[MacRiski]

Howdy all from a Mac newbie gettin' my daughter ready for college with her Macbook AL (late 2008)

Santa (guess who?) brought the Macbook last Christmas so she would have time to learn all the ins and outs. To date she can handle iTunes, Facebook and some iWork

Enter Dad (Santa in the off season) to make sure she can stay running. I do NOT want to send the included Install/Restore OS X DVD to college with her. What are my options if she were to lose all?

An Apple certified store is located 1 block from campus just in case. And, so far, I've got her a Toshiba 500 GB USB portable HDD for handy back ups (still in the box).

Can the DVD be copied in some way?

Please remember I'm getting my feet wet

[turtle777]

How to Make a Non-Commercial DVD copy of MAC OS X Leopard

Making a DVD Image

Step1. Insert the retail Mac OS X Install DVD into your drive.

Step 2. Launch Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities).

Step 3. In Disk Utility, you will notice a white pane on the left hand side. In the pane, select the Mac OS X Install DVD by clicking on it once.

Step 4. Click New Image on the Disk Utility toolbar.

Step 5. A dialog box will appear. Give the new image a name. I used 'Mac OS X Install DVD'. Select the destination where you wish to save it. Leave Image Format at Compressed (default) and Encryption at None (default).

Step 6. Click Save to begin creating the image.

Step 7. Once your image has been created DO NOT mount it. Leave the image alone and proceed to the next section.

Burning the Image

Step 1. Launch Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities).

Step 2. Click Burn on the Disk Utility toolbar (upper left).

Step 3. Navigate to where you saved the DVD image created in the previous section. Click on the image file, then click the Burn button. Do not drag and drop the image file into Disk Utility during this step.

Step4. Insert a DVD when prompted and proceed to Burn it. (use good quality media) 
Using these exact steps I was successfully able to create a personal backup copy of Mac OS X Leopard. I hope this helps.

taken from here: Apple - Support - Discussions - Backup of OS X Leopard doesn't launch ...

Now, it doesn't specifically mention it, but I think you need a Dual Layer DVD to do this. So when you buy a blank, make sure it's DL.

I haven't tried it myself.

-t

[ghporter]

Welcome to our forums!

As many of our members have found, to their chagrin, having one's OS X disc on hand can be VERY important. I'd at least follow turtle's directions above and mail an image to your daughter so she can have that on hand when (not if) she needs something from the install disc.

On the other hand, the student price for OS X 10.5 is $116. Maybe this is a good way to go... Duplicating a DVD may be more hassle than the instructions suggest, and combine that with not being able to test the image (I don't see anything about more Macs at home), and mailing/shipping the disc to her, you might just wind up with one of "those" projects-the ones that get started really great and wind up sucking the life out of the father project person.

[turtle777]

You should make sure to register the MacBook with Apple.

I think you can purchase replacement copies of Install Disks cheaper if you can prove previous ownership.
You might wanna call Apple about that.

-t

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

How to Make a Non-Commercial DVD copy of MAC OS X Leopard

Now, it doesn't specifically mention it, but I think you need a Dual Layer DVD to do this. So when you buy a blank, make sure it's DL.

I haven't tried it myself.

-t

Excellent step-by-step find turtle777

I'll need to get her a DL disk and let her go. She may as well learn cause she has the Mac...I'm still stuck with the other OS

I've done so much reading about Macs lately I think I'm losing it. Can't a clone of her OS X be made on a portable drive and be able to boot to in a pinch? Or did that have to be a firewire portable drive?

Being a Windows user, I've come to plan 3 options Sorry, but true.

PS: Thanks for the second good tip. She did get 3 years protection from santa as well.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by MacRiski 

I've done so much reading about Macs lately I think I'm losing it. Can't a clone of her OS X be made on a portable drive and be able to boot to in a pinch? Or did that have to be a firewire portable drive?

Yes, indeed. It can be done with Apple's Disk Utility, if the Target Drive has enough space (i.e. is at least as big as the source drive).

