How to make a back up copy of system install flash drive

There is a way but it's complicated.

1.) Get an 8GB USB stick and format it for a boot disk (partition it with GUID option and (Mac OS X extended (journaled)).
2.) Insert the Apple USB stick also. There is a invisible file at the root you need to mount on the desktop called MacOSX.dmg. You can use a utility such as Onyx or use the terminal with the open command to mount it.
3.) Use carbon copy cloner to clone the mounted "Mac OS X Installer Image" to the new USB stick
4.) Unmount the "Mac OS X Installer Image"
5.) Use carbon copy cloner to then clone the Apple USB stick to the new USB stick. Select the delete exiting files. Steps 2 - 4 are necessary because if you just clone the Apple USB stick the new USB stick won't be bootable.
6.) After this finishes you will now have a bootable copy. You can then also use Disk Utility to create a disk image of the new copy.

I've done the above and it does work.

I was able to make a Disk Image using CopyCatX

CopyCatX looks interesting. I've never heard of this before. Does the demo mode allow you to make a copy? It's pretty expensive without an ability to test it out.

I think that the website is wrong, the manual says "Starting with version 5, there is no demo version of CopyCatX."

I originally purchased CopyCatX to clone my Boot Camp drive (this was in the days before WinClone). I still use it to make clones as I like that it does a block level copy (I use it to clone my MBA via USB, but to do this, I needed to boot from a USB that I installed OS X 10.6 and CopyCatX on)

Please pardon my ignorance , but could you tell me what exactlay the terminal command is to open the hidden MacOSX.dmg ?

Never mind , worked fine.

I used Brian's instructions, only I did -

Terminal :
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE (hit Enter after each command)

then:
killall Finder

Then you can see and mount the MacOSX.dmg on the restore stick.

Superduper +Backup all files+ (Erase, then copy) of mounted +Mac OS X Installer Image+ to an 8GB partition on an external HDD (GUID partition), unmount +Mac OS X Installer Image+ , then Superduper +Backup all files+ (copy newer files) of the whole stick to the same HDD partition.

Afterwards, go back to Terminal :

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

then:
killall Finder

And you have a bootable clone of the install stick .

Thanks Thanon!

That worked perfectly for me - Why do they make it so difficult? I want the safety of a back up flash drive while I am on the road, and I would 100% lose the beautiful one they gave me.

Thanks again for the directions!

Brian Caslis wrote:
There is a way but it's complicated.

1.) Get an 8GB USB stick and format it for a boot disk (partition it with GUID option and (Mac OS X extended (journaled)).
2.) Insert the Apple USB stick also. There is a invisible file at the root you need to mount on the desktop called MacOSX.dmg. You can use a utility such as Onyx or use the terminal with the open command to mount it.
3.) Use carbon copy cloner to clone the mounted "Mac OS X Installer Image" to the new USB stick
4.) Unmount the "Mac OS X Installer Image"
5.) Use carbon copy cloner to then clone the Apple USB stick to the new USB stick. Select the delete exiting files. Steps 2 - 4 are necessary because if you just clone the Apple USB stick the new USB stick won't be bootable.
6.) After this finishes you will now have a bootable copy. You can then also use Disk Utility to create a disk image of the new copy.

I've done the above and it does work.

Worked perfectly. How would one make a boot dvd?

Credit goes to Brian actually, just googled some Terminal commands.
Silly of Apple not to make it the usual selfmounting OSX install .

Brian Caslis wrote:
There is a way but it's complicated.

1.) Get an 8GB USB stick and format it for a boot disk (partition it with GUID option and (Mac OS X extended (journaled)).
2.) Insert the Apple USB stick also. There is a invisible file at the root you need to mount on the desktop called MacOSX.dmg. You can use a utility such as Onyx or use the terminal with the open command to mount it.
3.) Use carbon copy cloner to clone the mounted "Mac OS X Installer Image" to the new USB stick
4.) Unmount the "Mac OS X Installer Image"
5.) Use carbon copy cloner to then clone the Apple USB stick to the new USB stick. Select the delete exiting files. Steps 2 - 4 are necessary because if you just clone the Apple USB stick the new USB stick won't be bootable.
6.) After this finishes you will now have a bootable copy. You can then also use Disk Utility to create a disk image of the new copy.

I've done the above and it does work.

Thanks for all the information! I made a disk image of the USB stick (Install) that boots. The thing is I burned the image and its not bootable. I opened the Disk Image and then burned with Toast. Should I leave the Disk Image unmounted?

Thanks,

I get an error on step 5 where it is copying the files to the new Flash Drive, Carbon copy cloner says that "the target drive does not have enough space" "Delete some files or select another drive".
I am using an 8GB Sandick Cruzer Titanium
Also I dont see an option in CCC for "delete existing file"

Please help

Message was edited by: Mac Saint

Mac Saint wrote:
I get an error on step 5 where it is copying the files to the new Flash Drive, Carbon copy cloner says that "the target drive does not have enough space" "Delete some files or select another drive".
I am using an 8GB Sandick Cruzer Titanium
Also I dont see an option in CCC for "delete existing file"

Please help

Message was edited by: Mac Saint

i have the same problem from what i understand if your 8gb thumb drive has some sort of file management software on it there won't be enough room.

Format the USB as HFS+ and select GUID Partition (in Disk Utility)