Create Dmg From Apfs Volume

Disk imaging is a highly useful tool if you're wanting to create a whole copy of a volume and restore it back at a later date, either to the same disk or another one entirely. It's an integral part of Disk Utility and, as with partitioning, creating & restoring images can be executed via the command-line.

Jan 31, 2019  If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, or the startup disk is formatted as Mac OS Extended instead of APFS, you can create a new partition instead. The space it occupies doesn't automatically adjust to fit your content, so you must manually size the partition. Learn how to add a volume to a device formatted as Mac OS Extended. Dec 28, 2019 How to Make a DMG File on a Mac. One way to store or group files on a Mac is to create a Disk Image. A Disk Image is a file which has the properties of a separate hard drive or CD and allows for greater password protection and compression. Jul 23, 2019  For one example of using APFS volumes in containers, some users create a new APFS volume and use that new volume to run beta software, like to install MacOS Catalina beta onto, though be absolutely certain you backup all of your Mac data before doing so. Note that you can not install Linux, Windows, older Mac OS X releases, or other operating systems onto an APFS volume.

Disk Images Explained

  • For advance purposes, if you need to create a DMG file with the specifics Disk format, like Mac OS Extended Journaled, APFS, etc. To do that, in the macOS Disk Utility go to File New Disk Image and select Blank Image instead of creating the Image from Folder.
  • It'd be easiest to create the APFS container and volume(s) with Disk Utility or by using diskutil which is a little less sophisticated than hdiutil but honestly hdiutil is like physics in that no one really understands what the it all means.
  • Create a Disk Image Using a Mac Data Recovery Utility on macOS Mojave. The third-party data recovery utility, Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac also allows you to create a disk image (.DMG) file of the inbuilt Mac storage drive/volume or an external storage device. The logical steps to create a disk image of a drive using the utility.
  • Using Disk Utility app create an APFS volume on your external disk. Make sure that your external disk use GUID partition scheme. It’s also important that created APFS volume size is equal or bigger than the source system volume. Let's name the external disk volume as BackupClone.

A disk image is a file containing the entire structure of a partition or even just a folder. On the Mac, disk images tend to be DMG files. You'll likely have come across these when downloading apps, such as Skype, from the web. If you remember the days of software that was provided on either a floppy or optical disc, disk images have been designed to work in much the same way but through digital, rather than physical, distribution.

Mavericks 10.9 dmg mega. Creating an image of a disk partition duplicates its entire structure into a single file, bit for bit. Let's say we had an external hard drive that contains a single volume and created a disk image from it. If we then restored this disk image to another external hard drive, it would contain the exact same volume with identical information.

Disk images also retain boot functionality, so images created from bootable OS X volumes can be created and restored. This is especially useful for those needing to configure tens, if not hundreds, of similar Macs with the same software configuration. Rather then repeat the entire configuration process on each Mac, it could be completed on just one Mac and a disk image of it created, then restored to every other Mac.

Creating a Disk Image of a Volume

Create Dmg From Apfs Volume

The diskutil command is only for disk management, when it comes to creating and restoring images there are two other commands to know of.

The first, hdiutil, is used to manipulate disk images. For the purposes of this guide, we'll be using it to create new disk images (although there is a lot more the command can do).

To create a disk image of a partition, the command is:

Executing hdiutil in this way must be as root, hence it starting with sudo.

An example of this command in practice would be:

This command will create a new disk image called Lion.dmg on the Desktop based upon the disk identifier disk2s4. In this instance, this referred to a volume containing an installation of OS X Mavericks.

Creating a Disk Image of a Folder

The hdiutil command can also be used to create a disk image based upon a folder.

Using the above command, we could perform the following:

The name of the disk image and volume name are two different things, the first simply refers to the filename of the disk image created. When the image is mounted or restored to a disk, the volume name is what's referred to. So if I mount this new disk image, you'll see OS X mounts it as 'New Disk Image'.

Disk images generated using the above methods are read-only and formatted as HFS+ by default, though their size will be just enough to contain all the data needed.

Standard disk images cannot increase in size, so you'll need to specify a particular size if you intend to be adding data to it later. The parameter -size can be used to specify the size of the disk image to create.

If you need will need to modify or add more data to the disk image, use the parameter -format UDRW which represents read/write.

Create Dmg From Apfs Volume Formula

Combining all of the above, the command would be:

Creating Encrypted Disk Images

While Mac OS X doesn't support password-protected folders, you can create encrypted disk images and store important files within.

