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Old 04-26-2008, 03:52 AM
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naquaada naquaada is offline
 
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Disk Utility - make full use of it!

Here's an article about the Disk Utility. Normally it stays lonely in the Utilities folder and is often overseen. But it's more than a harddisk formatter - it's an backup program, a burning program, an very effective archiver and much more. I'm using the Disk Utility nearly every day and it was the reason why i never updated from 10.4.7 till now because all images since 10.4.8 had a bug in it.

To expand the options, start Onyx and look in Parameters/Various. At the top are some additional options for the Disk Utility, activate them. Now to some things how to use the program.

2 Opteron systems: OSx86 10.5.8, Andy's 9.8.0 kernel, Asus A8N-SLI Premium, Opteron 185 o'clocked @ 2 x 2,95 GHz (2nd system 2.6 GHz), ATI Radeon HD2600XT 256MB Dual-Monitor 2x HP L2035, 4 GB RAM, Griffin FireWave as main audio device, Marvell + nForce LAN, Asus U3S6 USB3/SATA6 card, 5,5 TB harddisk, Firewire 800 card, Apple Remote + eHome IR receiver, 2x Wacom serial graphics tablet, Canon Pixma iP4700, Logitech Internet Navigator wireless keyboard/mouse combination.

My Audio stuff: M-Audio Transit USB (default audio), M-Audio ProFire 610, M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge (34 channels) using Creamware A16 ADAT converter MIDI: M-Audio Midiman 4x MIDI interfaceBehringer Audio Mixers: Xenyx 1002, Xenyx 1002FX, Xenyx 1202FX, Eurorack UB1002FX, Eurorack MX1804FX, Eurorack MX262A • FX devices: Lexicon MPX100 DSP, Behringer DSP-1000 Virtualizer, Behringer MiniFEX 800 DSP, Behringer Multicom Pro MDX4400 compressor RETRO: MSSIAH midi/sequencer/synthesizer cardridge for the C64 (Dual-SID), Steinberg M.S.I. MIDI Interface for C64
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Old 04-26-2008, 03:52 AM
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naquaada naquaada is offline
 
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Make use of Disk Images (.dmg, .sparseimage)

The Mac's Disk Images are a great thing. You can use them to burn, sort and archive files. There are two main types: The standard disk image (.dmg) which uses all the space on disk you define it. Then there's the growing image (.sparseimage). This image only uses so much space on the disk which it contains. Both types have advantages and disadvantages. The .dmg image needs more space on disk, but it works more like a real drive, f.e. it can be better defragmented. A .sparseimage needs less space, but if you delete files in it the space will not be freed on the real HD. If you defragment it also will grow. But in the most cases the .sparseimage is the better choice.

How do I create a disk image? Start DIsk Utility and use 'New Image' in the toolbar or 'File/New/Empty Image' from the menu. You get a requester for the name with a lot of options at the bottom. At the top you can select the path and the file name it should have. At the bottom you can enter the name the disk image will have if you open it (can be changed later, of course). In the next field you can change the size. In the most cases select 4,7 GB DVD Image. If you want to use a disk image on a FAT32 drive (f.e. portable harddisk) enter 4095 MB as custom size. Encryption is normally unneccessary. For the partition table use always 'No partition map', i have encountered problems with other types. For the image format 'read/write disk image' will create a .dmg, 'sparse disk image' will create a .sparseimage file. If you click create, a new removable drive will appear on the right side.

For what can I use a disk image?

It helps you f.e. to clean up the harddisk. I had from former times a collection of about 100.000 MIDI files. I you have them directly on your HD, spotlight has to collect all 100.000 files - and normally are MIDIs unneccessary for Spotlight. So I put them all in an image. I have the files, they are sorted but on the real HD there are 99.999 files removed. It is good for all files with small file sizes, f.e. Amiga MOD files. It's also good for complete sets, f.e. a comic collection. I also have a image of useful Tools, installer packages, system drivers, Icons and so on. I created a sparseimage with 4095 MB for them and so I have the stuff fine sorted. If I want to install a program I havn't to search the whole HD, I only have to do look in that image. And I can open it via menu and with a hotkey, so it's very handy. And it could never be bigger than 4095 MB, so I always could be sure it fits on a FAT32 disk or an a DVD.

2 Opteron systems: OSx86 10.5.8, Andy's 9.8.0 kernel, Asus A8N-SLI Premium, Opteron 185 o'clocked @ 2 x 2,95 GHz (2nd system 2.6 GHz), ATI Radeon HD2600XT 256MB Dual-Monitor 2x HP L2035, 4 GB RAM, Griffin FireWave as main audio device, Marvell + nForce LAN, Asus U3S6 USB3/SATA6 card, 5,5 TB harddisk, Firewire 800 card, Apple Remote + eHome IR receiver, 2x Wacom serial graphics tablet, Canon Pixma iP4700, Logitech Internet Navigator wireless keyboard/mouse combination.

My Audio stuff: M-Audio Transit USB (default audio), M-Audio ProFire 610, M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge (34 channels) using Creamware A16 ADAT converter MIDI: M-Audio Midiman 4x MIDI interfaceBehringer Audio Mixers: Xenyx 1002, Xenyx 1002FX, Xenyx 1202FX, Eurorack UB1002FX, Eurorack MX1804FX, Eurorack MX262A • FX devices: Lexicon MPX100 DSP, Behringer DSP-1000 Virtualizer, Behringer MiniFEX 800 DSP, Behringer Multicom Pro MDX4400 compressor RETRO: MSSIAH midi/sequencer/synthesizer cardridge for the C64 (Dual-SID), Steinberg M.S.I. MIDI Interface for C64
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Old 04-26-2008, 03:52 AM
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naquaada naquaada is offline
 
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Using Disk Utility as compressor

Disk Utility can save disk images compressed. if you activate the special options with Onyx, you also can compress in bzip2 format which is very effective. I still have the importantst OS X images as DVD images on my harddisk. But I converted them in bzip2 format and this saves a lot of size. Other examples: My MIDI collection were uncompressed about 3,1 GB. bzip2-compressed they only need 700 MB! A small collection of 4 videos (quicktime and divX format) were uncompressed 96 MB, compressed only 37. That's a good ratio for already compressed files.

Disk Utility has an option 'File/New/Image from Folder' in the menu. This allows easily to convert a folder in a disk image, this is the easiest way to compress files for mailing or for rapidshare.

The most important aspect of an compressed dmg: You have access to them without decruncing! If you want to access files from a normal archive, you have to decompress the whole stuff on the HD first, even if you only need one file. This uses a lot of space. A .dmg could be used like a harddisk. In my case, I always have access to my MIDI files without to decompressing them to my HD first.

2 Opteron systems: OSx86 10.5.8, Andy's 9.8.0 kernel, Asus A8N-SLI Premium, Opteron 185 o'clocked @ 2 x 2,95 GHz (2nd system 2.6 GHz), ATI Radeon HD2600XT 256MB Dual-Monitor 2x HP L2035, 4 GB RAM, Griffin FireWave as main audio device, Marvell + nForce LAN, Asus U3S6 USB3/SATA6 card, 5,5 TB harddisk, Firewire 800 card, Apple Remote + eHome IR receiver, 2x Wacom serial graphics tablet, Canon Pixma iP4700, Logitech Internet Navigator wireless keyboard/mouse combination.

My Audio stuff: M-Audio Transit USB (default audio), M-Audio ProFire 610, M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge (34 channels) using Creamware A16 ADAT converter MIDI: M-Audio Midiman 4x MIDI interfaceBehringer Audio Mixers: Xenyx 1002, Xenyx 1002FX, Xenyx 1202FX, Eurorack UB1002FX, Eurorack MX1804FX, Eurorack MX262A • FX devices: Lexicon MPX100 DSP, Behringer DSP-1000 Virtualizer, Behringer MiniFEX 800 DSP, Behringer Multicom Pro MDX4400 compressor RETRO: MSSIAH midi/sequencer/synthesizer cardridge for the C64 (Dual-SID), Steinberg M.S.I. MIDI Interface for C64
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Old 04-26-2008, 03:52 AM
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naquaada naquaada is offline
 
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Burning DVDs with Disk Utility

Burning DVD images is easy with Disk Utility. Select 'Burn' in the toolbar and select an image. It supports of course .dmg, .sparseimage, but also .iso, .bin and also .toast (not tested). RW-Disks could also be erased. Disk Utility always checks the burnt media.

