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Creating images using disk utility

J

jangu23

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 19, 2017
8
0
Hi community,

my macbook pro can't boot up at all so I need to use macRecovery (cmd+R when turning on) and reinstall High Sierra from there. However, I'm concerned that doing so will delete my files on the HD.
Unfortunately, I never once used TimeMachine. So I decided to use DiskUtility (DU), also accessible via macRecovery. This way I want to create images (dmg files) of specific folders of mine.
Please note that I am able to access the macR options without typing in my password.
I have several questions on this topic, as I am using it for the first time, and since the files are somewhat valuable to me I do not want to risk anything.

1) When using the file browser (using the create image from folder option) I can see that my files are still there. I can even right click them. This "allows" me to move them to trash, duplicate or view them. Actually, none of this options works. When trying to view a file or folder (also using the spacebar) then DU is quitted and I'm teleported bad to macR menu. Is this intended ? Is there any other way to view or delete ? These functions would be very usefull.

2) Similar to 1) I can click on files and drag the around, hovering them over external drive like USB will make the green cross (copy symbol) appear but unpressing the mouse will result in nothing to happen ? Is it OK or do I really have the possibility to copy files directly instead of making images ?

3) I only want to extract files from the dmg's once I installed the OS and can properly use may mac again. I do not need encryption. What is the fastest option to create the images then ? The options are
read only
compressed
read/write
DVD/CD master
hybrid image (HSF+/ISO/HFD)
Can I achieve larger speeds with blank images (if I can actually fill them with files in the current stat of my mac which I don't know -.-)

4) I have the possibility to transfer the images from USB to a pc on my workplace, to have more storage space. I might be interested to also open the image files on that pc which runs on windows but where I cannot install external software (workplace ...). Can I create such images with DU ? Does this make the creation process much slower than read only or compressed ?

5) When I tried to create a image from folder which I roughly calculated would fit very well on the USB (10GB vs 25GB) after waiting like 1.5hours for the creation the process stopped saying "File too large". What's the problem ?


Suggestions what to do to save the files would be useful, too. I'm really desperate right now :(

Regards
 
Audit13 said:
What model do you have?
Click to expand...

You mean my MacBook or the HD ?
The MacBook Pro is from 2012 I believe. My HD is described as "SATA" (idk what that means) and is 500GB size. I cannot give you all the details, since I'm writing this from another pc.
 
Your Macbook, if not a retina, users a standard 2.5" hard drive.

You could get a usb 3.0 2.5" enclosure, put the hard drive in the enclosure, connect the enclosure to another mac, and copy your data off the drive.
 
Audit13 said:
Your Macbook, if not a retina, users a standard 2.5" hard drive.

You could get a usb 3.0 2.5" enclosure, put the hard drive in the enclosure, connect the enclosure to another mac, and copy your data off the drive.
Click to expand...

Idk if it's retina, I believe yes.
I guess putting the HD out of the macbook is possible ? It is safe to do so ?
Is a HD in this enclosure similar to a normal external HD ? Can I use HD+enclosure with pc, too, or only mac ?
Can I get access to the HD in any other way, maybe even without taking it out of the mac ?
Could you maybe give a link to such a product ? I just want to know how it might look like, I'm like totally new to that stuff and got to it purely out of necessity.
Thanks for the tip :)
 
jangu23 said:
Idk if it's retina, I believe yes.
I guess putting the HD out of the macbook is possible ? It is safe to do so ?
Is a HD in this enclosure similar to a normal external HD ? Can I use HD+enclosure with pc, too, or only mac ?
Can I get access to the HD in any other way, maybe even without taking it out of the mac ?
Could you maybe give a link to such a product ? I just want to know how it might look like, I'm like totally new to that stuff and got to it purely out of necessity.
Thanks for the tip :)
Click to expand...
An easy way yo determine if it is a 2012 Retina is if it has a built in DVD drive. Non-Retina if it has a DVD drive. Retina if it does not have a DVD drive.
 
Audit13 said:
You can find the exact model # by entering the serial # into the apple website. There is a big difference between an SSD in the retina and non-retina Macbooks.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much. But maybe I won't need it. The files of interest are only few so I could simply transfer it to other computer by creating image from folder in disk utility.
Buuuut there is one problem: trying to make image from a folder that is approx 2-3GB fails, saying 'file too large', and my USB has easily enough free space. Is this really intended, and why ? Is there a way to create bigger dmg files with some options, like compressed or via blank image ? But still for the purpose of imaging specific folders, not whole HD

Regards
 
How is your USB formatted? If it is formatted MS-DOS, that might be the problem with "file too large". You can reformat the USB to EXFAT and not have any size restrictions when copying files over. You will lose any files that are on the USB when you reformat, so make sure you have copies of any you want to keep.
 
Last edited:
MSastre said:
How is your USB formatted? If it is formatted MS-DOS, that might be the problem with "file too large". You can reformat the USB to EXFAT and not have any size restrictions when copying files over. You will loose any files that are on the USB when you reformat, so make sure you have copies of any you want to keep.
Click to expand...
Or use the Sparse Bundle format for the disk-image. This format will work on FAT file-systems (which limit any single file to less than 4GB), because they consist of a directory with 8MB files in "bands". No single file exceeds 8 MB, even when the disk-image (or its contents) does.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparse_image#Sparse_bundle_disk_images
 
chown33 said:
Or use the Sparse Bundle format for the disk-image. This format will work on FAT file-systems (which limit any single file to less than 4GB), because they consist of a directory with 8MB files in "bands". No single file exceeds 8 MB, even when the disk-image (or its contents) does.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparse_image#Sparse_bundle_disk_images
Click to expand...

Yep, my USB is indeed FAT32 formatted. I was wondering about the limitations since many times I copied more than 4GB. It cannot exceed 4GB on a single file, and unfortunately a Folder of interest is of 4.01GB size lol
 
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