How does SuperDuper actually work?

Question

I need to take a (full) bootable backup of my MBP and I see that most people use SuperDuper to do that.

Having rsync and similar tools native on Mac OS, I was wondering how SuperDuper actually work and if I can have a similar results with some of those other tools?

Answer 1

As far as I know programs like Carbon copy Cloner use rsync (or used to) but SuperDuper uses its own proprietary algorithm. I bought SuperDuper as it's reputed to make a particularly good job of the Mac OS file metadata. See MacWorld's Review http://www.macworld.com/article/50498/2006/04/superduper2.html