If you want to make a clone w/o certain user data, you can use the free Carbon Copy Cloner to do that, selecting yourself what data to omit from the backup clone.

The portable drive does NOT have to be FW, USB works as well since she's on an Intel Mac.

-t

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Welcome to our forums!

Thanks for the welcome ghporter...if we were at the Hall of Horns I'd buy one

Originally Posted by ghporter 

As many of our members have found, to their chagrin, having one's OS X disc on hand can be VERY important. I'd at least follow turtle's directions above and mail an image to your daughter so she can have that on hand when (not if) she needs something from the install disc.

On the other hand, the student price for OS X 10.5 is $116. Maybe this is a good way to go... Duplicating a DVD may be more hassle than the instructions suggest, and combine that with not being able to test the image (I don't see anything about more Macs at home), and mailing/shipping the disc to her, you might just wind up with one of "those" projects-the ones that get started really great and wind up sucking the life out of the father project person.

Luckily, we're still in the same house for 3 more weeks, so I am going to grab the bull by the horns and make sure the Macbook is ready to go off to college by looking over her shoulder.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Yes, indeed. It can be done with Apple's Disk Utility, if the Target Drive has enough space (i.e. is at least as big as the source drive).

If you want to make a clone w/o certain user data, you can use the free Carbon Copy Cloner to do that, selecting yourself what data to omit from the backup clone.

The portable drive does NOT have to be FW, USB works as well since she's on an Intel Mac.

-t

That's music to my ears.

So, I could put 2-250 GB partions on her 500 GB Toshiba USB drive with 1 partition for a CCC clone (not familiar with Disk Utility) of OS X and the second partition for data backups using OS X's included auto backup app. This could be a 2nd option.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by MacRiski 

That's music to my ears.

So, I could put 2-250 GB partions on her 500 GB Toshiba USB drive with 1 partition for a CCC clone (not familiar with Disk Utility) of OS X and the second partition for data backups using OS X's included auto backup app. This could be a 2nd option.

Yes, however, I'm almost inclined to recommend to use the FULL 500GB for TimeMachine (which is the OS X native backup app). TM backs up data as well as the OS.

In case of a fatal failure of the MacBook HD, you can create a bootable clone from the TM data.

The problem with partitioning is that you take away space from TM (which can use as much space as you can give it). Using a second partition for manual clones is not a bad idea; however, in reality, most people are too lazy to execute those clones in a timely manner. If that happens, you're just wasting 250 GB of precious space that could have been used for TM.

Since your daughter is using it, and she is most likely not a computer geek, I would recommend to use the whole 500GB for TimeMachine. That way, she doesn't have to worry about manual operation of backups.

-t

[mduell]

Time Machine or OS X built-in cloning. Anything else is asking for trouble.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Since your daughter is using it, and she is most likely not a computer geek, I would recommend to use the whole 500GB for TimeMachine. That way, she doesn't have to worry about manual operation of backups.
-t

I like your thinking by using the whole 500 GB for Time Machine for her data backups. This is the drive she will be using the most often (my fingers are crossed) for her backups and will be kept close at hand.

Then I could get a second portable HDD just for cloning a bootable copy of OS X. This HDD would be keep out of site as emergency only, Hardrives are cheap now-a-days

Best But had a WD 1 TB on sale for $109 in today's paper and a 500 Gb for $89.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by MacRiski 

Best But had a WD 1 TB on sale for $109 in today's paper and a 500 Gb for $89.

Definitely go for the 1TB. You can never have enough HD storage space.

-t

[DCJ001]

You could also make a 10GB partition on your external drive and use Disk Utility to copy the Leopard DVD to it so that your daughter can boot from it without having the actual DVD.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by DCJ001 

You could also make a 10GB partition on your external drive and use Disk Utility to copy the Leopard DVD to it so that your daughter can boot from it without having the actual DVD.

Looks like we have a third option...but, is this a process a Mac ijut can handle (that would be me)?