Burning Files

File burning works with Disk Images. You create a disk image, put the files in and burn it. But I think that's only working with the Mac filesystem.
But now we come to the advantages of burning a Mac image. With .dmgs you can create very nice looking discs. At first, you can give the image an own disk icon. But there's more: Every window can have seperate background pictures! If you downloaded programs from the internet, there was often a background picture in the image.

My last project was rather complex. It contains three movies, the english versions, all Soundtracks (5 MP3s-CDs), 3 available Musicals and Specials including 18 additional movies. The additional movies were music videos from known songs lip-syncronisized with scenes cutted of the film, some are really amazing well made. I searched for every song the fitting CD-Cover from from Amazon and created an Icon (You only need FastIcns and Preview for this). Every folder has a different backgroundpic, the icons are in size and position individual fixed. It was a lot of work, but it was really fun. And I still have the .sparseimage, so if I want to make changes, I could do it every time. Tip: If you want to use more than one background pic, create at best a folder 'backgrounds' in the main directory and make it invisible when you're finished (use Path Finder or a similar program for this). See - it's possible to create great looking DVDs without needing much special software.

BTW: You also can rip a DVD to an read/write-image with Disk Utility. So it's easy possible to make modifications on it!

2 Opteron systems: OSx86 10.5.8, Andy's 9.8.0 kernel, Asus A8N-SLI Premium, Opteron 185 o'clocked @ 2 x 2,95 GHz (2nd system 2.6 GHz), ATI Radeon HD2600XT 256MB Dual-Monitor 2x HP L2035, 4 GB RAM, Griffin FireWave as main audio device, Marvell + nForce LAN, Asus U3S6 USB3/SATA6 card, 5,5 TB harddisk, Firewire 800 card, Apple Remote + eHome IR receiver, 2x Wacom serial graphics tablet, Canon Pixma iP4700, Logitech Internet Navigator wireless keyboard/mouse combination.

My Audio stuff: M-Audio Transit USB (default audio), M-Audio ProFire 610, M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge (34 channels) using Creamware A16 ADAT converter MIDI: M-Audio Midiman 4x MIDI interfaceBehringer Audio Mixers: Xenyx 1002, Xenyx 1002FX, Xenyx 1202FX, Eurorack UB1002FX, Eurorack MX1804FX, Eurorack MX262A • FX devices: Lexicon MPX100 DSP, Behringer DSP-1000 Virtualizer, Behringer MiniFEX 800 DSP, Behringer Multicom Pro MDX4400 compressor RETRO: MSSIAH midi/sequencer/synthesizer cardridge for the C64 (Dual-SID), Steinberg M.S.I. MIDI Interface for C64
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Old 04-26-2008, 03:52 AM
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naquaada naquaada is offline
 
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Create Backups with Disk Utility

I always have two bootable partitions on my harddisk (three total), a big main partition and a small (15GB) partition for recovery reasons. If the main partition crashes - that could already happen only by installing one false kext - it is possible to reboot in the other system and fix the problem from there. I used this method since Tiger 10.4.5 and it saved me a lot of re-installations. And it saves a lot of new installations! You create once that installation as good as possible. Then you create a compressed .dmg of it and save it on another partition or external harddrive. How saves this an installation? Easy: Select the partition the image should get a new installation. Select 'Restore' in the main window of Disk Utility. Since Leopard the image must be checked once before restoring: Use 'Scan Image for Restore' from the image menu and select the image you just created. After it suceeded successfully, select it with the 'Image' button in the restore window or drag it on the 'Source' field. Drag the volume on which it should be installed on the 'Destination' field and select 'Erase destination'. After the password it rewrites the image to the new partition. It is no problem to restore a smaller image to a larger drive. That's why my Recovery partition is so small. Although, it's still oversized. I have a lot of Tools on it, but I removed unneccessary kexts and the PPC part of the most programs, so only 7 GB are used. That's only nearly the size of a standard installation. As a bzip2-compressed image it uses only 2,7 GB. So it's possible to keep it on a portable FAT32 harddrive or on a DVD.

