Creating a backup DVD for 0S X 10.5

Disk Utility's help->*Duplicating a CD or DVD* has the details. IIRC, you need to ensure that you select DVD/CD Master instead of compressed, without encryption.

You need a dual layer DVD blank.

IIRC, the Leopard install DVD is dual-layered. Maybe that's where you're having problems. The installer components take up about 6.7 GB (at least on the HD volume that I restored it to). I haven't made a backup DVD of it in quite awhile, but when I did, it worked as advertised.

Toast will make a good copy, it is a hybrid DVD (hfs and joliet). Make an exact image (iso,tao)
then use disk utility to burn the image.

Kj

Do you mind explaining this in more detail? Are you saying to make an image file with Toast but burn it with Disk Utility? If so, how exactly do you get Toast to make "an exact image (iso,tao)"? What version of Toast is required & what extension should the image file have?

I have tried this & other variations to make a backup copy of my Leopard retail disk (which installs OS version 10.5) but all I've ever managed to create is a bunch of expensive DL coasters. Some appear to be identical to the original, right down to file sizes & counts, the number of visible & hidden partitions; & some even appear in the Startup Disk system preference or with Startup Manager (the option key restart process), but none will actually boot my iMac G5 (which came with Tiger installed, so 10.5 should support it).

On restart with the better attempts set as the boot volume, I get a gray screen for about 30 seconds (with no spinner), then briefly a flashing 'can't find an OS to boot from' folder & question mark, followed by a black screen & than a restart into the first "real" volume on the internal drive.

Hi RCR:
A friend of mine brought me a thumb drive with a "Mac OS X install DVD.toast" file on it.
I changed the name to Mac OS X Install DVD.iso and burned it in DU.

We could read it on both Mac and PC after burning it. I checked the image with my windows
image software before burning it and both Mac and PC formats were readable. The toast format
appeared to be the same as an iso format.

A better software for the job though (much more reliable) is a windows software
by smart projects:
http://www.isobuster.com/

It is the only program that I know of that can reliably recover data from a damaged CD/DVD.
It reads dual formatted (hybrid) media really well too, better than any other software I have
ever used.

Kj

KJK555 wrote:
A friend of mine brought me a thumb drive with a "Mac OS X install DVD.toast" file on it.
I changed the name to Mac OS X Install DVD.iso and burned it in DU.

We could read it on both Mac and PC after burning it. I checked the image with my windows
image software before burning it and both Mac and PC formats were readable. The toast format
appeared to be the same as an iso format.

From what I can tell, the "toast," "iso," & "cdr" extensions are all actually the same kind of bit-for-bit image files & are all treated the same for burning by Mac applications like Toast or Disk Utility. Nevertheless, no matter how I try to create the image or burn it, the results are (at best) a DL DVD that won't actually boot my G5 iMac. Since my source disk is the 10.5 retail version, I don't expect it to support my MacBook, but since the original boots the G5 (it is the same disk I used to upgrade the G5 to Leopard!), I am at a loss to explain why nothing works.

I have tried different versions of Toast, different versions of Disk Utility, using both Tiger & Leopard as the supporting OS for each, different brands of DL DVD+R media, different image extensions ... everything I can think of.

It is very frustrating. Occasionally I see reports like those in this thread that it can be done, but there never seems to be clear confirmation that the disk is functional for booting, or some detail is lost to memory or not available when I ask for more info. (This is not meant as criticism of the users making the reports, who I assume are making good faith efforts to help as best they can.) I feel like I am missing some crucial bit of info or making some error somewhere during the process but I have just about given up hope of figuring what it is.

What is most maddening is that I have to keep burning DL DVD's to test each method, then try booting from them, & when that fails try to figure out what went wrong. To date, I've burned enough bad copies that I pretty much am unwilling to try again unless I can find detailed, step by step instructions from some source that has tested the results & can confirm that the copy really is functionally identical to the original in all respects. Ideally, that source would be Apple but I doubt that will ever happen. 😟

See the process for 10.4 and 10.5 outlined on my FAQ*:

http://www.macmaps.com/bootcd.html

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

I have tried this method several times. The only place I ever deviated from the "Panther/Tiger/Leopard method" is at step 3:

+3. from the DU File menu select New | Disk Image from Disk 1+

I choose "Disk 2" (or whatever is appropriate) since my system usually has other hard drives attached & hard drives are assigned disk numbers before optical ones. (The boot disk is always Disk 0; the next found hard disk is Disk 1; & finally any mounted optical disk gets the next number.)

Unfortunately, for me this method never works for the Leopard retail install disk I have. The disk is burned successfully (only if a DL DVD is inserted in step 6, of course), its "Install Mac OS X" application produces the expected result (asking for a password & restarting the Mac), but on restart it will not boot the iMac G5, nor will it do so with the "c" or Option key restart methods.

Comparison of the disk to the original always shows small differences in file counts and/or space used & calculating a checksum on each with Disk Utility confirms that they are not exact duplicates.

FWIW, my results are similar to those described in reports of failures I have read in various forums across the Internet. In some of the reports there are obvious errors, like not selecting the whole disk for the image or not selecting the DVD/CD Master (.cdr) format, but I have been careful not to make those mistakes. No matter what I try, the burned disk cannot boot the Mac.

Message was edited by: R C-R

R C-R wrote:
Do you mind explaining this in more detail? Are you saying to make an image file with Toast but burn it with Disk Utility? If so, how exactly do you get Toast to make "an exact image (iso,tao)"? What version of Toast is required & what extension should the image file have?

I used Toast to copy and burn the DVD, as a simple data DVD. I burned it, verified it and recently used it to install Leopard on a test external drive on my other MBP. I also used it to update my Vista drivers as a test for the PC part of the DVD.
I stopped using the built-in burning software when I got Toast. The built-in software IMO, is a bit flaky.

I wonder if:

1. The initial 10.5 release (10.5.0) had a less protective Disk Utility, since that's where I did it and succeeded.

2. Verbatim DVD+R DL media have something more suitable on the media manufacturing process for making it successful. That's what I used.

a brody wrote:
I wonder if:

1. The initial 10.5 release (10.5.0) had a less protective Disk Utility, since that's where I did it and succeeded.

2. Verbatim DVD+R DL media have something more suitable on the media manufacturing process for making it successful. That's what I used.

The DVD I copied is the original release 10.5.0, Family Pack.
I only use Verbatim DVCD+R DL blanks.
It is possible that Apple has done some "tinkering" with the DVDs since then, but many of us have successfully backed up the Leopard DVD and tested it, with success. When I made mine, my only concern was that the Windows drives part backed up properly, which it did, along with everything else.

1. I'm certain that the original version of Disk Utility that shipped with 10.5 is among the versions I have tried in my many past attempts. In one attempt, I did an Erase & Install on the iMac's internal drive using the retail disk with 10.5 on it, installed or migrated nothing whatsoever, & immediately tried the procedure.

2. I only use Verbatim DVD+R DL media for my regular DL burning needs. When a disk from my spindle of that media type didn't work, I bought a few other single-packs of DL media from various manufacturers (Imation, TDK, Memorex, etc.) but the results were no different.

What is most mystifying about this is I had no problem making a backup of the retail Tiger disk (which is single layer, of course) using that OS & single layer media. I even managed to make a functionally exact duplicate of my iMac G5's OEM Disk 1, which is a DL disk. (Even the Apple Hardware Test works for that duplicate!)

I assume it would have been mentioned by now if it weren't the case, but to remove any lingering doubts on my part, can you confirm that the disk you made is actually capable of booting at least some Mac & that it works as expected, at least to run Disk Utility or something else from its "Utilities" menu?

R C-R wrote:
I assume it would have been mentioned by now if it weren't the case, but to remove any lingering doubts on my part, can you confirm that the disk you made is actually capable of booting at least some Mac & that it works as expected, at least to run Disk Utility or something else from its "Utilities" menu?

As I noted, I recently did a clean install of Leopard on my other MBP, onto a new LaCie external drive, purposely using my Leopard DVD backup. I booted into the DVD holding down the Option key and selecting the DVD. The complete install went perfectly.