Carbon Copy Cloner
Knowledge Base > Carbon Copy Cloner 6

System Requirements for CCC

This documentation is for an older version of CCC. You can find the latest version here.
Last updated on November 6, 2023

CCC is an advanced backup and file copying utility for the Mac.

System Requirements

  • macOS 10.15 Catalina (10.15.7+)
  • macOS 11 Big Sur
  • macOS 12 Monterey
  • macOS 13 Ventura
  • macOS 14 Sonoma
  • CCC is a native application on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs (i.e. a "Universal" application)

Older versions of CCC are still available for users running older OSes. Note that these older versions are not actively being developed and support is provided on a case-by-case basis.

Supported configurations

  • An APFS formatted volume is required for a backup of the macOS startup disk
  • SSDs and hard disk drives in Thunderbolt and USB 3.0+ enclosures — please see our list of recommended backup devices
  • CCC is supported only on Apple Macintoshes that officially support macOS Catalina (or higher)
  • A minimum screen resolution of 1024x768 is required

Configurations that are not supported

  • CCC will not back up to or from an unformatted or unmounted device — the source and destination must have a filesystem recognized by macOS and visible in the Finder
  • Copying Windows system files is not a supported configuration
  • CCC will not back up directly to optical media (e.g. CD-ROM or DVD-ROM)
  • WebDAV, FTP, NFS and other "cloud" destinations are not supported
  • CCC is not a two-way synchronization solution designed to keep two Macs in sync with each other — this is not a supported configuration.
  • Performing mass deployments with CCC is not supported. Apple discourages this sort of deployment and offers additional resources here, and there are alternative solutions to consider.
  • We can only support configurations of macOS that are supported by Apple on your hardware. For example, we cannot help you get Catalina running on a 2008 MacPro. Likewise, you cannot restore Mojave onto a 2019 MacBook Pro that shipped with Catalina. Hackintosh bootability issues should be pursued through a Hackintosh community forum. If Apple doesn't support it, we cannot support it.
  • CCC can copy virtual machine container files, but copying to or from a virtual machine is not supportable.