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Re: Create my own System 7.5.3 HFS-CD?



Hi,

I never tried to make a Mac bootable CD with mkisofs, I did make, but using Toast.

Anyway you seem to ignore some basic Macintosh concepts, so it may help to fix those.

A Macintosh bootable CD is in no way a ISO standard. In fact it is just the bit per bit image of a Macintosh hard disk.

Macintosh hard disks can be formatted either HFS or HFS+. The same for a Mac bootable CD, although I would suggest to stick to HFS. (More: you talk about System 7.5.3: that version of the System DOES NOT recognize HFS+ = one definitive reason to use HFS)

Hard disks usually have a partition map at the beginning. A Mac bootable CD MUST begin with a partition map otherwise the Mac may still be able to read, but would never accept as a bootable system disk.

Mkisofs in the newer versions has the ability to make hybrid images, that is, CDs with both a ISO 9660 directory and a Macintosh HFS directory. That is not enough to make a bootable CD, as I just explained it also needs a Macintosh partition map if you want a Mac to ever consider booting from there. Toast has the ability to make such a map, Apple's Disk Copy has not, don't know mkisofs.
If mkisofs can not produce the partition map then you are out of luck.
(in fact there is a way, but its hard and dirty and I will explain only if you find no better way)

Apart from the format, a Mac bootable CD must contain a System folder with system stuff inside, probably you already realized this. More and basic: the System folder must be "blessed" (especially marked): did you blessed it ?
Again you have to investigate whether mkisofs supports such an option.

Finally one very stupid point, which Mac do you want to boot with System 7.5.3 ?
(It is not supported by recent Macintoshes)

Hope this be of help.

I am amused about one point: if Apple allows downloading for free the files which make up System 7.5.3, why not the full CD image ?

Danilo



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