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Dog Dazed

The inevitable point release that follows a major update, now available.

SupererDuperer

Welcome to the new SuperDuper!—the backup app Mac users have sworn by for over 22 years, brand new from tip to tail

SuperDuper v3.12 Now Available!

We’re happy to announce the release of SuperDuper v3.12 (with a forthcoming, identical update to the v3.20 Beta), which has a number of improvements, bug fixes, and a fix for security issue CVE-2025-69604. This version i…

SuperDuper Security Update v3.11

Mistakes are a part of life. They’re not a great part, but when viewed “correctly”, they’re an opportunity. Well, we have three opportunities, brought to our attention by a security researcher. They’re security vulnerabi…

Three Steps Forward

So, Tahoe. As you’ve seen here, we’ve had a series of Betas that have focused on compatibility, fixing some longstanding-but-minor bugs, and adding some enhancements. The Best Laid Plans We had some additional things in…

Deeper Into Tahoe

A quick update with some minor changes, but one thing we’ve never done before. We’ve automatically offering this Beta update to any user who is running SuperDuper! and a Tahoe Beta. We think it’s important for all users…

v4.0 Beta 1 Now Available

When I write a blog post, I try to put some generally useful information along with the “required” stuff. And when it came to writing the v3.10 post, I just couldn’t come up with anything worth writing about; everything…

Wrapping Up v3.10

tl;dr SuperDuper! v3.10 B5 now available with minimal changes. Medium Hanging Fruit I discussed the speed of drives in the last post, not just to suggest that people use SSDs (which you should), but also to bring up the…

WGTH & SSDs, Redux

tl;dr—Beta 4 of v3.10 is now available, and can be downloaded with the link at the bottom of this post, or via the auto-updater inside SuperDuper itself. Progress Report So, our last update was a big one, internally, and…

Improving Boot on Ventura and later

tl;dr SuperDuper v3.10 B3 is now available, with various improvements, including significantly improved bootabilty for users who previously had problems. A download is available at the bottom of this post. Or you can con…

Happy New Fix!

Just a quick post: macOS 15.3 is now out, and with it, a fix for the broken replicator. As such, macOS copying will work again with Erase, then copy backups. No update to SuperDuper is necessary (but feel free to install…

Beta-ing

Well, although we can’t do anything about macOS 15.2 breaking the replicator, we can continue to work on the things we have control over. And, in that spirit, here’s Beta 2 of SuperDuper! v3.10. Minimal Changes Not a lot…

You're a Mean One

macOS 15.2 was released a few days ago, with a surprise. A terrible, awful surprise. Apple broke the replicator. Towards the end of replicating the Data volume, seemingly when it’s about to copy either Preboot or Recover…

Brighten the Corners

Welcome to the first Beta release of SuperDuper! v3.10—the cycle begins again. For those who don’t know the drill: if you download and install this Beta release, you will automatically receive subsequent Beta releases un…

SuperDuper! v3.9.1 Now Available

For a while I thought that, maybe, I’d somehow managed to delete the v3.9 blog post. But, it looks like, somehow, I didn’t write it, maybe? I don’t even know any more. No Matter Well, in the end, it’s OK, because the sem…

Quick Fix

Not much to say, other than “we fixed a bug”. SuperDuper checks the version of the OS on a give drive by checking the SystemVersion.plist, which is stored in /System/Library/CoreServices. On some systems, we’ve found tha…

New macOS / Adoption

tl;dr (although this is unlikely to be “l”) - SuperDuper v3.9 Beta 4 is now available for download. This is the release candidate for v3.9. (St|F)umbling Towards Sequoia Probably the wrong headline, since our Sequoia tes…

Polishing (and RIP Haku)

Executive Summary v3.9 B3 is now out, with additional polish and tweaks to our cloud handling, some fixes for dark mode and the like. It will be offered as an automatic update for existing v3.9 Beta users, or you can dow…

Shadows and Tall Trees

We’re happy to announce Beta 2 of SuperDuper! v3.9, our initial cut at a Sequoia compatible release. “Wait!”, you might say, “Beta 2? Did you guys hit your heads on something?” Well, maybe. But Beta 1 of this was a non-p…

Snow Ventura

As surely as spring follows winter, and summer follows spring, macOS release season follows summer. And with that, nearly always, a new version of SuperDuper! I’m happy to announce the immediate availability of SuperDupe…

Prompting Problems

tl;dr - SuperDuper! v3.8 B2 now available. Includes some fixes for pre-Sonoma users, and a UI enhancement. Download SuperDuper! v3.8 B2 Guidance vs. Annoyance Designing UIs involves a certain amount of compromise. You wa…

Sonoma!

