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Easiest Method for Restoring OSX in 5 minutes


glitchbit
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I have found what I believe is to be the easiest method Restoring an OSX install after breaking it with bad Extensions.

 

Requirements

 

Kext helper b7 http://www.cheetha.net/Kext_Helper/Software.html

SuperDuper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/Sup...escription.html

SuperDuper! has to be paid for or this will not work.

 

2 Partitions (Any Size, but the second one must be atleast 10gb, large enough for OSX and your backup files)

Working Install of any version of OSX

 

SuperDuper! is a life saver, but its full functionality is not FREE even though unregistered it can clone your Drive very well. It is completely worth the $28 trust me! SuperDuper is one of the few that fully backups metadata and all other hidden file info.

 

*First off I will assume you already have your partitions ready, if not then search the forum*

 

This really is simple, and it helps to go ahead and install the free version of SuperDuper! so you can at least follow this.

 

1. Clone your OSX install to the other HFS+ formatted partiton using SuperDuper! Set it to "backup all files" and to Copy your current partition to the other partition.

 

2. Now go back to the main screen in SuperDuper and cliick on "Backup All Files" and select Create a New Copy Script

 

3. Specify the /Library/System/Extensions/ Folder , but also add any two additional files to the list and rename them to "*" and ".*" this will prevent the entire drive from being backed up.

Basically your script needs to look like the Backup - All Users script" except you are setting it for Extensions and you can go in and edit that script if you want to see how they made it.

 

4. Close the script and save it when it prompts you.

 

5. Now on the right side (Destination) click on the drop down and select Disk Image and specify where you want to save the file (ideally on the desktop of the other partition)

 

6. Leave it set to a Sparsed Image Type and then click on save

 

7. Click on Options and then for During copy select "Erase (Disk Image Name), Then Copy files (from your Partition)

 

8. Click Ok and the end result should be a file about 300mb+ in size

 

Now to Restore that file

 

1. Reboot and select your backup parition

 

2. Double click the sparsed image file on your desktop to mount it

 

3. Open SuperDuper!

 

4. select the mounted Disk Image as the Source

 

5. Select your original partition as the Destination

 

6. Click on Options

 

7. For During Copy select "Copy Different Files from (Disk Image) to (Original Partition)"

 

8. Click OK, wait a few minutes and reboot!

 

 

This is the absolute easiest and QUICKEST method I have found to keep my system running without any headaches and minimal terminal usage (or no terminal usage).

 

Other uses for SuperDuper! would be to Grow and Shrink your MBR partition more easily and this also works in VMware once you set a secondary FAT32 drive Image at the size you want. I just got done growing mine from 50gb to 135gb just be re-arranging my partitions and getting rid of Linux... since I rarely use it, better offin Vmware imo, even though I lose Compiz Fusion.

 

If you are a real cheap skate and time is no object to you and neither is space then you can make two partitions of the same size and clone them back and forth using SuperDuper. I started out doing this before I decided on making this OS my full time work horse, after that it has grown to be so large it is not realistic to do a complete backup back and forth due to time and I needed more space. So I now have the full version of SuperDuper! and I am just backing up the Extensions folder now and I will also be backing up my Kernel to once a new one comes out that I want to install.

 

Right now I am trying to get my battery indicator working and I have caused my system to hang 3 times on boot so far and I was back up and running in 5 minutes every time.

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booting the DVD up takes much longer than rebooting into a working install of OSX and also it is not a simple GUI process either. It will involve the use of the terminal.... but if you want to keep your OSX Install DVD ready at your side for the rest of your life then I guess that would work to ;).

 

Those steps I listed above may seem like it is a lot but it really isn't and can be done very quickly once configured. I imagine if you really wanted to you could Applescript it so that it literally takes one double click to do. I have been loving Applescript so much lately I might just make one to do that lol.

 

 

Short summary of what I listed above is this.

 

Backup Extensions, Apply new Kexts, reboot, if fail to load OSX reboot into other OSX install, run Restore of Extensions, reboot... done.

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