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What's new with Backuplist+ 8.5.8

 

 

Backuplist+ 8.5 is an important update for all users with OS 10.8 and above. High Sierra introduces the new apfs file system which is a big change from the OS X! I am working on further modifying aspects of the cloning engine to work better with apfs as more infromation is released to developers. In the mean time, backupList+ should function as it always has and has some new features.

The following changes have been made:


 

Important considerations for previous users of backupList+:

You need to understand the changes to version 8.5.8 that will affect how you use backupList+.

New in version 8.5.8:

Due to the new apfs file system there are some significant changes to consider.

When you first install OS 10.13 High Sierra, the new apfs file system will be installed along with a firmware update to your computer. This will only happen on machines or drives with solid state drives (ssd's.) Regular hard drives will work fine with OS 10.13 but continue to be formatted as HFS+. The new apfs file system is compatibale with copying to and from older HFS+ drive systems with some considerations. The main change here with backupList+ is when performing system clones to another drive or machine.

Cloning an apfs volume to an external HFS+ volume: This should work as always and will copy High Sierra onto the HFS+ drive and make it bootable. You can also select (in settings) to have it recreate the Recovery HD hidden partition on the destination volume. Since it will not be an apfs system on the destination, it will have none of the benefits of apfs and behave as a normal updated OS X disk.

Cloning an apfs volume to an external apfs volume: This should also work as expected and make a replica on the destination drive similar to the source drive. At present backupList+ will not make this external drive bootable but that will be fixed in the next update. Apfs file system has two hidden volumes, the Recovery volume (same as in previous OS) and the new Reboot volume which is needed for bootability. In the next release I will add the ability to recreate these hidden volumes and make it bootable.

Cloning an HFS+ volume to an apfs volume: This will work but there isn't much reason for doing so as you would be going back to the older system. However it may be desired to restore an HFS+ clone to the newer System if anything happens, drive failure etc. If your only backup is on an HFS+ volume, or your backup is a non bootable apfs volume I advise reinstalling onto the destination from the High Sierra installer and then at the prompt migrate all the data back from your backup volume.

 

 

Older changesI

New Features

There is now a separate column in the source list for backup sets (now called "tasks") which shows the last backup made for that particular task. This si also reflected in the top banner under "destination" on the lower right edge. Also the Scheduler app which is added to the main user menu bar when scheduling backups also has a new column showing the last backups made for each backup task or set.

The new main window

 

The new Scheduler window

 

The new Recovery HD option

 

The new archive option ( with pruning! )