BackupList+ is an all-purpose backup utility for OS X widely used by people who want a simple way of protecting their data without the hassles of complex software. It makes simple copies of files so you don't have to deal with proprietary archives; to restore your files you just copy them back from the backup destination when needed. It copies everything exactly as it is using a specially modified build of the rsync utility, preserving all critical OS X file meta data. You begin by selecting the type of backup, including full system clones, regular backups, incremental backups (like Time machine), or disk images. The concept is very simple but it also offers many more advanced options including writing your own rsync command line for specific situations not covered by the default settings.
Version 9.1.1 is ready! In the mean time I have found a new secure server and the download links below once again work! So sorry for the delay. A real mess!
Download version 9.1.0 here > backupList+version 9.1.1
There's more to do on version 9.0 but will release it this weekend or sooner. I have stripped out all the cloning aspects to do with creating recovery and boot partitions as this seems unnecessary with OS Catalina going forward. Also the legacy commands are gone for adding system and application preferences as they are no longer sufficient for restoring your computer to its present state. Post Catalina, the System part of your OS is read only and encrypted so no more direct clones of the entire disk and associated volumes. This is fine because there is now the Data Volume which can be copied, and has all your personal files as well as any System files associated with your user experience. So now, when you drop the main running System icon into the source window you will see the path is "/System/volumes/Data." If you are cloning an external volume to another when you drop that volume into the source window you will see the path "/Volumes/SomeVolumeName - Data."
All you need to do is clone that data partition to a clean external disk, which can be then updated as many times as you like. To restore you install a new OS onto a disk and select the data portion clone to migrate your files over at the end of installation, or use Migration Assistant later.... More on this later but for now 8.9.0 is ready to go for OS Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey. If you still have clone backups setup they will be converted to data only at run time.
I am working on a way to clone the whole System Structure too, with apple asr command and will post that soon.
You can still use version 8.9.1 on OS earlier than Catalina, you just won't be able to clone the data-only partition but can still clone the whole disk.
Download version 8.9.1 here: backupList+ version 8.9.1
Legacy versions for OS prior to Catalina
This is the legacy release version for 8.8.1. This version fixes some bugs concerning the new release of OS 10.15 Catalina. There are some great new features too including group tasks. See the backupList+ help book (backupList+ Help > Help) for more info on the changes in OS 10.15 Catalina.
Compatible with OS 10.8 Mountain Lion and higher:
Download version 8.8.1 here: backupList+ version 8.8.1
BackupList Features:
BackupList+ uses a special build of rsync 3.0 which is fully compatible and optimized for Mac OS. It allows for 100% faithful replication of Mac files to a destination including all critical file metadata, extended attributes and flags. I have tried to incorporate the most useful rsync options in a convenient UI organized by the following backup types:
Regular backups: copy any number of files and folders to a destination drive.
Archived Regular backups same as above but will archive any older files on destination that have changed on the source. Similar to incremental backups but only archiving the older files.
Incremental backups: Will create a dated snapshot archive of the source files on the destination using hard links. Each archive appears complete but occupies only the pace of the new or changed files.
Clone one disk to another: Will clone a full system to another empty drive which can later be used when clean installing a new OS via migration assistant.
Two way Sync: Will keep two folders synchronized with the lates version of files from each.
Read only Disk Image: Useful for creating a disk image of your source files and folders which can be encrypted as well.
Other stuff:
Any backup can be saved to run on a schedule.
Sparse disk image: any of these options can be done to a sparse disk image as well.
Exclude list built in: you can add any of the source files to this list to be excluded from backup.
Can backup to locally mounted network volume such as NAS or air disks.
Can roll your own command line for rsync with custom rsync options.
Many other options are available for each backup scenario...
Note: I no longer have all the detailed instructions and information on backupList+ posted here. You can access all the information from backupList+ by going to Help menu > backupList+ Help. This will bring up an excellent apple help book!
Important new considerations:
Mac OS Catalina: backupList is fully functional but there is an issue with Full System clones. I haven't been able to unravel the mystery of how to replicate the new split system ( user data on one, system on the other) partitioning scheme. Apple hasn't been forthcoming and there is no public API on how to do that yet. In my tests what happens is there is a complete clone of the System and user data intact in the correct structure but only on one partition. The boot and Recovery partitions are still the same. So the good news is you can use the clone for retrieving files as usual or reinstalling via migration assistant. It just won't replicate the Catalina twin volume format. Will figure this out soon hopefully.
Starting with Mac OS Mojave, Security issues will prevent backupList+ ( or any other backup apps like Suyperduper and CCC ) from copying most of your user files and all System files. To fix this you must add backupList+ to the list of apps allowed Full Disk Access in the Security Pane of System preferences. You can do this easily from within backupList+by opening the Preferences window and following the instructions there. You need to enable "Full DiskAccess" as well as give backupList+ permission to run as root to copy these files.
Open Preferences (backupList+ menu > Preferences)
Then follow the instructions there > click the lock in the main backupList+ window and enter your admin password. Then click the "enable" button to open System preferences and follow the instructions in the window.
