Snow Leopard; can I boot from disk image (DMG)?

[glossywhite]

Hi. I just got Snow Leopard installed. Can I boot from DMGs? ... I hear you can, but can't find confirmation.

Thanks 😀

 

[robbieduncan]

No

 

[glossywhite]

How sure are you, and can you substantiate this?.

 

[Tallest Skil]

How sure are you, and can you substantiate this?.

How would it even be possible?

 

[glossywhite]

How would it even be possible?

Define "it"

 

[calderone]

How would it even be possible?

ImageBoot noted here: http://www.appleinsider.com/article...pard_to_sport_cocoa_finder_and_imageboot.html

 

[tekio]

You need to restore the dmg to a hd partition, usb key etc if you want to boot from it.

 

[Bassir]

I would like to know as well.

 

[calderone]

I'm guessing you pirated Snow Leopard and don't have a dual layered DVD to burn the DMG to.

Ha.

Alright genius, how would he use a Snow Leopard only feature to install his pirated copy of Snow Leopard if he doesn't already have Snow Leopard?

Way to go genius, you caught him.

 

[glossywhite]

You need to restore the dmg to a hd partition, usb key etc if you want to boot from it.

Yes, granted - been doing that for three years, but my specific question is can I boot from an IMAGE.

 

[drlunanerd]

How would it even be possible?

You've evidently never used NetBoot.

 

[calderone]

Yes, granted - been doing that for three years, but my specific question is can I boot from an IMAGE.

From what I have read, you need to have partitions with a disk image stored on it. From the Appleinsider link I gave, it states you can only have one per partition this may have changed. I will give it a shot with an external drive with disk images on it.

 

[rockstarjoe]

I'd also like to know if this is possible... this was a new feature I was looking forward to.

 

[novesire]

I'd also like to know if this is possible... this was a new feature I was looking forward to.

Me too. I guess they forgot to implement this feature...

 

[larkost]

Being able to boot from a dmg is not a snow-leopard thing. Rather is is very similar to setting a manual netboot. You have to get a kenel in place, and then set the boot image to a file:// url. There are lots of little tricks to it, and so far I have only done it by scripts.

Now there are huge caveats to it: the image is not mounted read/write, so it is really only useful for booting installer images.

Eventually I will get around to figuring it all out and documenting it, but for the moment it is really not useful for most people.