Executive Summary
Brand new, top-to-bottom rewrite of SuperDuper now available.
All the Details
22 years.
SuperDuper has had an impressive run. It has lasted, in its original form, for longer than any other product I’ve ever been involved with over the (so far) 43 years of my working career. Somehow, Shirt Pocket—and SuperDuper—has been more than half of that. Over those years, most of the design decisions made way back in 2004 have proven to withstand the test of time:
- The text-based What’s going to happen? section;
- The status view that clearly shows the process that’s taking place during the copy, ticking off the steps as it goes along;
- The minimal number of options that let you stay focused on the task at hand.
At the same time, some choices constrained what the program could do:
- It was document-based, which made sense at the time, but wasn’t really how users thought about the process;
- Scheduling was a bit of a bolt-on (and suffered from a disastrous initial usability test before release), driving the interface through scripting (RIP AppleScript, hello direct event dispatch from Swift) and isolating its details in a separate window, divorced from the source;
- Copy failures, while rare, basically gave a “whoops” and asked users to examine a log filled with technical details of the error;
- Only “native” Apple file systems were supported (HFS+ and APFS);
- And some concepts, like the Sandbox—great in the days of macOS before the Sealed System Volume—were rendered obsolete, sent to the land of wind and ghosts by Apple’s relentless forward march.
I could go on: products are a combination of good and bad, of success and failure, and I learned to live with the (mostly good!) balance.
Dreams Become Reality
Back in 2007, I designed what was intended to be SuperDuper v3.0. It was a rewrite that greatly expanded its capabilities while retaining its essence.
But, in those days, it just wasn’t possible for us to implement those grand plans. The new UI was much more complex, the logic more elaborate, and the systems we had then didn’t support the things needed to make it a reality without a lot of complex coding we didn’t have time for.
On top of that, macOS itself was a moving target (and still is!): adding and deprecating features; completely changing the file system; locking down the OS; supporting not just one change in CPU, but three.
With a tool so tied to how the system operated at a low level, it was a lot of work just keeping up with what Apple was doing.
So, I put the notebook with that design in it on a shelf.
For nearly 20 years.
Today, I’m happy to say that I’ve finally been able to carve out enough time to grab that “old” redesign, flesh it out further, modernize it, and make that dream a reality.
Welcome to SuperDuper! 4
The new version of SuperDuper is a ground-up rewrite, a tip-to-tail reinvention of what SuperDuper looks like, how it works, what it can do, and where I can take it in the future.
The new version feels different, yet familiar. The successful elements of SuperDuper’s design, like What’s going to happen? and the status view, are still there, but they’ve been refreshed and modernized.
Documents have been retired and replaced with Copy Jobs, which are stored internally and organized by source. If you want to copy Macintosh HD, that’s where you start. Click, and you’re presented with one or more template copy operations, or you can start from scratch.
Configuration is done right inline by clicking bold, underlined link elements and selecting options from pop-ups. The effect of your choices is immediately reflected in What’s going to happen?, ensuring you know what to expect when you click Copy Now.
Preview
And if you’re still unsure, you can safely see what’s going to happen…for real. Click the Preview button and SuperDuper will run the copy without making changes and present you with a report that shows exactly what would have been updated, added, deleted, etc., had this been a real run.
Blazing Speed!
Once you decide it’s time to make the copy, SuperDuper 4 is much faster than before. And I’m not just talking 20% or 30% faster. Smart Updates are between 2x and, with the new Turbo feature, an order of magnitude faster.
As an example, my typical nightly Smart Update, of an 8-million-file volume, about 2.5TB of data, used to take around 40 minutes to run.
Without Turbo, it now takes about 20 minutes. But with Turbo…it’s only about a minute.
One minute. OK, yes, sticklers—that’s actually quite a bit more than an order of magnitude. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
History
Successful and failed runs are shown at the bottom of the copy job, with color-coded dots that can be clicked to display details.
If scheduled, a clear indication of when the next run will occur is there as well. And for those going for the Guinness Book of Backup Records, there’s an indication of how many successful runs this job has done in a row.
No UI Needed
At a technical level, SuperDuper has been split into a “helper” or “server”, which runs the copy, and an interface, which is the part you interact with. That means that, once registered, you can quit the SuperDuper application and your backups will still run. They’ll even run if you log out!
It also means that a scheduled copy doesn’t suddenly show the interface. It just happens, in the background.
If a copy is in progress, re-opening the app will show you the status and progress of the copy—and while a copy is going on, a menu bar item is present to show a compressed view of the same information.
Many Copies at Once
You can run any number of copies at the same time. If you have four backups you need to do, just click Copy Now for each, and they’ll all run simultaneously.
Have four backups scheduled to run at 4am? They’ll all run at that time, rather than back to back.
File Systems and Folders
SuperDuper 4 now supports copying to and from any file system the Mac supports. Using a “Photos” drive with both Windows and Mac that’s formatted as exFAT? No problem: you can copy it.
Need to copy your Documents folder to “Documents Backup” on a NAS? Now you can.
Have a network volume that you want to copy to a local folder? SuperDuper 4 can do it.
Copy Rules
Copy Scripts have been replaced by Copy Rules. Now, you can easily create rules that can select files and folders from the source or destination for special handling. Need to ensure that a specific folder is never written to or deleted? You can do that with a few clicks.
Want to exclude any folder named Caches in /Library? No problem. And you can see the effect of your rule as you create it, so you can be sure you’ve done the right thing.
No More Shell Scripts
I’ve added Shortcuts support, so you can create a shortcut that runs before or after a copy, on success, or on error. Want to send an email on success or failure? Beep when copies are done? It’s now easy, and with Golden Gate’s Apple Intelligence shortcut support, anyone can do it.
Or, at least, probably anyone.
And if you still want to run a shell script, you can…from the shortcut.
Speaking of Shortcuts
Not only does SuperDuper let you call a shortcut from a copy—you can create, run, and check on a copy job from a shortcut!
If you have an unusual workflow—say, you want to copy any SD card with photos on it to a folder named after that card—you can now do it with a few clicks.
…And So Much More
This is already (much) too long, but there’s so much new stuff that I’ve been wanting to show you. I hope you’re as excited to use this as I am to get it into your hands after all this time.
System Requirements
SuperDuper 4 requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. SuperDuper 3 is still available for those who need to copy under macOS 13 (Ventura) or earlier.
Upgrades
In all the years SuperDuper has been on the market, we’ve never charged for updates and never even raised the price. That’s 22 years of free updates.
SuperDuper 4 is a totally new version, far more capable than before, and as such, I’ve decided this is going to be its first paid upgrade. I’ve also adjusted the price for inflation since 2004. So it’s still the same bargain it was back when it was first released, but in today’s dollars.
SuperDuper 4 is free for qualifying recent purchases. Other SuperDuper 3 customers who purchased after July 31, 2020, receive an upgrade discount of up to 30%, based on purchase date.
As before, even without a license, you can make full, bootable backups for free, and I (yes, it’s really me, I work too much) provide support for both registered and unregistered users.
Dinner’s Served
I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time, and now that the day has finally arrived, I’m excited to see what you think. Reach out to support if you have any questions, praise, or, if you must, complaints.
And please register or upgrade! The only way I can continue to do this is with your financial support. If you like SuperDuper, share the love and tell your friends!
With that: