HD Clonetool. PowerPC and Developer "Mac" Versions. GUI version coming soon

[Guest goodtime]

http://art5dog.com/CTeaser.mov

 

HD Clonetool .06a is out. Now Supporting SSE2/SSE3 (10.4.6 or 10.4.8). Also supporting PowerPC verison tested using 10.4.8! PowerPC does not have a limitation of using 2 Hard drives to make it bootable. PPC Clonetool can use 2 partitions on the same hard drive! .06a fixes a problem with opening disk images in 10.4.6.

 

If anyone is running 10.4.3-10.4.5 or 10.4.7, please PM me and let me know if you can open disk images and create disk images from folders. Thank you! goodtime

 

SSE2 boot Update: After doing some more research on diskutil and mediakit frameworks. I am pleased to announce a solution for SSE2 users using their existing 8.4.1 kernel system. I will .06a adds support for SSE2 computers! After Rammjet and I debated about the Mediakit, I decided to do some more digging. I found the missing link for diskutil to work correctly on SSE2 machines! The missing link that a needed is a newer version of the DiskManagement framework. I found what I needed from Apple's GPT technote. See Thread for details. What does this mean? SSE2 computers are now bootable without a boot DVD or separate Boot partition. (Assuming that you have a 2nd hard drive for the clone.) -gt

 

Official Clonetool Website/Download

Don't forget to support Clonetool! Your donations are needed to create additional features like a Graphical User Interface, and Intel Mac EFI Support! PowerPC Support is coming soon. HD Clonetool is a non-profit project. Any money received will go towards books and equipment.

 

Clonetool Suggestions:

 

1. Download & Install Clonetool.

2. Backup any criticial data on the Target/Destination HD. Please backup any important data that you have on the target partition, as contents on your target partition will be replaced by the Cloned system software. If you lose some important data, please don't complain to us about it. Remember to back it up.

 

3. If you skip this step and cannot reformat your entire drive for any reason, please make sure that your target disk is setup as an fdisk/MBR partition scheme and can handle Mac OS Extended Journaled (Journaled HFS+).

For USB2.0/SATA drives:Partition your target disk using the Master Boot Record option from Disk Utility (in your Applications / Utilities folder) and make sure the target partition is Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).

4. Run Clonetool and follow the instructions.

5. Test the clone; reset your BIOS to boot from the Cloned hard disk.

6. Post feedback. Since this Alpha is now available to the public, please only post your feedback in this forum. That way, anyone will be able to help if you run into problems with your system. I try to read every PM, but due to the high volume of PMs, I will not be answering every message. I am the developer of this hack, but I am not a tech support person. This software assumes that you know something about Macs, your BIOS and Unix. Your system must be fully functional in order to use Clonetool. Please use at your own risk. Thank you!

7. If moving from a small hard drive to a larger one. Don't destroy your old hard drive until you know everything is working 100% and all your data is there and your Apps are working!

 

OSx86 HD Clonetool currently backups an OSx86 installation to another HFS+ partition; preferably a 2nd Hard drive or External USB 2.0 Drive. Clonetool copies from a booted system directly to another drive without using an intermediate disk image.

 

Currently the software runs in the command line. Support for Developer Transition type systems running on x86 processors using MBR Format. Support for PowerPC soon. Intel Macs, near future.

 

gt

Edited December 21, 2006 by goodtime

[Rammjet]

FWIW - Things I've read/observed:

 

boot files in directory at start of OSX install DVD's

 

boot0 - is what would typically be placed in the boot code section of your MBR for a darwin-only system.

 

boot1h - goes in the first .5KB of an HFS+ partition, and has enough code to parse an HFS+ volume header, find the extents associated with the "HFS+ Startup file" and load it.

 

boot - is what is referred to by the Startup File extents for an HFS+ volume. This is the second-stage loader which is in charge of presenting the list of bootable volumes, and if applicable, loading a kernel + extensions from the filesystem

 

cdboot is a modified version of boot for use on CDs

 

... requires very few tools (basically just dd). Supporting HFS+ requires updating the HFS+ volume header to point to the location of the startup file on disk.

chain0 is just boot compiled for DOS

 

Looking at fdisk it appears I could do this by running something like:

 

fdisk -f /path-to/boot1h /dev/rdisk0

Also, read man pages for fdisk and bless

[A Nonny Moose]

You'll need to place some kind of command in there to address blessing "Old World" system folders.

