Composer Question

[mattd25]

When I try to image my 10.9 osx hard disk to Casper 9 it doesn't let me choose the drive only an external drive on USB does this mean that the drive I want to image is not supported for imaging ?

Also why would it allow me to choose a USB drive with no OS image on it at all ?

Im still learning so please go easy on me :)

[chris_kemp · Accepted solution]

If you're booted to the hard drive then Composer can't create an image from it. You have to boot to another drive first. Alternatively, Carbon Copy Cloner can create a usable .dmg from a booted drive. It became a paid app awhile back, but I use the last free version all the time with great results.

[chris_kemp · Accepted solution]

If you're booted to the hard drive then Composer can't create an image from it. You have to boot to another drive first. Alternatively, Carbon Copy Cloner can create a usable .dmg from a booted drive. It became a paid app awhile back, but I use the last free version all the time with great results.

[talkingmoose · Accepted solution]

Question for you: Are you trying to simply get an OS package created or are you trying to capture an image of an OS plus all installed applications and preferences?

The premise behind imaging with Casper (if you're using the full suite) is to build a system modularly by stringing together a list of packages and programmatically installing one after the other until an entire Mac is "imaged". Monolithic imaging would be to take one machine with all applications and preferences configured and then cloning that one large image to the rest of your Macs.

The reason I ask is that if you're using modular imaging a handy way to create an OS package is to use AutoDMG. AutoDMG allows you to take Apple's OS X Installer application and create a never-booted (cruft-free) operating system in a disk image, which you can then place into your configuration. What you see in the disk image is essentially the same thing you'd see on a brand new Mac coming from Apple.

And AutoDMG doesn't require that you boot to an external hard drive. You just need the application, an OS X Installer file and room to save the final file (several GB).

[mattd25]

Thanks guys the documentation is a bit flakey on this hence why I asked I didn't know you couldn't image the drive you were using! - But I did hear about AutoDMG and feel this looks to be the smoothest option :)

[krichterjr]

If you are using Casper 9 you can also drag and drop the installer application into Casper Admin and it will create a never booted base OS.

@bentoms has a nice writeup on of if your are interested
http://macmule.com/2014/03/06/how-to-create-an-never-booted-os-dmg-using-casper-admin/

With that said, I myself use AutoDMG but it's always good to know your options.

[brock_walters]

Actually the easy, step-by-step instructions for using the Casper Suite to create an OS image can be found here:

https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/article.html?id=313

& for updating OS X or deploying OS images using the Casper Suite here:

http://resources.jamfsoftware.com/archive/Deploying-OS-X-v10.7-or-Later-with-the-Casper-Suite.pdf