
It's not possible to make bootable backups of macOS Big Sur - theanirudh
https://www.shirtpocket.com/blog/index.php/shadedgrey/under_construction/
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miles
From Carbon Copy Cloner 5.1.22-b1 release notes[0]:

"This build continues our beta testing cycle for macOS 'Big Sur' 11\. In the
current macOS beta, CCC will create Data Volume backups of any Big Sur startup
volumes. Apple's APFS replication utility is not currently capable of
replicating a Big Sur System volume (as of Big Sur Beta 6). We're working with
Apple to develop the functionality within macOS that will allow third-party
backup applications to continue making backups of macOS System volumes. In the
meantime, we're making complete backups of your data, and those backups can be
seamlessly used alongside the macOS Installer or Migration Assistant to
produce a bootable backup or to facilitate a restore."

[0]
[https://bombich.com/software/updates/ccc5_rn_beta.html](https://bombich.com/software/updates/ccc5_rn_beta.html)

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jccc
“At present.”

The submitted headline misrepresents this post.

From the post:

“At present, it's not possible to make bootable copies of Big Sur, even with
asr, Apple's own built-in replication utility. As such, we haven't released a
Beta, or even an internal Alpha, because it wouldn't meet our own
requirements.

So, for the moment, we're holding back, hoping that Apple will fix the issues
[...]”

~~~
j-pb
I had senior support agents from Apple support tell me that they do not advice
doing bootable APFS backups, since it interferes with the ids the T2 chip
somehow burns into the file system for "security" reasons.

At our company we try to buy refurbished T2 free hardware only for this
reason.

We'll probably jump ship if a great surface studio 3 comes out.

After almost 40 years of being a Mac Design shop...

We're just sad and want 2005 back.

~~~
person_of_color
What are your main issues with T2?

~~~
sschueller
Only apple can repair your machine. You no longer own your machine, they do.

~~~
nonbirithm
Was it worth the extra protection from governments or malicious entities
trying to extract your data?

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csilverman
This would be a _huge_ problem for me, and I will not consider upgrading to
Big Sur until it’s fixed. I currently create bootable backups of my Mac, the
idea being that if the internal drive goes, I can switch to the backup while
the machine is being repaired. I’ve had to resort to that on several
occasions.

I‘d honestly be pretty surprised if Apple eliminated bootable backups. It’s
just too important. The fact that it’s a power-user feature should not be a
disqualifier. Lots of Apple users fall into that category, and I think Apple
already has some work ahead of it to restore good faith with those folks.

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esrh
Apple does it again lmao

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sneak
Likely won’t be. I doubt booting from removable media will be supported much
longer in post-T2 Apple-land. If Apple Silicon devices support it I will be
quite surprised.

~~~
mrpippy
I think they already confirmed at WWDC that external device booting is
supported. Lots of use cases become impossible without it: reinstalling older
OSes, reinstalling without internet access, bootable backups, installing a
beta on an external drive, etc etc.

~~~
sneak
As it is I have been unable to reinstall my iMac Pro without internet access
from a bootable USB drive; it seems to insist on internet recovery. Also, I
think they explicitly want to disable booting of older OS versions as that is
an attack vector for boot security.

~~~
mrpippy
On T2 Macs those are both disabled by default, but can be enabled with the
Startup Security Utility in recovery mode.