TL;DR v3.8 B1 is out, with support for macOS Sonoma! You can download it from here: Download SuperDuper! v3.8 B1 It’s Beta Season! Hey, folks! We’re back and we’re happy to be bringing full Sonoma support to SuperDuper…

You Got Culpa on My Mea!

One of the problems with supporting versions of macOS going back to 10.10 is that it becomes harder and harder to test older versions…and that’s complicated further by Apple silicon, since you can’t run an Intel VM on Ap…

Wait, Hold On!

You know that thing where you put out a release, that fixes two minor crashes, but then a typo causes a different failure? Well, welcome to SuperDuper! v3.7.3/v3.7.4, the “Can I Have a Do-Over” release. v3.7.3 was releas…

Analyzed, Statically

Well, v3.7.1 didn’t last very long, did it. >sigh< Happy to announce SuperDuper! v3.7.2, the “give me a fix, one fix only” release. Ready for Launch Here’s the deal: when Applescript starts SuperDuper with a specific App…

Ventura Highway

I’m happy to announce the immediate availability of SuperDuper! v3.7.1, an update that will go down in history as being released today. >fanfare< So, what’s different? As is tradition around these parts, after the releas…

Silly Season

Welcome back to Silly Season, where we all wait to see what the Apple gods have wrought with the new release of the OS that’ll come this month. As most of you already know, since Big Sur, programs that want to copy the O…

The "Roll Up Some Fixes" Release!

Things have been relatively quiet here at the blog, but not because I’ve just been enjoying listening to records. Rather, we’ve been working on a series of fixes that we’re releasing today as SuperDuper v3.6. This releas…

It's a Trip to the Moon, Not a Marathon

tl;dr At long last, v3.5 is out, with Big Sur and Monterey Bootable Backups Support for macOS 10.10 and later Apple silicon support Various fixes and improvements (see the Revision History in the Help menu) Under Big Sur…

Tweaking

tl;dr - new beta release (B5) now available. Very minor changes, including additional prompts for old licenses on Apple silicon. Download away. Download SuperDuper! v3.5 B5 Signposting So, B4’s rollout went well, with on…

Native Apple Silicon, Big Sur & Monterey

Executive Summary v3.5 B4 is now out, is fully Apple silicon native, and produces bootable backups for both Big Sur and Monterey. It will be offered as an automatic update for existing v3.5 Beta users, or you can downloa…

Like Riding a Bike

You know it’s been a while since you last released a Beta when you don’t quite remember the rhythms of the process. But, it doesn’t take long for muscle memory to kick in… and I’m happy to say that it’s going really well…

Finally.

Sound the trumpets! We’re happy (and, frankly, relieved) to announce the immediate availability of SuperDuper v3.5 Beta 1: our first version to fully support Big Sur backups. That’s right: bootable Big Sur backups for In…

That's Big SIR to You!

Hey, folks. Sorry it’s been a while, but it’s been a busy time. Let’s start with the bad news first. Bad news As you know, SuperDuper 3.3.1 cannot copy a volume with Big Sur on it. We’re currently blocked on some issues…

Big Sur

I’m going to keep this short and to the point. It’s never a good idea to update to a just-released major OS version unless you have to. Nobody knows how reliable Big Sur is going to be for regular users. Let someone else…

Under Construction

I haven’t said anything about Big Sur yet, and since the public beta has been out for a while, and I’m getting more questions about it, it’s time. At present, it’s not possible to make bootable copies of Big Sur, even wi…

Never Look a Gift Fix in the Mouth

Happy to say that Apple has fixed the bug in 10.15.5 that caused firmlinks to not be connected after being copied by backup programs. As you may know, this had two symptoms: The backup looked incomplete, with some folder…

Black Boxes and Bugs

During last year’s Catalina introduction, Apple’s APFS session introduced a new capability: the asr (Apple Software Restore) tool was now able to perform both APFS copies and, used appropriately, “delta” backups. We were…

Modern Times

Over the years, Shirt Pocket has been hosted on a number of local Unix-based systems. As I recall, it started out on a Cobalt Qube, then moved to a Power PC Mac mini, then the original “tall” Intel Mac mini, and finally…

Happy Thanksgiving Update!

