. Good for you.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

And I just checked the Trash on the Crucial drive, SuperDuper copied that completely - all the files and folders I had in the Trash on the Seagate drive are intact on the Crucial copy.

Wonder if they can be put back now? I'm slightly surprised at the result, given what is IN the trash are not real files, just references. I guess SD somehow restored the files for the clone, then re-Trashed them so the new locations might be preserved. But, hey, it worked so all is good.

 

[krs]

I tried the following on the SD cloned Crucial drive (just to check)
1. Tried to open a png file in the trash - got the standard message that it can't be opened because it's in the trash
2. Dragged that png file to the folder it originally came from - that worked fine
3. Opened that png file now located in the original folder - that worked fine as well
So, as far as I can tell, the SD clone from a user point of view is the same as the original volume.