Carbon Copy Cloner
v7.1.2 · macOS 12 → 26 · Apple Silicon native

Carbon Copy Cloner Mac Free — bootable backup & full disk clone

Download Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) for Mac free and create a complete, bootable copy of your startup disk in minutes. Scheduled backups, snapshot retention, cloud destinations and verified byte-by-byte cloning — the trusted mac backup standard since 2002.

Download Free for Mac See it in action
4.9 · 5,800 reviews Apple-notarised No subscription
1.5M+Macs backed up
24 yrsSince 2002
10 minFirst backup
$0Full version
How it works

Bootable backup in three steps

From download to a verified, bootable clone — under 10 minutes on Apple Silicon, no expert knowledge required.

Download & install

Grab the carbon copy cloner download for Mac free from this page and drag CCC into your Applications folder. ~30 MB · Apple-notarised installer.

Pick source & destination

Choose your startup disk as source, plug in an external SSD as destination, and set a schedule. CCC handles APFS, snapshots and verification automatically.

Start the first clone

Click Start. The first run copies everything; every later run only copies what changed. If a drive ever fails, you boot from the clone and keep working.

What CCC does

Everything a serious mac backup needs

Six modules in one app — each one closes a different recovery gap so a single failure never costs you your work.

01

Bootable mac hard disk clone

Create a complete, bootable copy of your Mac's startup disk. Plug in the destination drive, hold Option at boot (or use Startup Disk on Apple Silicon), and you're up and running from the clone in seconds.

Carbon Copy Cloner main window during a live backup task
02

Scheduled backups

Hourly, daily, weekly, on connect, idle or wake — incremental after the first full clone.

03

APFS snapshots

Roll back to any prior state — restore a single file or an entire folder from a week ago.

04

Cloud & network destinations

Back up to local drives, NAS, SMB/AFP/NFS shares or cloud storage — chain destinations in one task for layered protection.

05

Byte verification

Checksum pass after every clone confirms source = destination exactly.

06

Menubar Dashboard

Live status, transfer chart and next-run timer — one click to start, stop or skip.

Inside the app

A clean, focused interface built for backup

Six core views handle everything. Click through the tabs to see how CCC presents tasks, schedules, snapshots and advanced options.

Carbon Copy Cloner main window during a backup task Carbon Copy Cloner scheduling window — daily, weekly and event triggers Carbon Copy Cloner snapshot browser — historical APFS states Carbon Copy Cloner task filter window — fine-grained file selection Carbon Copy Cloner advanced options — customise every task Carbon Copy Cloner cloud backup destination configuration
SuperDuper vs Carbon Copy Cloner

How CCC compares to other Mac backup tools

Six head-to-head features that matter most when you actually need to restore.

Feature Carbon Copy Cloner SuperDuper! Time Machine Backblaze
Bootable mac hard disk clone
Incremental scheduling Basic
APFS snapshot retention
Cloud destinations
Byte-by-byte verification Hidden
Price Free $28 Free $99/yr

↔ swipe to compare all columns

Mac & Windows

Carbon Copy Cloner for Mac, options for PC

CCC is Mac-only. For carbon copy cloner windows / pc users, free disk-imaging tools cover the same scenarios.

Carbon Copy Cloner for MacThe official CCC app

Mac carbon copy cloner is the standard for serious backup on macOS. It treats your Mac as a single, recoverable system — not just a folder of files — so you can rebuild after a failed SSD or a botched system update in minutes instead of days.

  • Native bootable clones (T2 & Apple Silicon)
  • APFS snapshots with point-in-time restore
  • Smart Updates — incremental after first full clone
  • Universal binary — M1, M2, M3, M4
  • macOS Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia & Tahoe
Download CCC for Mac →

Carbon Copy Cloner for WindowsClosest free PC alternatives

Looking for carbon copy cloner for pc or carbon copy cloner windows? The official CCC ships for Mac only. Windows users get equivalent free tools that deliver the same disk-imaging and bootable-backup capability.