[Guest goodtime]

You'll need to place some kind of command in there to address blessing "Old World" system folders.

 

Nonny,

Thanks for your interest. PowerPC 'Old World' systems will be added once I get the kinks out of BIOS based Darwin bootloader version. 'til then there's always Carbon Copy Cloner which works correctly on PowerPC based systems. I do have a G3 and G4 for testing Old World Macs, so it won't be a problem supporting those systems.

 

gt

[A Nonny Moose]

Because of this, the make bootable part will be added as an option. It's not a bug it's a feature! But before releasing this option, I want to make sure it works correctly as expected.

 

gt

 

Good good. I should have said something like "I know the basic function needs to be done first but..."

 

The way I worded it sounded demanding and I apologize for that.

[eto]

<eto> um

<eto> im impressed

<eto> im on the system i just cloned FROM another hd, with clonetool

<eto> i just rebooted to it

 

JustLikeThat

from SATA internal hd, 2nd partition, to ide-in-usb-external hd, 1st partition, no issues yet

[Guest goodtime]

<eto> um

<eto> im impressed

<eto> im on the system i just cloned FROM another hd, with clonetool

<eto> i just rebooted to it

 

JustLikeThat

from SATA internal hd, 2nd partition, to ide-in-usb-external hd, 1st partition, no issues yet

 

Super! Thanks for being apart of Clonetool. I am glad that it worked for you.

 

Clonetool is so good, you might not know your running off the cloned drive. Most of my posts were from a Cloned system using Clonetool.

 

:censored2:

 

-gt

[eto]

"when you repartition an entire disk using MBR/PC Partition, the Darwin bootloader is installed by default"

ok, i have too much data on the other parts on that hd to re-format the whole 160gb

id still like to see this "using MBR/PC Partition" .. ive NEVER seen that anywhere as a option, see

[Guest goodtime]

"when you repartition an entire disk using MBR/PC Partition, the Darwin bootloader is installed by default"

ok, i have too much data on the other parts on that hd to re-format the whole 160gb

id still like to see this "using MBR/PC Partition" .. ive NEVER seen that anywhere as a option, see

 

As long as you have an fdisk/PC Partition table it should be fine. Clonetool will install the Darwin bootloader on just that partition as long as it's already an fdisk/PC Partition scheme and assuming the clone is a 2nd hard drive (not on the same disk as your boot drive).

 

Some users may be have an Apple or GUID ID Partition scheme which the 10.4.8's Disk Utility software uses by default. Reformatting is a recommendation, not exactly a requirement. Advanced users I am sure will figure this out. Clonetool will erase the target partition and install the bootloader on that partition. Now, if someone prevents Clonetool from erasing the target partition or it Clonetool cannot erase the target partition as "Journaled HFS+" then all bets are off. Hopefully this answers your question.

 

The magic underneath the hood, recap.

After installing Clonetool, if you re-partition a disk with multiple partitions, by default all new fdisk/MBR/PC partitions will have the darwin bootloader inside it. If you cannot reformat the entire drive, Clonetool will install the bootloader on the target partition only, as long as it step up as an fdisk partition scheme on the 2nd drive. This is inherent of the behavior of how the media kit works which Clonetool conveniently installs for you.

 

For users that have a brand new drive and don't know if your disk is formatted with an fdisk partition or worst case can't boot from the clone, I recommend reformatting using Apple's Disk Utility with MBR option, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to clear out any gremlins; IE corrupt MBR, wrong partition type, etc. I will add some error checking here to warn users if something isn't right like not an fdisk, installing to disk as same as the boot drive, etc.

 

I will try to clarify this in the next release and hope I covered this as much as possible. This information I recently discovered just 2 days ago. The magic underneath the hood described here officially allowed Clonetool to be successful.

