[yoda9999]

I would like to know what software Mac owners recommend to make a bootable image of the internal disk for an Intel Aluminum iMac. I would like something more user friendly than "dd".

I would like to

1. copy an image of the internal disk to an external disk

2. have something to boot the iMac incase a new replacement disk is installed, e.g. a boot CD or external boot disk

3. a way to recover the external image, i.e. copy the image it to the new internal disk


Is something like Intego Personal Backup X4 a good choice?

Or do you think it's simply better to reinstall the OS and use Time Machine to restore applications and documents?

[Chuckit]

Check out Carbon Copy Cloner. I've used it for this before.

[Art Vandelay]

Disk Utility and NetRestore Helper will also create an image. If you use these two or Carbon Copy Cloner, then you can boot from your OS X disc and use Disk Utility to restore the disk image from any of these programs.

All of the above are free.