How to image stock OS before using MBA for the first time?

Hold the alt(also labelled option) key as you are booting and it will present you with any bootable drives it sees (be it the internal drive, USB CD drive, or USB Hard drive). Boot it up and image away. If you're just copying the bits (like with dd) doesn't matter what you do. If you are trying to copy the file system then make sure you have something that can read Apple's HFS file system.

First off, congratulations on making the transition. I made mine back in 2006.

I would suggest installing one program on the MacBook air, called SuperDuper and then use that program to make one bootable backup. I've used that program for years and it is the most user-friendly and useful

The latest MBA's have a built in recovery partition built in, which will allow you to connect to a WiFi network and download OS X 10.7 and install it freely onto the machine. There are no drivers needed etc for OS X, so imaging it is relatively pointless unless you have set it up and installed apps etc.

maybe linux clonezilla live cd would work?

http://www.clonezilla.org/

I just got done cloning both the OS X and Win 7 Boot Camp partitions with Clonezilla. Seems to have worked, but the proof will be when I have to restore. Not sure how I go about testing that...

I usually just use the supplied installation backup disks to restore the "out of box" experience when I sell my Macs. Simply boot from the DVD, use the "Disk Utility" to zero wipe the drive, then complete the installation to the "Welcome" screen and power off (press and hold the power button) the computer and pack it up to ship. When the new owner first turns it on, it will boot to the welcome screen just like a new one, and they can then complete the installation and personalize/register their ownership.

I do wish I knew a way to bypass the "personalization" part so that I could install all the updates for the new owner, and then return the machine to the "Welcome Screen Boot" status prior to shipping. I have not found a way to do that so far...



-howard

hfg said:

I usually just use the supplied installation backup disks to restore the "out of box" experience when I sell my Macs. Simply boot from the DVD, use the "Disk Utility" to zero wipe the drive, then complete the installation to the "Welcome" screen and power off (press and hold the power button) the computer and pack it up to ship. When the new owner first turns it on, it will boot to the welcome screen just like a new one, and they can then complete the installation and personalize/register their ownership.

I do wish I knew a way to bypass the "personalization" part so that I could install all the updates for the new owner, and then return the machine to the "Welcome Screen Boot" status prior to shipping. I have not found a way to do that so far...



-howard

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I believe, from my old hackintosh days, that OSx86 tools is capable of resetting the OS in such a fashion. It allows you to remove all users and then upon reboot it displays the setup assistant as though it was a new mac. Not sure on Lion compatibility though, only ever used it on 10.5 & 10.6.

Hope this is useful!

I just used a Clonezilla USB boot key to image a brand new MBA before the first boot, It's only about 9GB. I imaged to an external USB hard drive.

Based in how my day is going, I may yet get a chance to test a restore of this image...

timidhermit said:

Any particular format I need to preformat the USB key to install Clonezilla so that the MBA can recognize it and run the Clonezilla?

Also, what about the USB hard drive? What format did you use to preformat the USB hard drive?

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I followed the instructions on the Clonezilla site and ran an EXE that automatically formatted the USB key, made it bootable and loaded the software.

When you boot the MBA and hold down the option key, two additional USB drive options will appear: Windows and EFI. Choose Windows.

i formatted the 1TB USB hard drive HFS using my MBA.

I heard the new models ship with a recovery partition instead of coming with a USB key with the original software/image. My only concern with this approach is what if the partition is corrupted or accidentally deleted? Or is this partition stored in some kind read-only NVRAM device? Let's assume one has the need to perform a purely local restore (i.e. no Wi-Fi or Internet).

Before Lion, all late model Macs shipped with a recovery DVD which when booted from could restore your machine to factory default state. In order to start the restore process, one had to format or wipe the target hard disk, during which partitions were created (or the default accepted), and the file system type selected and named. Though one could recreate (by accepting) the factory default partition layout and name it the factory default of "Macintosh HD," it's technically not a 100% pure "factory reset."

Anyway, I understand where the OP is coming from (I too come from a Windows background) in wanting to "capture" the factory default state. However, my MBA with Lion installed hasn't arrived yet so I can't really comment on how the whole recovery system is implemented.

Once it arrives though, I certainly plan on booting it first and foremost with Ghost or System Savior (the latter being an enterprise solution intended for imaging servers). FYI most recent imaging tools support dumping to USB storage formatted in FAT32 and NTFS, with the former requiring the image file to be split into <4GB chunks.

Hope this helps!

Chilulu said:

I heard the new models ship with a recovery partition instead of coming with a USB key with the original software/image. My only concern with this approach is what if the partition is corrupted or accidentally deleted?

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Yup, that is correct. And I put that to the test by corrupting my entire hard drive by mucking around inside the Windows Disk Management utility, and I was unable to do anything. I did take it to the Apple Store, where they also were unable to fix because they had not yet received their restore images with Lion on them, so they gave me a brand new one.

They should include a restore USB stick, or at least an option to create one. But messing the entire hard drive is something most people will never do...