 

Thank you,

 

-gt

[Guest goodtime]

"when you repartition an entire disk using MBR/PC Partition, the Darwin bootloader is installed by default"

 

This is only true after you install Clonetool, not before.

 

Thanks Eto for testing it and for the positive feedback.

 

gt

[kd4]

It works like a champ! Thank you goodtime!

 

Here is my story:

 

I have been hacking at getting the 10.4.8 JAS SSE3 Intel Only install to boot up without the need to use the DVD to boot it. I have tried nearly every method I could found (chainloader, Acronis OS selector, dual boot, Triple boot using Grub) and nothing worked. After an install, If I tried to boot I would get the flashing cursor. I could boot using the install DVD if I let the countdown timer complete and touch nothing. I believe that Darwin boot loader was not installed for some reason and I could not find any difinitive instructions as to how to install them. Then I read Goodtime's post on the CloneTool Alpha and promptly requested to participate.

 

My System is as follows:

Dell Dimension 5100

Onboard GMA 950

2GB RAM

P4 3.2 HT

80 GB SATA0

250GB SATA2 (that's how it shows up in my BIOS)

Philips PSC805 USB sound

Intel Pro PCI NIC

 

I did a clean install of 10.4.8 JAS SSE3 Intel Only on SATA0 (80GB Drive).

I let it reboot with the DVD in the drive and finished the install.

I then shutdown and used qtparted to create a 250GB fat32 partition on SATA2. I set the boot flag.

I then went into the bios and turned the SATA2 controller to OFF.

I shutdown the PC ejected the qparted Live CD and booted up again with the 10.4.8 install DVD and let the installed OS come up.

I then installed Clonetool and rebooted.

I then rebooted (install DVD) and used the included DiskUtility to erase the fat32 partition.

I then used Diskutility to format and erase using HFS+ journaled.

I then went to the Clonetool directory and clicked _launch Clonetool.

 

I followed the Clonetool prompts and set my source and target partitions, allowed it to mark SATA 2 as active and let it start the clone.

 

20 minutes later I had a clean AND bootable clone of my original install!!! woo hoo!!

 

I know my section on the usage of Clonetool is slim, but the reality is, the tool is very thorough and prompts you with hints every step of the way. It was a joy to use.

 

I also know that getting the bootloader installed on the second disk wasn't the primary purpose of the tool, but it did that for me beautifully as well. Something I have not been able to accomplish in 3 solid days of hacking at it.

 

Thanks again goodtime. I am pm'ing you my logs in case you wanted to see the output of my running of the tool.

 

Now that I have a clone of the OS I will be running it again, but this time in reverse (from SATA 2 to SATA 1) so I can have a good BOOTABLE backup of the system.

 

Sorry if my reply is wordy, I just wanted to be thorough.

 

kd4

[Guest goodtime]

It works like a champ! Thank you goodtime!

 

I followed the Clonetool prompts and set my source and target partitions, allowed it to mark SATA 2 as active and let it start the clone.

 

20 minutes later I had a clean AND bootable clone of my original install!!! woo hoo!!

 

I know my section on the usage of Clonetool is slim, but the reality is, the tool is very thorough and prompts you with hints every step of the way. It was a joy to use.

 

I also know that getting the bootloader installed on the second disk wasn't the primary purpose of the tool, but it did that for me beautifully as well. Something I have not been able to accomplish in 3 solid days of hacking at it.

 

Thanks again goodtime. I am pm'ing you my logs in case you wanted to see the output of my running of the tool.

 

Now that I have a clone of the OS I will be running it again, but this time in reverse (from SATA 2 to SATA 1) so I can have a good BOOTABLE backup of the system.

 

Sorry if my reply is wordy, I just wanted to be thorough.

 

kd4

Thank you for the detailed response. Clonetool's goal was to create a bootable clone and getting a bootloader installed correctly was essential for CT's survival. There are other tools like SuperDuper and CCC, but what I wanted was a bootable backup to the 2nd drive. Without getting this ease of use to work, this idea would still be on my "drawing table."

