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Cloning Disk Image Backups of Mac OS 8 and 9

Hello Everyone!


I've finally figured I'd ask the more experienced among the Apple community to see if anyone could help me with my predicament. So I've received a few Macintosh systems from my old neighbor before moving and he requested whichever ones still work to copy the data and send it back to him. Among a Macintosh llci with a busted PSU and a Mini-tower Beige G3 with no HDDs, I have an original Bondi Blue G3 iMac and a Power Macintosh 8500/180 that work fine... for now. I would like to make disk images of both the iMac G3 and the Power Mac and save them to a USB stick as soon as possible as I don't have any SCSI peripherals to connect to the Power Mac and the HDD on the G3 sounds like nails on a chalkboard, so I don't count on it lasting much longer.


My plan is to create a disk image clone of the Power Mac, send it over to the iMac G3 via Ethernet over file sharing, make a disk image of the G3, and save both disk images to a USB stick. I would like to retain the OS and all the programs, files, etc. as much as possible. The iMac G3 is running OS 9.2 and the Power Mac is running OS 8.1.


First step: Create a Disk Image.

How do I make a disk image of the drive? Disk copy seems to be the only thing similar to disk utility. Is there some 3rd party software I can use to clone the drive to make a disk image anyone would recommend?


Second step: Establish File Sharing.

I image there shouldn't be much trouble in sharing files, but since I am sending files from two different versions of OS, I wouldn't mind some guidance on how to setup a shared folder.


Final step: Saving Images to a USB and Successfully Reinstalling Them at a Later Date.

After just dragging and dropping the images into a USB stick, what steps will I need to take to reinstall the disk image once I source a new hard drive? Will I need any software or should it be as easy as dragging and dropping?


I know this is a very loaded post, but any advice would be really appreciated. This stuff is older than I am and I wouldn't mind getting some experience with older software / hardware just to have it under my belt. Hope to hear responses soon! Thanks again!

null-OTHER, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier, Mac OS 9.2 & 8.1 Disk Imaging

Posted on Sep 8, 2018 5:36 PM

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6 replies

Sep 8, 2018 7:36 PM in response to Niel

I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble figure out how to create a blank image to drop the entire HDD into. Perhaps it would be best to make one on my USB as its 32GB? If you could provide intrsutions or a visual for me to follow, I would really appricate it.


PS: I just had to trip the power strip off as the G3 is locking up really bad now... I need to get this off the HDD asap. 😮


PPS: So I was able to restart the machine, but it looks like if I spend any effort in disk copy it locks up the computer. 😕

Sep 8, 2018 8:22 PM in response to Niel

So I managed to find out that the G3 unlocks a few seconds after freezing and then locks up again, but just disk copy as I can force quit the program and get back to the desktop. The weird thing is that anytime I try to create a new image, a new window appears with a smaller window that tries to connect to a phone number via the modem for remote access. It then goes to say the connection cannot be established, and then the program just locks up.


Going to to try to upgrade disk copy from 6.3.3 to 6.4

Sep 8, 2018 8:44 PM in response to Niel

Well, if you sit a monkey in front of a computer for long enough, he'll write the Declaration of Independence.


So after deleting Disk Copy 6.3.3 from the system and installing Disk Copy 6.4 via the Macintosh Repository, everything works great! Because 6.4 was an Apple internal release and can mount/edit uncompressed/unencrypted OSX .DMG disk images, it presented me with an option to clone the drive and drop it anywhere I'd like via Utilites>Clone...

https://www.macintoshrepository.org/2416-diskcopy-4-2-6-0-6-3-3-6-4-6-5b13

BOOM! The G3 now has its HD directory cloned to a USB! So my question is will programs still launch properly if this clone is installed on a clean HDD?


PS: Scratch that.. it didn't clone because I'm using the HD directory. I'm still trying to create my own image, but every time I get to the "Sace disk image as:" window, the program freezes.

Cloning Disk Image Backups of Mac OS 8 and 9

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