Restoring Sparse Image after Reformating Drive

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Restoring Sparse Image after Reformating Drive

I've had a problem with boot camp that it won't allow me to partition my drive. It says that some files can't be moved so i need to reformat my drive as 1 partition. So i've made a back up of my Mac HD using Super Duper! I made a sparse image on an external drive. I used Sparse Image because I have other files on my drive that i want to keep so i couldn't fully erase my external HD.

So before I partition my drive into one, erasing everything on my computer, I wanted to make sure that I could restore the sparse image on my computer. The instructions I have are to boot from OSX install disc, go to Disk Utility, file, open image, choose the sparse image. Then when i choose the image from the left panel of Disk Utility and click the restore tab, it doesn't allow me to choose a source. It doesn't allow me to drag and when i go to search for the image it's grayed out.

Any suggestions on how to restore from the sparse image? I've read about typing 'asr' in terminal but i don't quite understand what to do with that. Any help would be great, thanks!

Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Apr 28, 2007 1:28 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

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Apr 28, 2007 2:12 PM in response to Bukco

It won't work. You cannot do a restore using Disk Utility when booted from the Installer Disc. That hasn't worked since the release of Tiger. You would have to boot from an external drive or a second internal drive, run DU and do the restore.

Because you already have the image on an external drive I'd suggest installing OS X on the external drive so you can boot from it to restore your image.

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Answer 2

Bukco Author

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Apr 28, 2007 2:27 PM in response to Kappy

Is there no program or anything to restore an image to a physical drive? Maybe using one of the cloning programs Like Super Duper (which i used to make the orginal image) or carbon copy cloner, something like that?

Also how would i install osx on the external drive and would that erase everything i have on the drive. why would i have to be able to boot from the drive to restore the image? What if I reinstall OSX on my computer could i move the image to the hard drive and restore it from there (and if so how would I restore it once that's done)

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Answer 3

Kappy

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Apr 28, 2007 2:43 PM in response to Bukco

It wouldn't make any difference how you restored the image, you would still have to boot from another device in order to do it. You cannot restore to a startup volume.

You could install OS X on the external drive without erasing the drive. Just don't use the Erase and Install option. For simplicity, however, I would make a new folder on your external drive and move everything stored on the drive into that folder. This will keep all the existing files completely separate so there won't be any confusion when you install OS X on the drive. Because all you need is the most basic system you can customize the installation to omit all the extra languages, fonts, optional applications, and printer drivers. This will minimize the size of the installation.

To do your restoration you would boot from the external drive, run Disk Utility and use the Restore option to restore the system from the image file to your internal drive (after erasing the internal drive, of course.)

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Answer 4

Bukco Author

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Apr 28, 2007 2:53 PM in response to Kappy

So when I'm booted from my external drive and I'm in Disk utility, how do I use disk utility to restore the image. Also, what state would my drive be in; how would I get to the files on it (including the image that I need to restore) would there be two icons still on my desktop, one for the HD that I've started up from and one for the external HD where my files are, or will everything just be under the same "mac HD"?

Sorry I'm a little new at this backing up and restoring thing and a little anxious about reformating my computer. Thanks for the help.

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Answer 5

Kappy

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Apr 28, 2007 3:02 PM in response to Bukco

Each hard drive mounts separately on the Desktop.

Open DU, select the destination volume from the list on the left. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window. Click on the Image button to the right of the Source field. A file open dialog will appear. Navigate to the location of your image file and select it. Drag the destination volume from the left side list to the Destination field. Click on the Restore button.

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Answer 6

Bukco Author

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Apr 28, 2007 4:01 PM in response to Kappy

So I tried to install Mac OSX on my external drive (connected with USB, but it can use firewire) and it said i couldn't because my drive can not be used as a startup disk... or something along those lines. On the bottom right hand corner of the icon of the drive there's a little red exclamation mark.

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Answer 7

Bukco Author

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Apr 28, 2007 4:13 PM in response to Bukco

i think i might've found something that could work. If I do the whole reformatting thing on my internal drive, then reinstall OS X could I then use DU to restore while booted from my internal drive. I tried it the way my computer is now, booted from my normal HD (that I'm trying to reformat) I went to DU went to File and Open disk image and i chose my sparse image. Then i clicked on my internal drive and chose the restore tab. I then dragged my sparse image to source and dragged "Macintosh HD" to Destination and the Restore button was enabled.

So if i reformat and reinstall OS X then boot up from the new OS X will i be able to restore within that using DU?

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Answer 8

Kappy

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Apr 28, 2007 8:11 PM in response to Bukco

As I said before if you boot from your internal drive then that will be the startup volume. You can not restore to a startup volume. If you want to restore the disc image to your internal drive, then you must boot from the external drive.

How is your external drive formatted? In order to install the Intel version of OS X the drive must be partitioned using the GUID partition scheme and formatted Mac OS Extended.

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Answer 9

Bukco Author

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Apr 28, 2007 8:18 PM in response to Kappy

I think it's formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) at least that's what it says under format in Disk Utility when i choose the drive on the left. How do i check if it's been partitioned using GUID because i don't remember and if it wasn't, how do i fix that so i can install OS X?

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Answer 10

Bukco Author

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Apr 28, 2007 8:33 PM in response to Bukco

oh, the partition scheme is Master Boot Record. Don't know why i did that. So i guess that wouldn't work. Any way to change that so i can install OS X and boot from it?

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Answer 11

Kappy

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Apr 28, 2007 8:37 PM in response to Bukco

Open Disk Utility, select the hard drive entry for the external drive (mfgr.'s ID and drive size,) then look in the DU status area. It will report the partition scheme. If it isn't GUID then the only solution is to re-partition the drive which will, of course, erase all the data on the drive.

Maybe your option at this point is to boot from the Installer DVD and do an Erase and Install on your internal hard drive. Once the new installation is completed create your admin user account using the same username and password as before. Connect your external drive and mount the disc image you created (double-click on the .dmg file to mount the image.) Locate your Home folder on the mounted disc image. Copy the contents of that Home folder (not the Home folder itself, but the contents of the folder) to the Home folder on your internal drive. Restart the computer, then open Disk Utility and Repair Permissions. This should pretty much restore your old system. If you had third-party software installed you can reinstall them.

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Answer 12

Bukco Author

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Apr 28, 2007 9:08 PM in response to Kappy

Alright then. I guess it sounds like every little variable in this situation is the wrong one for this to work out. I may try and find somewhere else to copy my external hard drive to so I can repartition it and make it bootable with GUID. Thanks for the help.

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