 

Unfortunately, Clonetool cannot install the bootloader if the user only has 1 hard drive, even if they have 2 partitions. There is workaround that is suggested in the Tips when running Clonetool to help avoid this problem. If anyone needed to do what kd4 did and reverse the procedure, I highly recommend either 2 SATA/ATA hard drives like kd4's setup, OR purchase an external USB 2.0 drive at Best Buy. USB drives are getting cheap these days and are very popular. Also, I am working on this issue. There might be a Boot DVD or OpenDarwn boot version to run Clonetool. It could run from a customized boot DVD of OS X or run it from OpenDarwin from a 512mb thumb USB 2.0 drive or even a custom OpenDarwin CD. This would allow Clonetool to have full access to a 1 drive system and install the bootloader correctly. Note, there might be some dangers as the user could wipe their main install by mistake, so I might have to think about this more on how it would work to prevent the user from blowing out their main system. This could be fixed by making adding a check for a previously installed system on the target drive and warn the user, "hey' there appears to be a system on the target drive! Are you sure you want to nuke this partition?".

 

Clonetool started as a command line shell script to get basic functionality and allow it potentially run from it OpenDarwin. In the future there will be an AppleScript Studio version but it won't be until Spring '07. I have a PowerPC command line version to do next, a website, and a version that can run on OpenDarwin for cloning OSx86. The AppleScript Studio version will allow the user to clone any source drive, not just the booted system, to another other destination drive and will be able to run from a hacked install DVD. Clonetool has a bright future.

 

Great job kd4!

 

Cheers,

 

gt

[Guest goodtime]

Where in the world is Sedrick?

 

This project began as a discussion with Sedrick on IRC. So, I want to give him a warm welcome and hopefully he can join the Alpha team soon. This project fit right into something I was already doing, Backing up HDs on PowerPCs at work and hacking a bootable install DVD to clone HDs via Apple System Restore, but Sedrick was able to convince me that there was a need for an OSx86 version of Cloning software. I don't want to steal Sedrick's thunder and out of gratitude, shine the spotlight on Sedrick. He is one of visionaries behind of what turned into Clonetool. He approached me to write a shell script for Linux to clone OSx86 HDs, we talked about it and I suggested we should program it using OSx86 instead of using Linux. Later, we could easily find a way to run off a modified OSX Boot DVD. He was stoked, but unfortunately the project was delayed when the 8.8.1 Kernel was released. I focused my efforts on a native 10.4.8 install for about 2 weeks. I told Sedrick, I'll get to it, but want to get 10.4.8 running 100% first as I like things that work right. After I finally entrenched myself into the project, Sedrick and I lost touch. To set the record straight, I just want to say, "Thank you Sedrick," without you, there would not be an OSx86 cloning utility for the rest of us.

 

-gt

[marlboro Lights]

ok...your program works great. I'm abled to copy 80gb western digital on 320Gb Seagate. Then i used Copy cloner to copy my system...and reboot...and ...ALL WORKS....

 

 

THANX A LOT FOR YOUR GREAT PROGRAM..

 

THANX SO MUCH

[mdg]

Are you saying to format the 2nd hard drive with clone tool's diskutil as a PC partition? Why would I want to do that instead of Apples file system?

 

This thread, to a lay person, is like reading an x-ray when you have no idea what you're looking at.

 

why can't a person provide clear instruction?

 

Like:

 

-Install, and reboot.

-when you reboot run the disk util. select "XY", click "AB",

 

...etc.

 

Theoretically we should all be looking at the same interface, right? So why not just be direct instead of cryptic? Just my 2 cents.

 

Thanks to GT for ALL his hard work....hopefully this will actually work, or it might work but the instructions for making it work are not easily followed.

[Guest goodtime]

Are you saying to format the 2nd hard drive with clone tool's diskutil as a PC partition? Why would I want to do that instead of Apples file system?

 

This thread, to a lay person, is like reading an x-ray when you have no idea what you're looking at.

 

why can't a person provide clear instruction?

 

Like:

 

-Install, and reboot.

-when you reboot run the disk util. select "XY", click "AB",

 

...etc.

 

Theoretically we should all be looking at the same interface, right? So why not just be direct instead of cryptic? Just my 2 cents.

 

Thanks to GT for ALL his hard work....hopefully this will actually work, or it might work but the instructions for making it work are not easily followed.

 

MDG:

 

Thank you for your feedback. I will try to explain how to use Disk Utility and check your HD for gremlins. By the way, this is Alpha dude! It's not the final release. Don't expect the world or avoid a learning curve the first time you take your sailboat out onto the ocean.

 

A PC Partition is a fdisk Master Boot Record format, but your hard drive's target partition still needs to be formatted using Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), also known at Journaled HFS+. I believe my instructions say its needs to be and MBR/PC/fdisk partition formatted as Journaled HFS+.

 

fdisk/MBR Partition scheme is so BIOS can see your Hard drive.

HFS+ partition is the native format that Mac OS X and OSx86 should use.

 

If you are trying to use a DOS FAT 32 partition, the script will fail. Your MBR/Master Boot Record could be corrupt and your whole disk may need to be re-formatted using these instructions.

 

From your terminal type:

 

diskutil list

 

Do not run Clonetool if you see this. The fdisk_partition scheme is correct, but it's on a DOS_FAT_32 Partition. Please make sure your target slice/partition is Journaled HFS+ / Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

/dev/disk1
  #:				   type name			   size	  identifier
  0: FDisk_partition_scheme					*698.6 GB disk1
  1:			 DOS_FAT_32 MAC HD			 698.5 GB  disk1s1

 

Basic disk util instructions. These work for me on my system to a USB 2.0 drive.

Your Mileage May Vary. The premise is partition the disk using MBR or fdisk partition scheme and be sure to format the target partition is Journaled HFS+.

 

1. Go to Applications -> Clonetool -> Open Disk Utility x86

2. In Disk Utility x86, on the left side bar Click on your the hard drive icon of the disk that you want to reformat (Not the partition).

3. Click on the "Partition" tab.

4. Select any 1-3 partitions to be safe.

5. Select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled), also know as Journaled HFS+.

6. For external Hard drives: Click on the Options button. Partition Scheme should say "PC Partition Scheme" This is also known as MBR or Master Boot Record. Click okay.

7. Now Click Partition.

8. Make sure your disk is erased correctly and mounted.

9. When running Clonetool be sure to be a unique name for the Drive volume.

No where in my instructions it says to use, "MS-DOS FAT 32 SYSTEM."

 

By the way, You're disk is 700 GB? Is it a RAID or something? That's quite a big HD.

 

 

If you still can't get it to work. Try re-downloading v.03a. Reinstall Clonetool using the Install Script. Let it run! it can take a few minutes. Reboot. Reformat your drive using Disk Utility.

 

Hope you can get it to work,

 

gt

[Guest goodtime]

If anyone see's this error when Clonetool's erases the disk, Abort Clonetool cause the clone will be useless:

Finished erase on disk disk1s1 
error with erase The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)

 

And if you see this error, you probably have files cloned to a Volumes folder directly and not an actual disk.

 

Checking mount for activity...
No mount point for /Volumes/MacOSX
Can't determine mount point of '/Volumes/MacOSX'
No BootX creation requested
Could not statfs() /Volumes/Mac
Could not determine filesystem of /Volumes/MacOSX

Something went terribly wrong. Reformat the disk using Disk Utility and start over.

 

To fix your folders in your volumes folder in terminal type:

 

open /Volumes (to see any folders in the Finder)
##see if you can drag the folders in the trash.  If you can't try this from the terminal, but be careful.
cd /Volumes
ls -al
sudo rm -R /Volumes/pathtofolder
##Don't run this command on an actual volume as it will erase its contents.

 

gt

[mdg]

I am a either a complete dufus, which is highly possible , or your Disk Utility x86 has no option button. It has split, delete, revert and partition. Alas, I do know what you mean and my "regular" Disk Utility, meaning in my Applications>Utilities folder Disk Utility, has this option button and when I select this button I get a choice of 3 things -- GUID, Apple and MBR -- no "PC Partition Scheme" as you state...need I go on?

