Advanced 1: Backup and Restore Installations
Using Disk Utility
Things you will need:
- Functioning Dell Mini with Mac OS already installed.
- USB drive (to be safe, as large or larger than your SSD), or -
If you are only backing up, a computer or NAS (Network Attached Storage) device that is accessible in Finder and has as much space available as your Mac partition can be used for this method.
Note: I typically image my drive using the Leopard DVD software that I made in Method 1 of the guide. This is safer and more practical in my opinion. To each his own...
- Open Disk Utility. This will be in Applications/Utilities. Make sure you have your backup device ready; either the USB drive plugged in or your network resource is on and accessible.
- Select you Mac OS X partition, then click “New Image”. Name the image appropriately. Save it to your backup device either using the drop-down menu or press the down arrow to browse through the drives and folders. Next you'll want to select either “read/write” or “compressed” as your image format. The difference is that you'll be able to edit your files in the read/write image just by mounting it on any Mac OS computer, but the compressed image will cut down the space needed dramatically. Determine your needs beforehand; if this is simply a backup, either one will do.
- Now make sure that the image is actually saved! I have had experience in the past where I've wiped my SSD without checking first only to be surprised that I can't find my disk image! Simply disconnect the drive and reconnect. If using the DVD to do this, whatever you do, DO NOT MOUNT THE IMAGE AND THEN TURN OFF THE MACHINE! This is the only reason I can find that my images have disappeared.
*Note: You can also use Time Machine to regularly back up your Mini at different stages. Once you have selected your backup disk and it will do it automatically for you. You will simply need to select Time Machine from the Utilities menu on the Install DVD to restore it back. I do not consider this as safe of a backup, but it is apparently a fairly accurate backup solution. If you backup through Time Machine to a network resource, I highly doubt that you will be able to access it from the Install DVD. Any experience with this matter would be appreciated. - Now you can do whatever you want. Need Windows XP for a trip and don't want to mess with dual-booting? Do it, and restore later. Want to see if that pesky error still happens with a fresh installation? Check it out!
- Now to restore. You will need to be booted into the DVD, no matter what. I mean by this that either you will need the actual DVD in an external drive or have it copied to a flash drive like me. Open Disk Utility by booting the DVD (follow directions in Part A if you can't remember how to do this) and then selecting Utilities > Disk Utility. Select the actual SSD drive, not the partition. Click on the “Partition” tab, create a new partition, name it to whatever you had before, and use the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format and click Apply.
- Click on the restore tab. You will drag your clean partition to the “Destination” box. Click “Image...” to find the disk image you created in the backup. This will need to be on a USB disk, since the WiFi does not work in setup and even on a LAN connection you will not be able to view your network resources. (If anyone knows of a Terminal process to access network resources feel free to comment below.)
- Click “Restore” and confirm it, then wait until it has completed the process. You will need to use the DellEFI disk to boot into your restore partition since the boot code is not restored, but it is as simple as running the DellEFI app again and selecting “Reinstall Chameleon 2.0RC1-r431 Bootloader”. You should be good to go from here!
This method also works for upgrading SSDs or for installing to/from flash drives.
Using Terminal & dd
Coming Soon!
mechdrew Advanced 1 Version 2.93