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bootable cds on oldworld [was Re: Backing an HFS partition]



On Thu, May 26, 2005 at 04:04:52PM -0700, Brad Boyer wrote:
> On Thu, May 26, 2005 at 05:23:52PM -0300, Gunther Furtado wrote:
> > As I am trying to transfer a MacOS8.1 from a bootable hfs iomega zip disk to a 
> > bootable CD (trying to rescue a Performa630CD). I am having a hard time using 
> > mkisofs an it made me wonder: is it possible to back up an HFSPlus partition 
> > from debian? Which tools are available?
> 
> You can't use mkisofs to make a CD that is bootable on an oldworld or
> nubus based mac. It isn't just a matter of having files on the CD to
> be able to boot from it. You need a partition map and drivers on your
> CD setup correctly. The zip disk would have its own partition map and
> drivers if it is bootable, but those drivers may not be compatible
> with being loaded from a CD.

I have a bootable MacOS 8.5 CD, could I make a bootable Linux CD by
copying the partitions on the cd? The man page of mkisofs talks about:

 -boot-hfs-file driver_file
        Installs the driver_file that may make the CD bootable on a
	Macintosh. See the HFS BOOT DRIVER section below. (Alpha).

HFS BOOT DRIVER
       It may be possible to make the hybrid CD bootable on a Macintosh.

       A  bootable  HFS  CD requires an Apple CD-ROM (or compatible) driver, a
       bootable HFS partition and the necessary System, Finder, etc. files.

       A driver can be obtained from any other Macintosh bootable CD-ROM using
       the  apple_driver  utility.  This  file  can  then  be  used  with  the
       -boot-hfs-file option.

       The HFS partition (i.e. the hybrid disk in our  case)  must  contain  a
       suitable System Folder, again from another CD-ROM or disk.

       For  a  partition to be bootable, it must have it's boot block set. The
       boot block is in the first two  blocks  of  a  partition.  For  a  non-
       bootable  partition  the  boot block is full of zeros. Normally, when a
       System file is copied to partition on a Macintosh disk, the boot  block
       is  filled  with  a number of required settings - unfortunately I don't
       know the full spec for the boot block, so I'm guessing that the follow-
       ing will work OK.

       Therefore,  the  utility apple_driver also extracts the boot block from
       the first HFS partition it finds on the given CD-ROM and this  is  used
       for the HFS partition created by mkisofs.

       PLEASE NOTE
              By using a driver from an Apple CD and copying Apple software to
              your CD, you become liable to obey Apple Computer, Inc. Software
              License Agreements.

I have search for more information on how to actually do this, but
failed. The apple_driver utility does not seem to be included in the
debian mkisofs package. And if I get my hands on apple_driver and use
that to copy the driver partitions from the MacOS CD, could I then use
miboot to get a blessed system folder?

Can the mklinux CD:s boot oldworld macs? If so, you could perhaps copy
the partitions on the mklinux CD instead of copywrited Apple ones?

-- 
Hans Ekbrand (http://sociologi.cjb.net) <hans@sociologi.cjb.net>

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