Unchecking the "Erase drive" box in Casper Imaging - image without losing data?

[donmontalvo]

Is anyone unchecking the "Erase drive" box in Casper Imaging? A couple of our techs asked if it is possible to image a computer without erasing the data that is on it. My gut instinct is "asking for trouble" but wanted to query the list.

If the above *is* being done, do you guys NetBoot across subnets (bless) to reimaging a Mac in place without losing the user data?

Thanks,
Don

[abenedict]

This is how I image computers out of the box. I netboot and have a prestage
setup that does not have the OS or iLife included (since its pre-imaged from
Apple). It just lays down my packages, creates my admin accounts, binds to
OD, reboots and runs my post image script.
I am not netbooting across subnets though and not dealing with any kind of
existing user data.
--
Alan Benedict
?
Macintosh Technician
The Integer Group
O: 515-247-2738
C: 515-770-8234
http://www.integer.com

[talkingmoose]

I never image a machine without erasing it first unless it's out of the
On 8/19/11 3:26 PM, "Don Montalvo" <donmontalvo at gmail.com> wrote:
box as Alan mentioned. At that point it has a default Mac OS X image
waiting for its first run setup, which is exactly how Casper Imaging would
put down the OS before applying the rest of its setup magic.

--

William Smith
Technical Analyst
Merrill Communications LLC
(651) 632-1492

[donmontalvo]

Thanks Alan,

After reading the "thin imaging" thread from a few weeks ago, we tested this on new Macs and it does seem to work. Unfortunately we have to remove a bunch of stuff and figure the 15 minutes it takes to initialize the drive and image is worth the time. I can see how the method can be handy in some environments though. :)

Thanks,
Don

[donmontalvo]

Yep, my thought as well. The state of the computer that has been deployed for a while is too uncertain to take the risk.
Smith, William wrote:

Don