It's lookin' very promising that the original DVD can stay home while the daughter is off learnin" (fingers are crossed)

Now all I need is access to the laptop in question to see what all these great suggestions are talking about. Hopefully I can figure it out, but I know I'm in good hands around here. 3 thumbs up

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by DCJ001 

You could also make a 10GB partition on your external drive and use Disk Utility to copy the Leopard DVD to it so that your daughter can boot from it without having the actual DVD.

Is that possible ? Just using Disk Utility to make a backup of the Installer DVD will give you a bootable partition ?

-t

[Cold Warrior]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Is that possible ? Just using Disk Utility to make a backup of the Installer DVD will give you a bootable partition ?

-t

yes

The source is the Leopard DVD, the target/destination is the partition. Works great. Same is true for a USB thumb drive.

[DCJ001]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Is that possible ? Just using Disk Utility to make a backup of the Installer DVD will give you a bootable partition ?

-t

It works very well. After inserting the Leopard DVD, and making a 10GB partition on the external drive, go to Disk Utility, drag the Leopard DVD image to the Source window, and drag the 10GB partition to the Destination window, clicking the Erase destination checkbox is good to do, then click on the Restore button at right, as shown in the image below.

If you want to boot from the Leopard DVD volume that you just created, restart and hold down the Option key while the external drive is connected, and you can choose your startup disk. I boot from a FireWire 400 external drive which, from what I understand, is faster than booting from the actual DVD. It's also faster than USB 2.0. FireWire 800 is the way to go with the new MacBook Pros.

I haven't used my actual Leopard DVD in a long time.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Is that possible ? Just using Disk Utility to make a backup of the Installer DVD will give you a bootable partition ?

Of course! The underlying tool is asr. The same that CCC (which you recommended) uses.

The first choice for all cloning (including bootable clones) should always be Disk Utility.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

yes

The source is the Leopard DVD, the target/destination is the partition. Works great. Same is true for a USB thumb drive.

Would this take a huge thumb drive? 8GB thumbs are affordable (I see 'em for around $25), but bigger than that gets to be pricey.

[Simon]

My retail Leopard DVD has a capacity of 7.11 GB.

An 8 GB thumb drive should work just fine.

[MacRiski]

Just love it when the Mac Mavens start muttering about Mac mania...us noobs really learn something.

This 3rd option with an 8 GB thumb drive is an excellent addition. Found an 8 GB Corsair on Newegg for $23.

My daughter could store it in the back of a drawer with her copied OS X Leopard Install DVD. It seems the next order of business is to get familiar with this Disk Utilty
Any recommendations on a good tutorial of this application?

Thank you all for getting me headed in a direction

[turtle777]

I would try the Apple build in help for DU.
To be honest, I never checked it, so I don't know if it's any good.

Other than, Google is your friend.

E.g.

http://www.index-site.com/clonedu.html

Let me google that for you

-t

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

How to Make a Non-Commercial DVD copy of MAC OS X Leopard...

taken from here: Apple - Support - Discussions - Backup of OS X Leopard doesn't launch ...

Now, it doesn't specifically mention it, but I think you need a Dual Layer DVD to do this. So when you buy a blank, make sure it's DL.

-t

Just for futher inhancements, I followed the link you provided a little deeper and found a How to... with pictures.

I'm pretty sure it's the same as the steps you provided.

I had my wife pick up some dual layer DVDs today and she brought home DVD+R DL, instead of DVD-R DL. Is this a good thing or bad. Not at all familiar with the DL formats, so I'm checking before jumping into copying the Leopard InstallDisk.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by MacRiski 

I had my wife pick up some dual layer DVDs today and she brought home DVD+R DL, instead of DVD-R DL. Is this a good thing or bad. Not at all familiar with the DL formats, so I'm checking before jumping into copying the Leopard InstallDisk.

Doesn't matter, your MacBook can read/write both formats.

See specs here.

