# Creating a Mac OS X startup disk CD ?



## Pascal (Apr 3, 2002)

I'm sorry if this has been answered before, but I haven't found it on the site...

I would like to create a new Mac OS X startup CD... is it possible ? Basically, the startup disk that came with my disk repair utility is out of date and I would like to create a new one.

Of course, since I would like to create a startup disk that's up-to-date, I cannot simply drag and drop the original Mac OS X installer disk onto the future startup disk image...

Any suggestions ?


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## simX (Apr 3, 2002)

Yup, there's a solution!  Some guy made an app called "BootCD" and sent it to the MacFixIt.com website, and the MacFixIt editors extolled its virtues.

Basically what it does is it scans your hard drive for the necessary files and adds them to a disk image, and then asks for a set of applications that you also want installed on the disk image.  Then all you have to do is burn the image.  (If you want any docs or any apps later, you can just mount the disk image, and copy them, and THEN burn the image.)

For some reason, I can't seem to find it on MacFixIt.com's list of utilities, but since I have it, I thought I'd post it on my iDisk.  I don't know who the author is because he basically left no trace (nothing even in the Apple menu).

So here's the URL!: http://homepage.mac.com/simx/.cv/simx/Public/BootCD.sit-binhex.hqx

Enjoy.


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## genghiscohen (Apr 4, 2002)

I've tried BootCD, and have burned a bootable disk.  But I can't use the utilities that I put on it.  Trying to launch the Terminal gives me error messages about undefined variables (IIRC), and Drive 10 says it hasn't been authenticated and quits (doesn't even show  a pw screen).
I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong, so that I could create a truly useful emergency boot CD!


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## lethe (Apr 4, 2002)

http://www.geocities.com/paulotex/macosx/


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## lethe (Apr 4, 2002)

this webpage says that if you don t also copy the terminal preferences, then terminal.app won t launch


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## dac9779 (Apr 4, 2002)

I have an icebook 500 combo drive. I dled the bootCD program and made the image and added drive 10. The install CD that I used was the bootable OS X 10.1.3 CD that I got in the mail 2 days ago.

I boot off of my new cd and I get a black screen saying the installer unexpectedly quit and press return to reboot. 

Did i do something wrong? Should I try 10.1.2 or just 10.1? I have a retail copy of each update that has been released, so what versions did you use?

Thanks

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## simX (Apr 4, 2002)

dac9779:  Does the boot CD actually start up into a Finder and work but the application you are trying to run does not, or is it that you can't even get into a functional Finder?

It seems that most people are having the application failures kind of problem.  The one thing I've learned about BootCD is that it copies only the application itself.  You'll actually need all of the resources.

So what you should do is mount the disk image after it is created (don't bother adding any applications), and use Pacifist to install all the necessary components of the application you want to use (Pacifist is available at www.versiontracker.com).  It seems that maybe the BootCD application is trying to make as stripped down a system as possible, so it omits things that might be needed for even the Terminal.

Note that some application in fact do not need to work this way.  One example is OmniWeb.  Since it's just a drag-and-drop install anyway, you can just drag-and-drop it into the Applications folder and it should work (as long as you can establish a network connection).

Tell me if that helps.


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## dac9779 (Apr 5, 2002)

When i boot, the finder never appears, its just a black screen saying press eneter to reboot. Its pretty wierd. Anyone have any clues?


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## Pascal (Apr 5, 2002)

Thanks to all the replies above. I have now burned (and thrown away) three CDs trying to get a functional Emergency CD to work !  That is soooo different from Mac OS 9...  

Its not that your suggestions aren't good... the last 2 could have been used as emergency disks... My problem is simply that I cannot get all the apps that I would like on my Emergency CD to work (namely, I cannot get Norton Disk Doctor to start from the CD : does anyone know how to force an install to another boot volume than the original ?).





> _Originally posted by dac9779 _
> *When i boot, the finder never appears, its just a black screen saying press eneter to reboot. Its pretty weird. Anyone have any clues? *


This only happened to me once... when I tried to use Pacifist as suggested above.  I guess I haven't understood how to use Pacifist to properly prepare my CD. Could anyone help me here ? (For instance, my homemade Emergency CD's Finder cannot shutdown my Mac.., I have to type "reboot" in the Terminal instead. I guess that with proper Pacifist enhancement, it would work correctly.)


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## simX (Apr 5, 2002)

Did you use the Norton installer to install it on the disk image?  Mount the disk image that BootCD creates, and then use the installer to install Norton on it, rather than just dragging the apps to the disk image.  I think Norton requires extra resources for it to work.


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## Pascal (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by simX _
> *Did you use the Norton installer to install it on the disk image?  Mount the disk image that BootCD creates, and then use the installer to install Norton on it, rather than just dragging the apps to the disk image.  I think Norton requires extra resources for it to work.*


Yes, _Norton_ requires extra resources, but the _Norton installer_ doesn't give me the option to install anywhere but on the startup disk... So I used _Sherlock_ to locate them and I copied every folder created by Norton (scattered every where throughout the disk) to the equivalent folder on my Emergency Disk. I noticed that some files had some special ownership flags (root/staff) and I attempted to set the appropriate ownership on my Emergency CD too (using _BatChmod_), but they didn't seem to "stick"... so I guess that's why it failed.

Every _Norton Utilities_ application starts up and work except the one I want : NDD !  _Norton Disk Doctor_ crashes when I click on the _Examine_ button...


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## lethe (Apr 11, 2002)

here is another good link for creating a boot CD:
http://www.bombich.com/mactips/bootx.html

note that at the bottom, he says that he has a lot of trouble making some applications launch from the CD due to the lack of RAM disk support in OSX.


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## Pascal (Apr 11, 2002)

> _Originally posted by lethe _
> *here is another good link for creating a boot CD: http://www.bombich.com/mactips/bootx.html*


It is a very interesting read... but since I only have one partition on my Mac, I cannot apply these tips. Oh well !


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## nkuvu (Apr 26, 2002)

This is kind of an old thread, but I was trying to do this tonight and found some new information.

BootCD can be found at http://www.macfixit.com/library/osxu.shtml

Instructions to use BootCD are llinked off of that page at http://www.macfixit.com/library/usingbootcd.shtml

I just found the instructions (I had no idea how to get the dmg file to the CD), so I will let everyone know how it goes.


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## paradoxchild (May 8, 2002)

Can I create a boot CD with a CD-RW or do I have to use a regular CD? A CD-RW works fine with OS 9 but I can't seem to get it to work with OS X.


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## cthompso (Mar 25, 2003)

I'm trying to make a disk with BootCD and then add the latest version of Drive 10 to it.  Everything works until I try to burn the CD.  I go to Disk Copy, I pick the .dmg file, I hit burn, and it gives me an Error 35 message (the file is already in use).  What am I doing wrong?


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