  • Macrium Reflect Free — bootable disk image & schedule
  • Hasleo Backup Suite Free — incremental imaging & clone
  • AOMEI Backupper Standard — system & disk clone
  • EaseUS Todo Backup Free — file-level recovery
  • Veeam Agent for Windows Free — full system backup
See Windows guide →
My SSD failed during a final cut export. I plugged in the external drive, booted from the Carbon Copy Cloner clone, and was finishing the project 90 seconds later. No reinstall. No iCloud sync. No lost day.
Daniel R. · Freelance video editor, Berlin

Download Carbon Copy Cloner Mac Free

Full version. No subscription. No trial countdown. Get the carbon copy cloner download for Mac and start your first bootable backup in under 10 minutes.

Download CCC for Mac Windows options
Universal · Apple Silicon & Intel macOS 12 → macOS 26 ~30 MB · Apple-notarised
// The complete guide · 2026

Carbon Copy Cloner: the free way to back up your Mac and clone any drive

Carbon copy cloner is the long-standing standard for serious Mac users who want more than Time Machine's file-by-file approach. The app — referred to throughout as CCC — creates a bootable, byte-accurate duplicate of your startup disk so that when a drive fails, a system update goes wrong, or an SSD dies overnight, you boot directly from your clone and keep working.

On this page you can grab the Carbon Copy Cloner download for Mac free, see exactly what the app does, and understand how it compares to other cloning software on both macOS and Windows.

Quick answer: Yes, you can download Carbon Copy Cloner Mac free from this page and use the full feature set with no subscription, no trial countdown and no feature paywall.

What & why

What is Carbon Copy Cloner and why it matters for mac backup

The "carbon copy" principle is simple: duplicate a source disk so completely that the copy is functionally identical to the original. Carbon copy cloner is the macOS application that implements that principle for modern Apple file systems. When you ask "what is carbon copy cloner", the simplest answer is: a backup app that produces a clone you can actually boot from, plus a snapshot manager you can roll back through, plus a scheduler that runs the whole thing while you sleep.

Traditional mac backup tools — including the built-in Time Machine — were designed around recovering files, not recovering systems. They are excellent at retrieving last Tuesday's document. They are weak when your startup disk fails on Saturday morning and you need a working Mac by Monday. A bootable backup made with carboncopycloner closes that gap.

Instead of reinstalling macOS and re-downloading every app, you reboot from the clone and you are exactly where you were when the clone last ran.

What the app delivers

Carbon copy cloner for Mac: three pillars, one binary

Carbon copy cloner for mac is built specifically for macOS internals — APFS volumes, snapshot machinery, the SafetyNet system, and Apple Silicon's signed system volume. Each one is a moving target across recent macOS releases, and CCC tracks every change.

Bootable mac hard disk clone

Hold Option at startup (or use Startup Disk on Apple Silicon) and your Mac boots into the clone with apps, accounts and login items intact.

Scheduled & verified

Hourly, daily or event-driven incrementals — followed by a checksum pass so corruption is caught at backup, not at recovery.

APFS snapshot history

Walk back through retained states and pull out a single file from three weeks ago without touching today's backup.

Carbon Copy Cloner main window mid-backup — live transfer chart and source/destination cards

Live progress. Source, destination and automation in one focused window — no buried menus.

Backup software for Mac

How CCC compares to other Mac backup tools

The two questions that always come up are "is carbon copy cloner free" and "superduper vs carbon copy cloner". Both have short answers — and CCC wins on the features that matter when you actually need to restore.

vs SuperDuper!
Wins on scheduling, snapshots, cloud CCC leads on incremental scheduling, APFS snapshot retention and cloud destinations. SuperDuper is simpler if you only need one weekly clone.
vs Time Machine
Bootable, deliberate, recoverable Time Machine recovers files. CCC recovers systems — the destination is always bootable, and you decide what gets cloned and when.
vs Backblaze
You own the storage Cloud-only services charge per year and lock you in. CCC keeps you in control — local SSD, NAS or cloud, your call, no subscription.
Windows users

Carbon copy cloner for PC and Windows alternatives

The most common second question after "carbon copy cloner download" is whether there is a carbon copy cloner windows release. The honest answer: the official carbon copy cloner is mac-only. Windows users get equivalent free tools that deliver the same disk-imaging and bootable-backup capability.

Pair any of these with an external SSD and you have the Windows equivalent of a backup macbook workflow — a recent, recoverable image of the whole machine.