Happy Thanksgiving, for those who celebrate. Whenever there’s a new, major release, there’s an inevitable set of problems that weren’t caught during testing (even the long public beta). We’ve got those mostly taken care…

Breaking the Tape

I’m happy to announce the release of v3.3 of SuperDuper, our fully Catalina-compatible version: happier, perhaps, then even you are in reading the news. It’s available via the normal update mechanism, or by downloading i…

Continued Cranking

Not much to say about this build: we’ve fixed a bunch of things, basically. The vast majority of users had success with the last beta. But: Some had schedules that would fail right at the start, with a collapsed window…

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

Beta updates are rolling along. We’ve incorporated a number of fixes for additional edge cases, polished some behavior, worked around some OS issues…the usual. We’ve had a number of people ask whether it’s “safe” to run…

Nothing Up My Sleeves Redux

Yeah, well, sometimes a change to the install process that shouldn’t have any effect on anything else…does. Beta 3 gave an error when using bless to bless the drive. The underlying issue was code we have that needs to ig…

Third Time's a Charm

Third time isn’t a charm; you’ll note a bless error at the end of copies. We’ll have a new beta Sunday that fixes this dumb goof. (For the impatient - scroll down and you can download Beta 3 at the bottom of this post. N…

Beta 2: Floating Owners Strike Back

As always, a download for the new beta is at the bottom of this post, and if you’re uninterested in the changes, you should just scroll down a bit (or, if you have a previous Beta installed, launch SuperDuper and it will…

SuperDuper! for Catalina

As promised, at the bottom of this post is a link to our Catalina beta. A very *dramatic* announcement! (Also, see https://t.co/2mDlY6LUfu for details.) pic.twitter.com/AUFtTuesUh— Dave Nanian (@dnanian) October 18, 2019…

Quickly Getting to the Point

Hey folks. Sorry for the relative silence here. We’ve been working during the summer on a Catalina update, and unfortunately we’re just not quite ready for a general update. But we’re close! Catalina introduces some sign…

Pictures at a Kernel Exhibition

Executive Summary: Internally, SuperDuper! can now make bootable copies of “live” Catalina volumes in all three released Beta versions of macOS 10.15. While much work still needs to be done to make things ready for exter…

Up and down the coast

Another June has come (and gone), and with it the promise of a new, improved version of macOS. In this case, macOS 10.15: Catalina. Sounds so refreshing, doesn’t it? Cool breezes, beautiful sunsets, pristine beaches alon…

SuperDuper v3.2.5 Now Available!

You’d think, given I’ve written everything here, I’d learn to pay attention to what I’ve said in the past. Let me explain. In v3.2.4, we started getting occasional reports of scheduled copies running more than once. Whic…

...But Sometimes You Need UI

As much as I want to keep SuperDuper!’s UI as spare as possible, there are times when there’s no way around adding things. For years, I’ve been trying to come up with a clever, transparent way of dealing with missing dri…

The Best UI is No UI

In v3.2.2 of SuperDuper!, I introduced the new Auto Wake feature. It’s whole reason for being is to wake the computer when the time comes for a backup to run. Simple enough. No UI beyond the regular scheduling interface…

Smarty Pants

Executive Summary SuperDuper 3.2 is now available. It includes Mojave support Native Notification Center support (in addition to the existing Growl support) Better scheduling A Finder extension to quickly run copies For…

3.2 B3: The Revenge!

(OK, yeah, I should have used “The Revenge” for B4. Stop being such a stickler.) Announcing SuperDuper 3.2 B3: a cavalcade of unnoticeable changes! The march towards Mojave continues, and with the SAE (September Apple Ev…

Backup on Connect, launchd and ThrottleInterval

Warning: this is a technical post, put here in the hopes that it’ll help someone else someday. We’ve had a problem over the years that our Backup on Connect LaunchAgent produces a ton of logging after a drive is attached…

Technical Update!