Tips: before compression defragment the harddisk. Thats normally not neccessary, but it moves the files to the beginning to the drive. This is better for the compressing process. You can also optmize the compression if you overwrite the unnused blocks with zeroes before. The creating and rewriting of .dmg backups is also possible with the Installation DVD, select the Disk Utility from the Utilites menu and do the process as described above.

In all Tiger images since 10.4.8 you get an Error -5308 if you do this and your destination partition is destroyed. If you don't select 'erase harddisk' you'll get an Error 19, 'drive not supported'. But I also got much worse error messages with an 8-digit error number and so on.

2 Opteron systems: OSx86 10.5.8, Andy's 9.8.0 kernel, Asus A8N-SLI Premium, Opteron 185 o'clocked @ 2 x 2,95 GHz (2nd system 2.6 GHz), ATI Radeon HD2600XT 256MB Dual-Monitor 2x HP L2035, 4 GB RAM, Griffin FireWave as main audio device, Marvell + nForce LAN, Asus U3S6 USB3/SATA6 card, 5,5 TB harddisk, Firewire 800 card, Apple Remote + eHome IR receiver, 2x Wacom serial graphics tablet, Canon Pixma iP4700, Logitech Internet Navigator wireless keyboard/mouse combination.

My Audio stuff: M-Audio Transit USB (default audio), M-Audio ProFire 610, M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge (34 channels) using Creamware A16 ADAT converter MIDI: M-Audio Midiman 4x MIDI interfaceBehringer Audio Mixers: Xenyx 1002, Xenyx 1002FX, Xenyx 1202FX, Eurorack UB1002FX, Eurorack MX1804FX, Eurorack MX262A • FX devices: Lexicon MPX100 DSP, Behringer DSP-1000 Virtualizer, Behringer MiniFEX 800 DSP, Behringer Multicom Pro MDX4400 compressor RETRO: MSSIAH midi/sequencer/synthesizer cardridge for the C64 (Dual-SID), Steinberg M.S.I. MIDI Interface for C64
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Old 04-26-2008, 03:52 AM
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naquaada naquaada is offline
 
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So, these are the things I'm using Disk Utility for everyday purposes, not only for formatting harddisk or repairing permissions. If anyone else has some other uses, post em here.

Greetings, Naquaada.

2 Opteron systems: OSx86 10.5.8, Andy's 9.8.0 kernel, Asus A8N-SLI Premium, Opteron 185 o'clocked @ 2 x 2,95 GHz (2nd system 2.6 GHz), ATI Radeon HD2600XT 256MB Dual-Monitor 2x HP L2035, 4 GB RAM, Griffin FireWave as main audio device, Marvell + nForce LAN, Asus U3S6 USB3/SATA6 card, 5,5 TB harddisk, Firewire 800 card, Apple Remote + eHome IR receiver, 2x Wacom serial graphics tablet, Canon Pixma iP4700, Logitech Internet Navigator wireless keyboard/mouse combination.

My Audio stuff: M-Audio Transit USB (default audio), M-Audio ProFire 610, M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge (34 channels) using Creamware A16 ADAT converter MIDI: M-Audio Midiman 4x MIDI interfaceBehringer Audio Mixers: Xenyx 1002, Xenyx 1002FX, Xenyx 1202FX, Eurorack UB1002FX, Eurorack MX1804FX, Eurorack MX262A • FX devices: Lexicon MPX100 DSP, Behringer DSP-1000 Virtualizer, Behringer MiniFEX 800 DSP, Behringer Multicom Pro MDX4400 compressor RETRO: MSSIAH midi/sequencer/synthesizer cardridge for the C64 (Dual-SID), Steinberg M.S.I. MIDI Interface for C64
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Old 05-10-2009, 11:47 AM
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JoesMorgue JoesMorgue is offline
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How do you burn to .iso?

I did an image yesterday, but I could only do .dmg, or some other I cannot remember....

Quote:
Originally Posted by naquaada View Post
Burning DVDs with Disk Utility

Burning DVD images is easy with Disk Utility. Select 'Burn' in the toolbar and select an image. It supports of course .dmg, .sparseimage, but also .iso, .bin and also .toast (not tested). RW-Disks could also be erased. Disk Utility always checks the burnt media.



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