 

Look, all I'm saying is that I am VERY computer literate and can without fail follow instruction, which is how I learn. But bad instruction leads to bad followers and unexpected feedback. The purpose of a "beta or alpha" is to have people use the application and provide feedback. This is what I am doing...I am not flaming you because I am grateful for your work , but I am telling you what you think happens is not happening.

 

Screen shot attached.

 

 

EDIT #1:

 

I just went in to my regular disk util, set the physical hard disk to 1 partition and to format (using the option button in my regular disk util and not the x86 disk util) using MBR. It formats in MBR, but then doesn't format the logical drive as HFS. Note, it is gray'd out:

 

 

When I go in to erase/format the disk1s1 on the MBR hd, I get this error...

 

 

I am certain this is why your tool doesn't work...for whatever reason, my drive is not being prepared in a way that your tool finds it tasty. I can format it the normal way, no problem, but unless you have some kind of magic way of making an option button appear on diskutilx86, I think I'm out of luck .

[Guest goodtime]

MDG:

 

I don't know what's going on with your Hard drive. Can you install a real system on it from scratch using your Install DVD? Let's try to elliminate the possibility that it's your Hard drive or your system can't handle that big of a drive using Journaled HFS+.

 

It looks like the option button on the supplied Disk Utility x86 is not available on internal HDs, only External HDs. Other people with SATA drives have got it to work smoothly. Check out the thread. KD4 posted detailed instructions and it worked for him.

 

I guess, try using the default Disk Utility the only in your Applications, Utilities folder, and use MBR. But it must be Mac OS X Extended (preferably Journaled). What options to do you see when partitioning the disk using the default Disk Utility?

 

Try splitting the disk up into more than one partition. So far 700 GB is the largest that I've seen. Other than that, I don't know. If you figure it, out let us know.

 

I do expect both good and bad feedback. We are going to have some winners and some losers. Hopefully it will lead to a better product. v.03a is what we have to work with today. I am collecting data and feedback from others and I will consider everyone's recommendations on improving Clonetool.

 

The errors that you showed me with Disk Utility and Clonetool point to an issue with your target hard drive. Let's start there.

 

Thanks again for the feedback,

 

gt

[Guest goodtime]

Are you saying to format the 2nd hard drive with clone tool's diskutil as a PC partition? Why would I want to do that instead of Apples file system?

 

Because you can't use GUID or an Apple's file system partition for hard drives correctly on a BIOS computer. It needs to be fdisk or MBR. Let's be clear on what we are calling an Apple file System?

 

Apple File System scheme is traditionally for PowerPC Apple Macintoshes.

PC Partition scheme is traditionally known as fdisk or MBR that BIOS PCs use.

GUID is for EFI based systems designed for Geniune Intel Apple Macintoshes.

 

For Apple File System, do you mean Journaled HFS+ or Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)? Then YES, you should use that! But it still needs to be an fdisk or MBR partition scheme. If you don't know how your disk is formatted from terminal try:

 

diskutil list

example output:

/dev/disk4
  #:				   type name			   size	  identifier
  0: FDisk_partition_scheme					*232.9 GB disk4
  1:			  Apple_HFS GT				 20.0 GB   disk4s1
  2:			  Apple_HFS gtct_Backup		20.0 GB   disk4s2
  3:			  Apple_HFS Untitled 3		 20.0 GB   disk4s3
  4:			  Apple_HFS Untitled 4		 20.0 GB   disk4s5
  5:			  Apple_HFS Untitled 5		 152.9 GB  disk4s6

and

 

diskutil info "/Volumes/your_volume_name_here"

example output:

goodtimes-computer-2:~ gtdv$ diskutil info /Volumes/DarthVader
  Device Node:		/dev/disk0s1
  Device Identifier:  disk0s1
  Mount Point:		/Volumes/DarthVader
  Volume Name:		DarthVader

  File System:		Journaled HFS+
				   Journal size 24576 k at offset 0x74a000
  Owners:			 Enabled
  Partition Type:	 Apple_HFS
  Bootable:		   Not bootable
  Media Type:		 Generic
  Protocol:		   ATA
  SMART Status:	   Verified
  UUID:			   <edited>