SuperDuper! 3.2 B1 was well received. We literally had no bugs reported against it, which was pretty gratifying. So, let’s repeat that with SuperDuper! 3.2 B2! (There’s a download link at the bottom of this post.) Rememb…

macOS Mojave: Opening New Vistas in Security for Mac Users

Executive summary: sure, it’s the Friday before Labor Day weekend, but there’s a beta of SuperDuper for Mojave at the bottom of this (interesting?) post! It Gets Worse Back when OS X Lion (10.7) was released, the big mar…

Quick Mojave Public Beta 2 (DP3) Tip

Hey, folks. As you may know, one of Mojave’s focuses is stability and security. Part of that is denying applications, including those with ‘root’ privileges, the ability to access certain files on the drive. This started…

On My Mark

Executive Summary Changes in macOS 10.13.4’s behavior caused some problems for scheduling, and for the final steps involved in preparing an earlier major OS version’s copy for boot. The beta resolves these problems (amon…

Practices Make Perfect (Backups)

We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about the APFS image bug (recently documented by Mike Bombich, author of CCC) where, when an image container can’t grow, APFS doesn’t reliably indicate an error, which can sil…

All Apologies

Turns out, a few of you have drives that don’t have low-level media IDs…something we thought all drives had. And they did, at least, all the drives we and the external testers tried did. Well, now we know…and, now we don…

When I'm 64

Way back when, not so long ago, we transitioned the main SuperDuper! application to 64-bit. As I said then, we were 95% 64-bit, and 5% 32-bit. Today, we’re releasing SuperDuper! 3.13, which—after extensive testing—moves…

12 Years a Bug

Shipping software sucks. It’s not that we don’t want to put the software in the hands of our users. And it’s not that we’re not proud of the work. We do, and we are. What sucks is that you always ship with bugs. Always…

Snapshot Surprise!

We’ve got something under the tree for all of you, and you get to open your present early. Executive Summary SuperDuper! 3.1 is out, and now allows Time Machine-like restoration from bootable APFS copies. Wait, What?!?!…

It's Not a Turkey

One of the weird parts of doing a public beta, as we did for 3.0, is that the release of the final version doesn’t quite feel the same. So, even though it’s only been two weeks since 3.0 came out…it feels like it was rel…

Bad Craziness, Good Release!

The short version Blah-blah-blah what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about-Dave so many words oh, 3.0 is released? Got it. The wordy-but-interesting version Sometimes, on macOS, you run into behavior that really makes you go “…

The Beta 7 Spooktacular!

Gee, do you think the original plan was to release this update on Halloween? Spoooooky! Poof! When “Erase, then copy” is selected, SuperDuper! has always endeavored to match the format of the source. That is, if the sour…

Workaround Turtle

Any program of sufficient complexity ends up having to work around behaviors that are undesirable. That might be a usability issue caused by default framework behavior, due to the interaction model selected by the design…

Fraternal Twins

(I really wanted to embed the teaser trailer for Peter Greenaway’s A Zed and Two Noughts above, but alas it’s a tad NSFW. Really great movie, though.) Content warning: some strong language is used in this post. Not witho…

Automatic Transmission

Good news: we’ve set things up on our update server so that the Beta version will now automatically tell you when there’s a new beta ready, using our regular update mechanism. Here’s how it works: You “opt-in” to the Bet…

Forward Into the Past!

Executive Summary Beta 5 is linked at the bottom of the post: we now copy Recovery volumes from both HFS+ and APFS sources to APFS, and “stash” recovery on HFS+ destinations for restoration to APFS if needed. Details, De…

So Many Rabbit Holes, So Little Time

The past week’s been spent delving into some pretty obscure problems. Special thanks, right at the top, to Jan, who spent a lot of time running special code that fixed some of this stuff. Owe you a beer, Jan. Also, Beta…

It's Awfully Quiet Out There

Maybe This Was a Good Week to Stop Sniffing Glue! Support has returned to a normal post-major-OS-release level, mostly (there’s still a lot), so I’ve got a little time to talk about one of the reported problems that was…

Can You Dig It?