To create an encrypted disk image, use the command:

Unlike previous examples, encrypted disk images are read/write by default but contain no filesystem, so one must be specified before it can be used.

Here's an example command to create a 1GB encrypted disk image:

During the process, OS X's password generator will appear for you to either specify and confirm (or generate) a password.

Resizing Disk Images

Should you create a disk image that has become full, or one that was far bigger than necessary, it can be resized using the resize option and -size parameter.

Provided there is either enough free space on the volume the disk image is located on, or the size is not less than the total amount of data it contains, the disk image will resize according to the size specified.

Restoring Disk Images

Copying a disk image to a volume on a disk is more commonly referred to as restoring, you would restore a disk image. Although the term implies the disk image may have originated from the disk you're using in the first place, it's used regardless of that fact.

Volume

Restoring disk images isn't done by either hdiutil or diskutil, but by the next command we'll be looking at: asr.

asr (Apple Software Restore), is used to copy (restore) a disk image to a disk. The command used to restore a disk image is:

There are some options that can be included to speed up the process which can be added to the end of the command.

  • noprompt (doesn't display any prompts before erasing or restoring)
  • noverify (skips verification after restoring)
  • erase (erase the target volume before continuing)

An example command using these option would be:

Restoring Volume to Volume

If you needed to duplicate a volume from one external hard drive to another, you don't need create a disk image first as asr can restore one volume to another.

The command to do this is similar to restoring a disk image, but we reference a volume instead of a disk image. For example:

Once completed, the target volume will be identical to the source volume, even taking the same name.

Wrapping Up

Using a combination of diskutil, hdiutil and asr, the functions of Disk Utility can all be performed via the command-line, from encrypted disk images to basic volume duplication.

While Disk Utility may be easier for most users, those looking to find ways of performing complex or repetitive tasks automatically can do so by way of shell scripting.

You can purchase the complete guide to Disk Management From the Command-Line that includes Building an OS X Triage Drive as an ebook in ePub and PDF format for just $0.99.

If you install macOS on an additional volume of your startup disk, you can switch between that macOS and the macOS on your other volume, as if each were on a separate disk. And because storage space is shared across APFS volumes, you don't need to reserve space for the new volume. Its size automatically adjusts to fit your content.

What you need

Your Mac must already be using macOS High Sierra or later on an APFS-formatted startup disk. Find out which format your startup disk is using.

You don't need to reserve storage space for the new volume, but macOS needs as much as 20GB of available space to install, depending on the version of macOS. If you don't have enough space, the installer will let you know.

About This Mac includes a storage overview: Choose Apple () menu > About This Mac, then click Storage.

Back up your Mac

It's a good idea to back up your Mac first, especially if you're installing a beta version of macOS. Beta software is software that is still in development, so some apps and services might not work as expected.

Create Dmg From Apfs Volume 1

Add an APFS volume

  1. Open Disk Utility, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  2. In the sidebar, select your existing APFS volume.
  3. Choose Edit > Add APFS Volume from the menu bar, or click in the Disk Utility toolbar. These options are available only when an APFS volume is selected.
  4. Type any name for the new APFS volume, then click Add:
  5. Disk Utility should now show the new volume in the sidebar. The new volume will also appear in the Finder, as if it were a separate disk. You can now quit Disk Utility.

Install macOS on the volume

Choose an installation method:

  • To install a beta (prerelease) version of macOS, enroll in the Apple Beta Software Program and follow the installation instructions on the program website.
  • To install a release version of macOS, you can use macOS Recovery. The keys you press at startup determine which macOS is installed.

When the installer opens and you're asked to choose where to install, click Show All Disks, then select the new volume.

Switch between macOS versions

After installation is complete, you can use Startup Disk preferences or Startup Manager to quickly switch between each macOS:

  • Choose Apple () menu > Startup Disk, then click and enter your administrator password. Select the volume that you want to use, then click Restart.
  • Or press and hold the Option key during startup. When prompted, choose the volume that you want to start up from.

Keep the macOS on each volume up to date

To find the latest updates for each version of macOS, check for software updates, then start up from the other volume and check for software updates again.

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Create Dmg From Apfs Volume 2

If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, or the startup disk is formatted as Mac OS Extended instead of APFS, you can create a new partition instead. The space it occupies doesn't automatically adjust to fit your content, so you must manually size the partition. Learn how to add a volume to a device formatted as Mac OS Extended.