OS X Cloning

Hello all,

I need to know the best and most efficient way to clone machines.

Here is what i have done so far. Connected two imacs running 10.3.8 with a firewire cable. Then used carbon copy clone to make a carbon copy on second machine.

This works quickly, but when i boot up the other machine it hangs at "Opening login window" and just stays there.

I have heard of using disk utility but when i tried it, it took a long time and i had to reinstall os X to get it to work.

Any ideas i have a huge amount of macs to rollout and i would like to just image the disk i have the way i want it

Thanks

Cory neye:

i think you may have stumped people.

I would try creating a disk Image from CCC, boot the Macs from a FW drive that has the image on local. Then restore the image to the internal drive of each mac. That is probably the most likely to work.

Alternatively you could invest in a Disk Jockey or other similar product and save yourself a lot of headaches. You can prove an ROI based on the time savings alone. That is what I would recommend you do rather than mess around with CCC or other software based solution.

well...

Looking up the disk jockey does it work from machine to machine.....it talked a lot about IDE drives being hooked up that way but i really dont want to open up all my macs....does it work the firewire way or USB 2.0 to??

Also i have heard a lot of people with success in CCC why am i having trouble.....any ideas??

wonderful grammar. I think im missing your question.

let me put it in laymans terms

I need to clone hard drives [stop]
what is the best way to do it [stop]
i have tried carbon copy clone and its not working [stop]
someone suggested a DiskJockey will it work by firewire [stop]

[end transmission] :spook:

try putting your old machine into firewire mode, by shutting it down, hook it up to your new computer with a firewire cable and then start your old one up with the f key held down.. then you'll be able to easily transfer across.. Someone please correct me if I messed up with any of the instructions.. I did it a long time ago, so my memory has faded

Ahh just found a thread for you:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=100932

i appreciate

I appreciate the replies...thank you

I have tried using the firewire mode to transfer files....but the target wont boot...it just hangs...i can get it to work if i reinstall OS X but that is a long process....just looking for something a little easier.....

Well I use Tri-BACKUP, but it costs money.. but it does everything I need it to do...

Yes Carbon Copy clonner will work. But you can not easily do it directly from Mac to Mac. You definitely can not do it while both are running OS X.

Given you are not willing to extract the dirves, which is the most reliable method, get one external Firewire dirve and install OS X on it. Then
1) Boot from the Firewire.
2) Clone the internal drive to a disk image file on the firewire drive.
3) Shutdown and boot a machine you want to install that image on from the firewire drive.
4) use CCC to install the image onto the internal drive
5) return to 3 till done.

CCC is no 100% every time and that is where your risk and time lies. You will need to test and potentially redo certain machines multiple times. It is all a matter of deciding where you want your efforts to go.

EDIT: Unless you have some load out of programs, user accounts, settings, etc. that need to be copied I would argue that it would be easier to make a bunch of copies of you OS X install disk (assuming you have a site license of some sort) and then boot all of the systems at once, or perhaps 10 at a time.

What is wrong with the current install on the iMacs?

Kokopelli said:

EDIT: Unless you have some load out of programs, user accounts, settings, etc. that need to be copied I would argue that it would be easier to make a bunch of copies of you OS X install disk (assuming you have a site license of some sort) and then boot all of the systems at once, or perhaps 10 at a time.

What is wrong with the current install on the iMacs?

Click to expand...

There are user account settings, permissions, programs, dock, etc that i have the way i want it on a couple machines....i would like to propogate those....although i could do it manually...was just wondering if there was an easier way