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?!?!
Oh, decided to join us for the details? Welcome to an ocean of words: prepare to get your feet wet!
Well, I told you there would be more surprises in store, and, so, here we are. Since the release of 3.0, we've not only been copying from a snapshot when using an APFS source. In addition, as some of you have noticed, we've also been creating snapshots on the backup.
This is why.
Turn Back the Clock
In SuperDuper! v3.1, you may notice a small change to the Copy Now button: a little up-triangle glyph. If you've selected an APFS volume as your source, you can click that triangle, and up pops a list of the snapshots available to copy from.
This means you don't just have to copy from the drive as it is "now" (the default choice). You can select from any existing snapshot, and we'll copy the state of the files as they were at that time.
But why would you want to do that?
Well, in High Sierra, the system takes a snapshot of your drive before it installs a software update. Having a problem with an update and want to check if it was different before, but forgot to back up first? No problem: use SuperDuper! to copy from the snapshot taken just before the update was installed, start up from the copy, and check the behavior.
Even better, if you're backing up to an APFS volume as we encourage, this works on a bootable copy, too! Since v3.0, we've been taking a snapshot of the backup volume before every copy we make. That means there's not just one available backup on the drive—if you've been using Smart Update, there are many! Start up from your backup drive, click the triangle, and you'll be presented with a list of available snapshots. Pick one, "Copy Now", and you've restored a day ago's backup, or a week ago's.
But Wait—There's More!
In fact, not only can you use SuperDuper to copy from these snapshots, you can even open Time Machine, select your backup volume, and see older versions of files, deleted files - they're all being saved, automatically, every time you Smart Update. Even though you're not backing up your backup to Time Machine. Because that would be silly.
This new feature is not intended to replace or replicate what Time Machine does. Snapshots are managed by the system, and at present they have some lightly-to-not documented constraints. You need to have about 20% free in a container to create a snapshot, and the system consolidates and removes snapshots according to its own logic.
As I've said before, an effective backup strategy should have multiple parts: SuperDuper!, Time Machine and an online service. The more (and more varied) backups you have, the safer you are. This new feature gives SuperDuper!'s bootable backups some cool new capabilities and an additional measure of protection should you make a mistake.
Now How Much Would You Pay?
Pretty awesome, right?
Needless to say, this is the kind of feature we love to introduce. It's completely transparent to the user, and is built on the extensive work we did to support APFS in v3.0. That support wasn't done at a surface level: we worked hard to research and make use of the more advanced features, like snapshots, and planned for the future in ways that truly make the backup experience better for everyone.
Including you. Update away!
