system image

[j99mac]

I am creating a system image one for 10.6 and one for 10.5. What is the best way to make sure it can boot on all Macs. Is there a file that I can get ride of before creating the package.

[rtrouton]

@j99mac,

Can you provide more details about your target environment? "All Macs" may be an impossibility, due to the fact that Apple continually releases hardware that can't run anything earlier than the OS that the Mac shipped with. The last 10.5-compatible Mac from Apple shipped in 2009 and the last 10.6-compatible Mac from Apple shipped in 2011.

Apple has a KBase article that details which OS version shipped with each Mac model. It's available from here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1159

[j99mac]

I am looking to create the 10.5 image for PPC iMacs and for G5 towers. The 10.6 image would be for intel Macs.
What are the basic clean up I should do before creating the image?

[jaharmi]

@j99mac,

You’ll need to be more specific about “Intel Macs,” because as @rtrouton said, Apple’s OS compatibility may not allow for it. Unless you have only very old Intel Macs, 10.6 may be an impossibility.

I can’t speak to Casper Imaging, but you may want to look into projects like InstaDMG and AutoDMG for creating never-booted system images.

[j99mac]

The Intel Macs that I can talking about making an image for are the very old or fist generation. And or the ones that only that only can take OS X 10.7.