-t

[DCJ001]

Originally Posted by MacRiski 

:
Any recommendations on a good tutorial of this application?:

A good way is to open Disk Utility, then select Help at the menu bar, then choose Search Disk Utility Help and type "Duplicating a disk" or whatever else you're looking to do. For duplicating a disk you'll basically get what I've shown in my previous post, but without the picture.

[MacRiski]

Just remembered a key item...Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual

Forgot I bought that for my oldest daughter when I bought her a Macbook Pro for graduation from The University. She was supposed to be her own tech support

When she moved north, she took the laptop and left the book at home.

Got a dozen pages to read, a good nights sleep and off to the races tomorrow. Just a finish will make me happy

[Simon]

Originally Posted by MacRiski 

It seems the next order of business is to get familiar with this Disk Utilty
Any recommendations on a good tutorial of this application?

You don't need a tutorial. It's a simple three step process:

1) plug in the USB thumb drive and format it with Disk Utility
2) in DU's restore tab drag the USB drive to destination, drag the OS installer DVD to source
3) select erase destination and hit the restore button

It's a cinch really. Typical Apple simplicity.

[Spheric Harlot]

^ you'll find it works better if you make the USB drive the destination.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by Simon 

You don't need a tutorial. It's a simple three step process:

1) plug in the USB thumb drive and format it with Disk Utility
2) in DU's restore tab drag the USB drive to source, drag the OS installer DVD to destination
3) select erase destination and hit the restore button

It's a cinch really. Typical Apple simplicity.

I haven't ordered the USB drive yet, so I'm going to dive into making a copy of the OS X Install DVD to a DVD+r DL disk...

say a little prayer for me

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

^ you'll find it works better if you make the USB drive the destination.

OMG, I'm an idiot. Thanks for pointing that out. It's fixed now.

I should definitely have more coffee before I post in the morning.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by Simon 

I should definitely have more coffee before I post in the morning.

...or less alcohol in the evening

Status as of now is the image file has been copied to the Desktop and the DVD+r DL is in the process of burning as I type.

How do I check this copy as "it's gonna work"?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by MacRiski 

How do I check this copy as "it's gonna work"?

Simple again.

See if you can boot from it.
See if you can install OS X from it.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Simple again.

See if you can boot from it.
See if you can install OS X from it.

10-4 Simon...i"m in the final stages of the verification process.

So I'll just leave the DVD in the drive and re-start everything...any tricks?

[Simon]

Hold 'd''c' to get your Mac to boot from the DVD drive.

[DCJ001]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Hold 'd' to get your Mac to boot from the DVD drive.

I like to press the Option key during reboot so that I'm given the option to choose my boot disk.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Hold 'd' to get your Mac to boot from the DVD drive.

That's "C" for the optical drive. "D" boots into diagnostic mode (Apple Hardware Test).

Sorry, Simon, to razz you again.

[MacRiski]

OMG ...should have got my coffee fix before starting up again this AM

Last night after testing the boot from the original OS X Install DVD, I decided to charge the battery before proceeding (22%). Not wanting to start late in the evening (too much anti-coffee), I held off till this AM.

All went well and I was ready to jump through hoops until...the ice broke.

I managed to get into the OS X Install DVD copy using the option key after a little DVD searching (takes a little longer to access). Looked around in the options and restarted.

This resulted in a screen with a folder and a big question mark After a few re-starts I was able to get the OS X copy ejected and the original inserted. Got back to the Startup Disk and re-stared into the OD X HDD.

Back to normal...me thinks.

I'm debating a try of the copy again cause I'm not sure if it was a premature ejection of the OS X copy on the re-start.

Any educated thoughts?

[ghporter]

The question mark means that the selected volume isn't bootable...which means that your copy didn't get copied the way you wanted.. Obviously there's something wrong with the process you followed. What that is? I don't know...

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

The question mark means that the selected volume isn't bootable...which means that your copy didn't get copied the way you wanted.. Obviously there's something wrong with the process you followed. What that is? I don't know...