A few days later, and we’re back with another beta. But not with a lot more sleep, so I’m afraid we’re going to have another relatively dry and factual post. With barely a parenthetical. No asides. Hardly any wind-up. Ju…

Murtaugh's Lament

It’s been a bit less than a week since High Sierra’s release, and we’ve been busily updating SuperDuper! v3.0 Beta 1 to Beta 2 (which, per the usual custom, is available at the end of this post). Our thanks to all the us…

Cheat Sheet

Told you it wouldn’t be long until I posted again. Spoiler Alert We’ve finished up a bunch of internal testing over the past few weeks, and there’s a beta of SuperDuper! for High Sierra and APFS linked at the bottom of t…

News on the March!

It’s inevitable—another year, another macOS version (I am still not used to typing “macOS”), and another build up to a significant SuperDuper! release. Sorry I haven’t been blogging the whole way through, but it’s been b…

SuperDuper! v2.9 - anti-AntiVirus (+ macOS Sierra)

Hi, everyone! I’m happy to say that we’re releasing SuperDuper! v2.9 today, at long last. In fact, if you’re reading this, it’s out. Hooray! This new release has a large number of enhancements and bug fixes that improve…

The Traditional Post-Release Debrief

November has rolled around, and that means it’s been a month or so since SuperDuper! was released for El Capitan. Rather than go through a litany of how awesome we are (I hope that’s obvious), I thought I’d take a moment…

Oh Capitan, My Capitan!

It’s not often that we get “official” final bits before Apple pushes the big red button that releases them to the public. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be able to do the testing we need to do here before the email s…

From Hell's Heart I...Oh, Never Mind!

If it’s not one thing, it’s nothing, at least this time. We’d developed the current Beta of SuperDuper using the most current Developer Beta versions, based on the feedback of various testers (and, of course, our own tes…

Uncovering our rootlessness

Every new OS X release has its own special challenges, and OS X 10.11 - which I still have trouble referring to as “El Capitan” - is no different. And in our testing (which we commenced immediately upon availability of t…

SuperDuper - Now with added Superness!

Those of you who follow me on Twitter (I’m @dnanian) may have read that we were slightly surprised by Yosemite’s release, which came out a week earlier than we expected. Fortunately, we were ready with a compatible, test…

Take a breath

Well, that took longer than we though it would, mostly because we wanted to make sure we got very broad external testing coverage before release (extremely important when we make changes to the copy engine), but I’m happ…

Paving the Road to Hell

I think it was around Leopard’s release—which seems like forever ago—that we ended up being later than expected with an update to SuperDuper. Since we’ve missed our internal target for release of 2.7.2, I thought I’d wri…

Mavericks

So, it’s been a while! For the tl;dr crowd out there, SuperDuper! 2.7.1 backs up Mavericks just fine, so we’ve got you covered, day-and-date, with backups. In addition, I’m happy to announce that we will, have an even be…

30-day notice of awesomeness

We’ve been pretty happy with the way v2.7’s been behaving out there in the Big, Beautiful World, but as my previous posts indicated there were some bugs that we needed to deal with. And deal we have: I’m happy to announc…

Talkin' about 2.7's rollout

Two blog posts in two days - shocking! The rollout of 2.7 is going well: this is probably the smoothest new version release we’ve had. But, of course, when you go from “small batch testing” to “large batch testing”, you…

Silence is golden, but it's time to talk

The worst part about OS updates is that we can’t talk about them. I know other companies will sometimes discuss Apple’s next version of OS X, and how they do or don’t work with it, but we try to keep our mouth shut until…

SuperDuper! v2.6.2 now available!

It’s been in test for quite a while, and we’re happy to say that SuperDuper! v2.6.2 has been released! I understated the speed improvements we’ve measured in the press release and collateral, but we really are seeing 3x…

How Ya Doin'?

