Cloning a Macintosh System

In a computer lab or school setting there is often a need to maintain the systems with identical versions of software. This insures that all machines are operating with the same software, thus minimizing support issues - since support is often scarce in schools. This method of maintaining the Macintoshes in your school is a lot easier and simpler than installing software over the network. Initially it is more work, but once it's setup you can make quick work of installing software on all your machines.

In order to do this you will need to have one Macintosh for each type that you have in your school. This Mac will be your source machine. While most of this article refers to installing the clone over a network, it will also work with a removable hard drive. Please see the end of the article for more information on how to do this.

Once you have a source machine to work with, you're ready to begin.

Start with a newly formatted hard drive. It is essential not to have any remnants of previous software on your hard drive. If you are getting new computers soon set one aside as your source machine before allowing the students to use it.

After you have a clean, freshly formatted hard disk reinstall the Mac OS for the particular machine. Install as well any OS revisions or component parts needed/desired for your particular school.

Install the application software from the factory diskettes, CD Roms or over a network. Install any application software upgrades at this time. You may want to check the Internet sites of the software that you use to be sure that you have the most current versions.

Open, setup and use every application on the hard drive, but do not save to the hard drive. The goal here is to set up the system as you want it without contaminating it with saved documents. As you use each application many will create a preference file in the preferences folder and give you the chance to register your schools name into the software.

Change any system configuration options with the control panels as you wish. Many of the System 7.5.x control panels save files in the preferences folder as well.

Open the folders for the software you've installed. Now is the time to create any aliases that will help with the operation of the systems. To make a folder appear at the top of a Save or Open dialog box, create an aliases of it and rename it by adding a space to the start and dropping the word alias from the end. Renaming the actual folder is not a good idea since the program may be written to look for the old name. While you're at it remove any of the read me files that you don't want the students to view.

Open the Mac OS System Folder and clean out any unwanted files from the control panels and extensions folders. If you have System 7.5 or later, these can be placed into the corresponding (Disabled) folders. Otherwise create these folders and move the unwanted files into them. Making printouts of the contents of these folders is a good idea before you start moving things out. Here are a few links to help you decide what should stay and what should go; Macintosh Version Tracker and Mac Fix It.

Install any third party extensions and/or control panels that you need, really like or can't do without.

Test your configuration. Anywhere between several hours to several days depending on the complexity of the clone configuration.

Once you've setup your source system the way you want. Log onto the server and copy the entire hard drive to a folder on the server.

After the source is on the server, examine the folders and clean them up. You can also protect portions of your System Folder by making the control panels and extensions folders invisible. Do this for the (Disabled) versions of the folders as well. While this is not a very secure security system, it is very effective at keeping your computers connected to the network. You can reinstall your software from the clone you are building here.

Note: For Mac OS version 7.5 and later you may want to increase the memory that the finder is allocated. To do this, boot from a floppy and change the finder type code to APPL from FNDR using ResEdit, Norton Utilities or a similar tool. Click once on the finder, which should now look like a generic program icon, and use File, Get Info... to alter the memory requirements. Increasing the memory size to 256K seems to work well with System 7.5.5. After you are done increasing the memory, change back the type code to FNDR so that the finder works again. It should look like a finder when you are done. Finally, restart your Macintosh.

If you don't already have it, get a copy of the Apple network access disk. Test the disk to ensure that you are able to use it to start your machine and connect to your network. Test this disk before you need it as the system software may not work with your computer.

Now, reformat your drive again and use the network access disk to connect to your server. Drag the system and other folders back down to the hard drive. Restart the machine and ensure that it works as it should.

Tip: It often helps to place the hard drive formatter, disk first aid and other essential tools on the network server and use aliases to start them. By placing these into a networked folder with a unique owner, you can also password protect them as well.

Once your satisfied that all is working well reformat the hard drives of the other computers and drag the folders to the hard drives. Initially do this for computers that are used heavily or by advanced users who can help you diagnose potential problems that may have been overlooked.

Although this may seem like a lot of work, if you have a number of the same kind of computers the effort you put into creating the clone will save you time in the long run. Any time you need to install additional software; just reformat a hard drive, reinstall the clone, install the new software and make this machine's hard drive the source for your new clone.

You don't even need a network for this to work either. If you have a large capacity hard drive like a large external hard disk or IOmega Jaz drive you can use the start up control panel to define your start up disk as the external drive and install the clone from there. To do this you'll need a boot disk with the start up control panel on it. The disk tools disk is a good choice.