Macrium Reflect Free Bootable disk imaging, scheduled tasks and rescue USB. Closest one-to-one analog to CCC on Windows.
Top pick
Hasleo Backup Suite Free Full + incremental system imaging plus a separate disk-clone tool. Strong recovery environment.
Advanced
AOMEI Backupper Standard System clone, disk clone and file backup in one free app with a friendly interface.
Beginner
10 minutes, once

How to back up your Mac with carbon copy cloner

Setting up backup for macbook with CCC takes about ten minutes the first time. After the initial run the rest is automatic — most users never open the app again until they need to restore.

Download & install

Grab Carbon Copy Cloner for Mac from the button below and drag it into Applications. ~30 MB · Apple-notarised.

Plug in your destination drive

Connect a drive at least as large as the data on your Mac — an external SSD is ideal when you want to back up your Mac to a bootable clone.

Pick source & choose a schedule

Open CCC, pick Macintosh HD as source, your external as destination, choose hourly / daily / weekly cadence.

Start the first clone

Click Start. First run copies everything; later runs only copy what changed. Enable snapshots to roll back individual files later.

Carbon Copy Cloner snapshot browser showing historical APFS states for granular restore

Walk back in time. The snapshot browser lists every retained APFS state so you can extract a single file from three weeks ago.

Don't lose your work

Why backup software for Mac still matters in 2026

Apple Silicon storage is fast and reliable, but it is not infallible. Soldered SSDs cannot be transplanted into another machine, and a logic-board failure can lock you out of weeks of work in an instant. iCloud syncs documents, not apps and not system state.

One external SSD + CCC = bootable insurance

The cheapest insurance policy is the oldest one: a complete, current, bootable backup software for mac sitting on a drive on your desk. CCC remains the easiest way to back up mac systems to that drive — and the easiest way to restore from it when you need to.

iCloud won't save you It syncs documents — not apps, settings, login items or system state.
SSDs fail silently Apple Silicon drives are soldered — no recovery without a working clone.
Time costs more than disks A botched update can cost a full day of reinstalls, sign-ins and reconfiguration.

A bootable mac hard disk clone is the only backup format that lets you keep working through hardware failure. Once configured, CCC's menubar dashboard is the only thing you see day-to-day — a small green checkmark on a recent date is all most users ever need. Carbon copy cloner has been the trusted mac backup answer for more than two decades because it works exactly that quietly, in a free Mac version you can download right now.

Get Carbon Copy Cloner for Mac, free

Full version. No subscription, no trial countdown, no feature paywall. Download CCC right now and have your first bootable backup running before lunch.

Download CCC for Mac Free Windows options
Universal · Apple Silicon & Intel macOS 12 → macOS 26 ~30 MB · Apple-notarised
1.5M+Macs backed up
4.9 ★5,800 reviews
24 yrsSince 2002
$0Free forever
Frequently asked

Questions about Carbon Copy Cloner

What is Carbon Copy Cloner?

Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) is mac backup and cloning software that creates a complete, bootable copy of your Mac's startup disk. It can also back up specific folders, schedule incremental tasks, retain historical snapshots and verify every byte after each run.

Is Carbon Copy Cloner free?

Yes. You can download Carbon Copy Cloner Mac free from this page and use the full version with no time limit. There is no trial countdown, no feature paywall, and no subscription — full backup, cloning and snapshot functionality is included.

Does Carbon Copy Cloner work on Windows?

The official Carbon Copy Cloner is a Mac-only backup app. For carbon copy cloner windows workflows, Macrium Reflect Free, Hasleo Backup Suite Free and AOMEI Backupper Standard give Windows users the same disk imaging and bootable clone capability for free.

SuperDuper vs Carbon Copy Cloner — which is better?

Both create bootable mac backups. Carbon Copy Cloner offers more scheduling options, snapshot retention on APFS volumes, cloud destinations, task chaining and a faster engine. SuperDuper is simpler but lacks incremental scheduling and snapshot features.

Which macOS versions does CCC support?

Carbon copy cloner for mac runs natively on macOS Monterey (12), Ventura (13), Sonoma (14), Sequoia (15) and macOS Tahoe (26). The latest release supports both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs — M1, M2, M3 and M4.

Is a bootable backup really necessary?

For anyone whose Mac is their work machine, yes. Time Machine recovers files; a bootable CCC clone recovers the entire system. If your SSD fails or a macOS update bricks the install, you can plug in the external clone, boot from it, and continue working in minutes — no reinstall, no re-sign-ins, no lost day.