Is it possible to boot from .dmg?

[Loathe]

Hi,

I've backed up my entire internal hdd to a dmg file (or sparseimage, i'm not sure coz its not done yet) to an external hdd using CCC. Question is, if something happens to my mac and I lose all my data, will I be able to restore my machine using this file? If yes, how do I do that?

Thanks

 

[chas_m]

Yes, you can restore from a sparseimage file. No, you can't boot from it (or any other kind of disc image file). You would boot from the restore DVD that came with your Mac, or a retail OS disc.

 

[chscag]

Hi,

I've backed up my entire internal hdd to a dmg file (or sparseimage, i'm not sure coz its not done yet) to an external hdd using CCC. Question is, if something happens to my mac and I lose all my data, will I be able to restore my machine using this file? If yes, how do I do that? Thanks

Why are you backing up to a sparseimage? Since you're using CCC, just format the external HDD to use HFS Journaled & GUID. Direct CCC to "clone" the contents on your internal HDD to the external. The external will then be bootable just like your internal drive. If the internal drive fails, you can use the external to boot and run your machine until you get a new drive.

No need to create an image and then have to use your install DVD to boot the machine in order to restore.

Regards.

 

[Loathe]

Why are you backing up to a sparseimage? Since you're using CCC, just format the external HDD to use HFS Journaled & GUID. Direct CCC to "clone" the contents on your internal HDD to the external. The external will then be bootable just like your internal drive. If the internal drive fails, you can use the external to boot and run your machine until you get a new drive.

No need to create an image and then have to use your install DVD to boot the machine in order to restore.

Regards.

Can I partition my drive from from 1 1TB ntfs to 800GB ntfs+200GB HFS without losing any data on the ntfs side? I haven't tried Disk utility to partition coz I'm afraid of losing my data. I managed to partition it in to 800GB+200GB ntfs though(using windows), but the 200GB never showed up in OSX. Any ideas?

 

[XJ-linux]

I've booted from external HDD images created by SuperDuper and CCC many times. In fact, I always boot from them once a backup is complete to test them. They work via USB or Firewire if you are running 10.5 or later and using an Intel C2D machine (though Apple doesn't officially support this). You can also image your install or retail DVD on to a USB drive and boot from it as well. I've done so many times on... err... side projects involving various hardware configurations.

 

[Loathe]

I've booted from external HDD images created by SuperDuper and CCC many times. In fact, I always boot from them once a backup is complete to test them. They work via USB or Firewire if you are running 10.5 or later and using an Intel C2D machine (though Apple doesn't officially support this). You can also image your install or retail DVD on to a USB drive and boot from it as well. I've done so many times on... err... side projects involving various hardware configurations.

How do you do that? Please explain.

Regards

 

[XJ-linux]

Insert DVD and USB drive.
Open Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities).
Click on USB drive icon that states the capacity of the drive (i.e. 7.1 Gb, 7.6 GB, etc.).
Open the Partition tab.
Set:
Volume Scheme: 1 Partition
Name: OSXDVD
Format: Mac OS Extended
Options...: Master Boot Record, then click OK.
Click Apply.
Click Partition.
When Partition is finished, open the Restore tab.
Drag "Mac OS X Install DVD" from the left pane into the Source field in the right pane.
Drag OSXDVD from the left pane into the Destination field in the right pane.
Click Restore, then click Restore in the popup window.
Enter your password, and then wait approximately 25 minutes to 2 hours.
When restoration is finished, close Disk Utility and eject the DVD.
You now have a bootable USB flash drive

 

[Loathe]

Insert DVD and USB drive.
Open Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities).
Click on USB drive icon that states the capacity of the drive (i.e. 7.1 Gb, 7.6 GB, etc.).
Open the Partition tab.
Set:
Volume Scheme: 1 Partition
Name: OSXDVD
Format: Mac OS Extended
Options...: Master Boot Record, then click OK.
Click Apply.
Click Partition.
When Partition is finished, open the Restore tab.
Drag "Mac OS X Install DVD" from the left pane into the Source field in the right pane.
Drag OSXDVD from the left pane into the Destination field in the right pane.
Click Restore, then click Restore in the popup window.
Enter your password, and then wait approximately 25 minutes to 2 hours.
When restoration is finished, close Disk Utility and eject the DVD.
You now have a bootable USB flash drive

Wow, thanks man. If it's not too much to ask, will you please also explain how to boot from a .dmg file? I think it would be quite useful for many people in the forum including me.

Also, I have a very important question that I would like to ask.

If I use Disk utility to divide my 1TB ext HD(NTFS) to 2 partition (it is currently 80% full), 1 partition would be NTFS 840GB and the other would be 160 GB HFS, how can I do this without losing any data?

Thanks so much in advance. And sorry for my english.