I will have to admit, I wasn't to sure how to get out of the boot into copy loop and removed the DVD. I think this is what caused the fubar I really don't know

After I got back to normal (don't know how), I re-tried the original OS X Install DVD. It was only this time that I went into Startup disk and choose to re-start into the HDD. I didn't do that from the copy and when it re-started, I think I had a premature ejection...of the DVD

After my heart rate returns to normal, I'll try the copy again.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

That's "C" for the optical drive. "D" boots into diagnostic mode (Apple Hardware Test).

Sorry, Simon, to razz you again.

LOL

Geez, another morning post. And another brain fart! Thanks for pointing it out. I fixed it.

I give up. Either I'm going senile or coffee simply isn't cutting it anymore.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by Simon 

LOL

Geez, another morning post. And another brain fart! Thanks for pointing it out. I fixed it.

I give up. Either I'm going senile or coffee simply isn't cutting it anymore.

It's all in the beans Need more beans per cup/pot

[MacRiski]

I almost forgot...the OS X Install DVD copy did work after all.

The error was in the operator and his methods. I think because he DVD boots slower and I jumped into panic mode. Give it it's time and all worked as all of you planned

The 8 GB flash drive is on order, so don't go away

I'm really getting to like this Mac stuff...

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by Simon 

You don't need a tutorial. It's a simple three step process:

1) plug in the USB thumb drive and format it with Disk Utility
2) in DU's restore tab drag the USB drive to destination, drag the OS installer DVD to source
3) select erase destination and hit the restore button

It's a cinch really. Typical Apple simplicity.

Apple simplicity is an understatement

Couldn't wait for the flash drive I ordered, so I thought I would play with Disk Utility some more Got a 500 GB Toshiba portable USB drive for handy backups and decided to create 2 HFS+ partitons (10 GB called Ext Boot & 435 GB called Toshiba TM).

While I'm waiting, would install a bootable OS X backup the same as the plain old USB flash drive?

I can't believe I've bought 3 Macs in the last year and I don't have one

[Simon]

Sure, you can install OS X on that 10 GB partition as you would on the thumb drive. You can check to make sur you can boot form it, use the copy of Disk Utility on it, etc.

[MacRiski]

The 8 GB flash drive arrived today and I followed the "simple 3 step process" and worked as planned. Then I turned around and did the same on the 10 GB partition on the 500 GB portable drive.

As I play with this more and more the layout compared to W... (the other one) seems more logical. I have no idea how I will hold out till Christmas

Now my daughter has a backup DVD and 2 on drives...the original DVD can remian safely at home.

Thank you all so much

[MacRiski]

Crap...holy Batman !!! Here I'm patting myself on the back and discover a second DVD in the "Everything Else" sleeve provided with the MacBook. It's the "Applications Install DVD" at 3.72 GB and should a copy of this be made as well?

Can this be copied using the 3 step method or will it require going the way of an image file first like the bootable OS X Install DVD?

I promise...no more self congrats

[Simon]

You can copy any disk with the '3 step method'. Bootable disks will remain bootable using this method.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by Simon 

You can copy any disk with the '3 step method'. Bootable disks will remain bootable using this method.

To fully grasp this "Mac 3 step" (one up on Texas), could I have used this to make a copy of the original OS X Install DVD ???

As long as I'm grasping, I should be able to go into Disk Utility and take the 10 GB partiton on the 500 GB portable HDD and increase it to 12 GB by just grasping the do-hicky and moving down a little Then I could do the "Mac 3 step" and copy the App Install DVD to the new 12 GB partition.

I've had my coffee, but unsure of you'all

[Simon]

Yes and yes.

[MacRiski]

Originally Posted by Simon says 

Yes and yes.

Step 3 is the one that had me baffled...was afraid if I "select erase destination and hit the restore button" it would erase the copy of the OS X Install DVD I already had on the drive.

Thought maybe I should uncheck "erase destination" before restore as long as it was already formatted with data on it.