Ezrael
19th March 2006, 03:21 PM
I would assume some thing like this has been done before, but I didn't see anything when I looked for it online. I've been playing around with a way to create a customizable system restore disk. The solution below isn't incredibly pretty, but it is very effective. I'm sure someone out there may have a way to improve it, and I may continue working on it, but for now, here it is!
Basically, once you get your system set up exactly how you want it, you can use this process to create a disk that will be bootable and allow you to restore your drive. It is essentially the shell of an OS X installer DVD, to which you can add your own DMG files.
Edit: I should note this was made using a PPC OSX installer disk, as I don't have a MBP to play with yet... the process should work the same with the restore disks from any of the intel Macs.
Requirements:
OS X installer DVD
SuperDrive
1. Create an read/write image of the OS X installer DVD. I used a 10.4 DVD, not sure which others will work with this process. I named mine MacXP.dmg
2. Mount the image
3. Delete unneccessary files:
-contents /System/Installation/Packages/ **EXCEPT** OSInstall.mpkg. You can delete this one too if you have to, but it'll give you a file-not-found error when the installer boots up (just hit okay).
- /XCode Tools
- There are other unneccessary files, such as "Install Mac OS X.app" and such, but they take up almost no space, so I'd just leave em.
The capacity of MacXP.dmg is based off the total space used on the install DVD, but your burnable DVD should be able to hold more. Next we change our DMG file to the proper size:
4. Open up Terminal, navigate to wherever you stored the DMG file, and type:
hdiutil resize -size [capacity of your DVD+/-R]g [Name of DMG file].dmg
So, for example, I only have a single layer DVD+R, which holds 4.37g:
hdiutil resize -size 4.37g MacXP.dmg
If you have a Dual-layer SuperDrive, you can hold ~8g (i think the exact amount is 7.95g), so just replace the 4.37 with the total capacity of your burnable DVD.
5. Create an image of the root device (not the partitions), so that when you open the image it contains both the WinXP and MacOSX partitions. I called this System.dmg.
6. Add System.dmg to MacXP.dmg
7. Burn the image
Congratulations! You have a bootable restore disk for your system. It'll boot to the familiar OS X installer, from which you can select "Disk Utility" from the Utilities menu and use the Restore function to copy System.dmg back to your HDD. If your DVD has enough space, you can also include DMG files for each partition, so that if only one OS needs reinstallation you don't have to wipe everything.
Basically, once you get your system set up exactly how you want it, you can use this process to create a disk that will be bootable and allow you to restore your drive. It is essentially the shell of an OS X installer DVD, to which you can add your own DMG files.
Edit: I should note this was made using a PPC OSX installer disk, as I don't have a MBP to play with yet... the process should work the same with the restore disks from any of the intel Macs.
Requirements:
OS X installer DVD
SuperDrive
1. Create an read/write image of the OS X installer DVD. I used a 10.4 DVD, not sure which others will work with this process. I named mine MacXP.dmg
2. Mount the image
3. Delete unneccessary files:
-contents /System/Installation/Packages/ **EXCEPT** OSInstall.mpkg. You can delete this one too if you have to, but it'll give you a file-not-found error when the installer boots up (just hit okay).
- /XCode Tools
- There are other unneccessary files, such as "Install Mac OS X.app" and such, but they take up almost no space, so I'd just leave em.
The capacity of MacXP.dmg is based off the total space used on the install DVD, but your burnable DVD should be able to hold more. Next we change our DMG file to the proper size:
4. Open up Terminal, navigate to wherever you stored the DMG file, and type:
hdiutil resize -size [capacity of your DVD+/-R]g [Name of DMG file].dmg
So, for example, I only have a single layer DVD+R, which holds 4.37g:
hdiutil resize -size 4.37g MacXP.dmg
If you have a Dual-layer SuperDrive, you can hold ~8g (i think the exact amount is 7.95g), so just replace the 4.37 with the total capacity of your burnable DVD.
5. Create an image of the root device (not the partitions), so that when you open the image it contains both the WinXP and MacOSX partitions. I called this System.dmg.
6. Add System.dmg to MacXP.dmg
7. Burn the image
Congratulations! You have a bootable restore disk for your system. It'll boot to the familiar OS X installer, from which you can select "Disk Utility" from the Utilities menu and use the Restore function to copy System.dmg back to your HDD. If your DVD has enough space, you can also include DMG files for each partition, so that if only one OS needs reinstallation you don't have to wipe everything.