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Best: Backing up to Mac-attached storage hosted by a CCC Diplomat

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▶️ Watch a video of this tutorial on YouTube

If you have storage attached to a Mac running macOS Ventura or later and you have the CCC v7 application on your Mac, then you can use that storage as a backup destination via the CCC Diplomat service. We recommend adding an APFS-formatted volume to this storage for a dedicated backup of the files and photos from your mobile device.

On your Mac

  1. Download and open CCC
  2. Click the CCC Dashboard icon in the menubar.
  3. Select the CCC Diplomat tab.
  4. Click on the Destination selector and select the volume or folder where you would like to store the backup. Make a mental note of the four-digit passcode of the Diplomat service.
CCC Dashboard

On your mobile device

  1. Open CCC Mobile.
  2. Select whether to back up Photos or Files.
  3. Tap the Select a Destination button.
  4. Select CCC Diplomat.
  5. Select your Mac's CCC Diplomat service and enter the four-digit passcode when prompted.
  6. Tap Start Backup.

This is the easiest backup destination to configure, and it's also the configuration that offers the most benefits, including:

  • Faster performance than copying to the same storage accessed via File Sharing. This is even faster than backing up to the same storage directly attached to your mobile device.
  • The backup volume can be encrypted.
  • Reduced network load and CPU load on your mobile device. The CCC Diplomat service has lower overhead that the SMB File Sharing protocol, so it places less burden on your WiFi network. Additionally, file verification is handled by the CCC Dashboard application on the Mac, so CCC Mobile doesn't have to read data back across the network to verify it. All of these benefits also reduce the CPU load on your mobile device.
  • Backups are folded into your CCC backup ecosystem. Diplomat task events appear in CCC's Task History window, and CCC creates a snapshot on the backup volume whenever a backup task completes (unless you specifically disable snapshot support on the destination). CCC snapshots allow you to retrieve older versions of files, or files that you may have accidentally deleted.
  • The CCC Diplomat can automatically mount and unmount the destination when mobile device clients connect to the Diplomat service. Click on the Settings icon in the CCC Diplomat tab to configure those preferences.

Troubleshooting connection issues to the CCC Diplomat

If you encounter an error while trying to connect to a CCC Diplomat, try the following (repeating the connection attempt between each step):

  1. Verify that you have entered the passcode that is presented in the CCC Diplomat tab in the CCC Dashboard on your Mac.
  2. Restart the CCC Mobile application on your mobile device.
  3. Restart the CCC Diplomat service on your Mac:
    • Click the C icon in your Mac's menubar to open the CCC Dashboard.
    • Select the CCC Diplomat tab.
    • Click on the Destination volume icon and select Restart Diplomat Service.
  4. If your Mac's firewall is enabled, verify that CCC Dashboard is allowed to accept incoming connections. You can find that setting in System Settings > Network > Firewall > Options. If you're using a third-party firewall, verify in that application that CCC Dashboard is allowed to access the network.
  5. Paste sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mDNSResponder NoMulticastAdvertisements into the Terminal application, press the Return key, then authenticate when prompted.