Disk Utility Error 61 when attempting to create disk image on external driv

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Level 1

9 points

Disk Utility Error 61 when attempting to create disk image on external driv

I would like to make occasional archive backups of my three macintosh computers. I bought a new Western Digital 2TB drive for this purpose, and formatted it as Mac OS Extended. Trying to do a disk image backup using Disk Utility, I follow the directions:
- Startup from an install DVD.
- Start Disk Utilities and select "Restore"
- Drag "Macintosh HD" into the Source box
- Click on "New Image" and select compressed and 128-bit AES encryption
This leads to the error message: Unable to create "....." (error -61)

I have enocountered this problem both with my iMac G5 and a MacBook, both running Leopard.

Does anyone know what this error means, what I am doing wrong, and/or if there is another way to create disk image backups? Help!

iMac G5, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jan 23, 2011 10:16 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,855 points

Jan 23, 2011 10:52 AM in response to Rangeley

Using disc images to backup an entire drive is time consuming and risky. Disc images could fail to mount, become corrupted either during or after creation, and present many future problems. Much better and safer to simply clone the drive to a separate partition on your backup drive. Using software like Carbon Copy Cloner, for example, you can even incrementally backup any changes to the source drive (provided you have adequate space on the drive.)

Error -61 is a write permissions error. Since this is a new drive I would recommend you re-prep the drive as follows:

Drive Preparation

1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.

6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,855 points

Feb 1, 2011 12:53 PM in response to Rangeley

1. For reasons I don't know disc images seem to become more fragile the larger they get. They also can be subject to file corruption that affects the entire disc image, whereas file corruption on a clone would only affect certain files.

2. You cannot put multiple clones on the same volume. Each clone must be on a separate volume, but you can have multiple volumes on a single drive simply by partitioning the drive accordingly. Of course you need a drive large enough to accommodate each clone. Each clone should be to a space equal to the capacity of the cloned drive.

3. I'm not a big fan of TM, although I must confess it has become more reliable since it's release, especially with Snow Leopard. However, there are many backup utilities that can create clones, perform incremental updates, and archive changed files. See the following:

Backup Software Recommendations

Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
Silver Keeper
MimMac
Retrospect
Super Flexible File Synchronizer
SuperDuper!
Synchronize Pro! X
Synk Pro
Synk Standard
Tri-Backup

Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

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Answer 3

Rangeley Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 1, 2011 8:32 AM in response to Kappy

Thank you for the thorough, informative, and all-around excellent response. I very much appreciate the detailed step-by-step instructions on drive preparation. If you have a moment, I would also appreciate your thoughts on a couple of follow-up questions:
* What is it about a cloned drive (e.g. by Carbon Copy Cloner) that makes it less vulnerable to mounting failures, corruption, and other problems with disc images created by Disk Utility?
* Can multiple clones of a drive be placed in a single partition? (I have multiple computers to back up, and find that partitioning effectively limits how effectively I can use space on my drive.)
* I use Time Machine on a Time Capsule, but am a little nervous about some flakey behavior -- occasional backup errors requiring creating a new backup, blanked out "most recent backup," etc. What technique would you recommend for a periodic, supplemental, archive-style backup in a small home office situation?

Sorry to ask for more, and many thanks again for the help!

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