Just a quick post to let you know how things are going with SuperDuper! and the upcoming v2.6.2 (no release date yet, so don’t ask—hence this post). So far, we’ve: Implemented a fix for the problem where we don’t preserv…

Squashed

Well, a week has gone by, and 2.6.1 has been downloaded and run by an awful lot of you. It seems to be working well, too—which isn’t to say it’s perfect so, once again, no unicorn. Here’s what we’re working on right now…

SuperDuper! v2.6.1 released

Rather than taking the time to write a mildly amusing “we suck” press release that announces this day-after-the-big-release update, let me just say it fixes the stuff I mentioned in the last post, followed by ringing a d…

A Quick Debriefing

It seems I always have to do one of these hey we released a new update and here are the two or three problems users have run into posts, no matter how long we test for, or how clean we think the build is. Wouldn’t want t…

SuperDuper v2.6 released

SUMMARY: Shirt Pocket announces the immediate availability of SuperDuper! 2.6 - improved and now compatible with Snow Leopard Shirt Pocket is happy to announce that SuperDuper 2.6 is now available as a free update for al…

Monster Truck Friday (Friday, Friday?)

We’ve received some independent confirmation that the version of Snow Leopard we’ve been testing with these past few weeks is, indeed, the version that’s shipping to users. So, at present, and as promised given those cir…

A bigger tease

Yeah, it’s a gigantic, multi-day blast of blogging here at Shirt Pocket World Headquarters and LEGO Assembly Center. I’m going through the revision history for the betas as I try to determine what’s best to highlight, an…

Short term tease

Hey, everyone! So, as promised in my previous post, we’re working hard on getting v2.6 out, which will include full Snow Leopard support. Over 140 people are currently testing the current Beta, and save for a few relativ…

SuperDuper! 2.5 Released!

And what could make it more official than a press release and a download? Press Release Shirt Pocket is happy to announce that SuperDuper 2.5 is now available as a free update for all users. The new version includes full…

For those about to ship...

…we salute our testers, and the patience of our users. It’s going to be a SuperDuper! Tuesday.

Clicking away

My friend Jonas Salling has started blogging again, and that’s always a good thing. He’s got some recent posts up there as he tests the WiFi support for Clicker, and the results may surprise you! Jonas is one of the hard…

Mini Us

Fog Creek software finally released an Intel-compatible version of FogBUGZ so — as of about 1pm today — we’ve had another Moving Day: this time from our “old” 2GHz G5 to a 1.83GHz Mac mini. And it’s kicking the G5’s ass…

An Embarrassment of Eddys

Wow. It looks like SuperDuper! 2.1 has won another Macworld Eddy! Back-to-back awards for SuperDuper! in 2005 and 2006, and one for netTunes in 2004 — w00t! Thanks, Macworld — and thanks to all the users, too! The softwa…

Time's Arrow

OK! netTunes and launchTunes release (and netTunes re-release — sorry about the Purple Rain) done, so it’s time to get back to what I keep getting asked about: SuperDuper! and Time Machine. To get the “Frequently Asked Q…

New netTunes and launchTunes!

Shirt Pocket releases netTunes 2.3 and launchTunes 1.1 The Macworld Eddy Award Winning “No Compromises” iTunes Remote - now Universal! Weston, MA – August 23, 2006: Shirt Pocket announces the immediate availability of ne…

Toshiro Mifune Gets His Organize On!

Looks like the fine folks at Bare Bones Software have released Yojimbo, an great new take on the organizer-cum-database that many have tried, and failed, to do well… The Yojimbo team has done a great job, addressing many…

There's always something

The rollout’s going well, though it totally killed my entire birthday — I’ve been SuperDuper!ing from about 7am until now (11:43pm), non-stop except for a 40 minute break for dinner. People seem to be really liking it, t…

One year ago today

Somewhere in the world, it’s November 22nd. SuperDuper! v2.0 emerged from our engineering labs and was placed into the hands of our first external testers one year ago today. Over this past year, we’ve released — on aver…

Gentlemen, Start Your Clicking!

Hey, looks like Jonas Salling has released Salling Clicker 3.0, with both a Macintosh and Windows version! Very cool — here’s hoping that one of the hardest working men in shareware gets lots of new customers.

Blogrolling in our time...

Looks like Rich Siegel, of BBEdit fame, has started blogging. And he’s ragging on bad drivers! Go Rich! (And don’t miss the great Oktoberfest Special they’ve announced over at Bare Bones. $99 is an incredible bargain for…

Tiger Compatibility

As you’d expect, people are really, really excited about Tiger and we’re getting a lot of questions about compatibility. So, here’s the deal: The current release of SuperDuper!, v1.5.5, is compatible with Tiger, so updat…