  Total Size:		 232.9 GB
  Free Space:		 220.6 GB

  Read Only:		  No
  Ejectable:		  No

[Guest goodtime]

I am a either a complete dufus, which is highly possible , or your Disk Utility x86 has no option button. It has split, delete, revert and partition. Alas, I do know what you mean and my "regular" Disk Utility, meaning in my Applications>Utilities folder Disk Utility, has this option button and when I select this button I get a choice of 3 things -- GUID, Apple and MBR -- no "PC Partition Scheme" as you state...need I go on?

 

Look, all I'm saying is that I am VERY computer literate and can without fail follow instruction, which is how I learn. But bad instruction leads to bad followers and unexpected feedback. The purpose of a "beta or alpha" is to have people use the application and provide feedback. This is what I am doing...I am not flaming you because I am grateful for your work , but I am telling you what you think happens is not happening.

 

Screen shot attached.

 

 

EDIT #1:

 

I just went in to my regular disk util, set the physical hard disk to 1 partition and to format (using the option button in my regular disk util and not the x86 disk util) using MBR. It formats in MBR, but then doesn't format the logical drive as HFS. Note, it is gray'd out:

 

 

When I go in to erase/format the disk1s1 on the MBR hd, I get this error...

 

 

I am certain this is why your tool doesn't work...for whatever reason, my drive is not being prepared in a way that your tool finds it tasty. I can format it the normal way, no problem, but unless you have some kind of magic way of making an option button appear on diskutilx86, I think I'm out of luck .

 

Try using the ERASE utility from the erase tab. If your disk is greyed out, it's either not mounted or something is corrupt with the MBR or file system. It looks like it needs to be re-formatted in order to re-partition the disk. What happens when if you try to mount the disk? What happens if you try to erase the disk?

[manmal]

hi,

is it possible to clone an osx86 harddrive with your software copying to another bigger one resizing the copied partition (not leaving free unused space)?

 

Thanks!

Mal

[Guest goodtime]

hi,

is it possible to clone an osx86 harddrive with your software copying to another bigger one resizing the copied partition (not leaving free unused space)?

 

Thanks!

Mal

 

Mal,

 

Clonetool uses a file copy method saving permissions and resources using beloved ditto command. The answer is yes.

 

gt

[Guest goodtime]

Hey goodtime,

 

Just wanted to say thanks for releasing your clonetool to the OSx86 community, It's helped me countless times (especially in my latest project)! Keep up the good work.

 

-captainsquash

captiansquash,

 

I'm glad it helped you.

 

-gt

[Guest goodtime]

Theoretically we should all be looking at the same interface, right? So why not just be direct instead of cryptic? Just my 2 cents.

 

Disk Utility that is inside Applications -> Utilities folder is different on just about every version of OSx86. 10.4.3, 10.4.6 and 10.4.8 have slightly different interfaces.

 

Clonetool assumes the user knows how to format and partition their disk properly for OSX on a PC. There are countless ways to format a disk using: Disk Utility, disk part on Windows, fdisk on Unix/OSX/Darwin, disk util on OSX/Darwin. A book could be written just on disk partitioning alone. Perhaps in the future there will be a step-by-step guide on disk partitioning with pictures and/or video on http://art5dog.com, but the purpose of this alpha is not documentation, it is for early adoptors who want to test it out and give it a spin.

 

gt

 

my Applications>Utilities folder Disk Utility, has this option button and when I select this button I get a choice of 3 things -- GUID, Apple and MBR -- no "PC Partition Scheme" as you state...need I go on?

 

MBR is a PC Partition scheme. These terms are interchangable.

 

Disk Utility x86 is provided for convenience only. I didn't create the utility, our big brother did. Disk Utility x86 uses the term "PC Partition scheme". It is available on USB 2.0 drives / external disk under options.

 

Disk Utility from 10.4.8 (8.8.1 kernel) uses the term "MBR" which is exactly the same thing as "PC Partition Scheme".

 

gt