Basically Im trying to figure out a way to duplicate (or make a backup image) of a HD, hopefully with the help of diskcopy. I oversee a lab of 25 5400s running OS8.1 and all the same software (elementarty school).

my main problem is backing up and restoring the system folder and the various hidden goodies..ultimately I need to format a drive and throw on all the same software..system installs are a pain..

more specs: only about 300meg of software + OS 8.1..have 1GB jaz and server with few gigs free..thanks~

The way I got around this problem was to DRAG COPY the Hard Drive icon to a JAZ drive. Then I burnt a CD of the Jaz Disk. Now, when I have to restore, all I do is reformat the drive, drag copy the hard drive icon to the newly formatted drive, open the "Macintosh HD" Folder, select all items, drag them to the new hard drive, and then trash the "Macintosh HD" folder. Upon reboot, everything works perfectly.

If I had to do it again, I would call the dragged image of the Hard Drive "MASTER" or something else, so it won't be as confusing with the new Macintosh HD.

If you have any questions you can reach me directly at SFVteacher@aol.com

[jreades]

A long-run solution you might want to consider is OSX server with netbooting. Installing the apps themselves is pretty easy with the solution outlined by sfvteacher, but it's always those pesky preferences and so on that get screwed on the new install. And if you qualify for the educational discount OSX comes in at under $500. Admittedly, to get the most out of OSX it helps to have UNIX experience, but the whole netbooting thing was designed to be fairly easy to set up and run. Anyway, just a thought, your solution should depend on how comfortable you are with Macs, UNIX, and a little bit of creativity.