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Creating Backups of IRIX Install Media on MacOS X
IRIX install media (CDs) use the EFS file system. MacOS X cannot read this out of the box, but that does not preclude you from using OS X to create backup images of your CD install media.
Using MacOS X's built-in hdiutil tool
The hdiutil tool is included with every standard MacOS X installation. This is a two-step process: first you create an image out of the IRIX CD and then you burn that image to a blank disc. All it takes is a terminal window:
1. Put in the disc you're attempting to image. You will get a popup from OSX claiming the disc cannot be read (this is because of EFS file system that the disc uses). Ignore the warning and keep the CD loaded into your drive.
2. Create a directory on the drive to hold your image files:
$ mkdir IRIX6.5 $ cd IRIX6.5
3. Create the images:
$ hdiutil create ./IRIX6.5-InstallationTools-June1998.dmg -srcdevice /dev/disk1s0
this will give you an output similar to:
Preparing imaging engine… Reading whole disk (unknown partition : 0)… ..................................................... (CRC32 $3CC46F9E: whole disk (unknown partition : 0)) Adding resources… ..................................................... Elapsed Time: 5m 36.504s File size: 225160899 bytes, Checksum: CRC32 $F8CD6FB2 Sectors processed: 607696, 607696 compressed Speed: 903.0Kbytes/sec Savings: 27.6% created: /Users/florit/Desktop/Personal/SGI/IRIX6.5/IRIX6.5-InstallationTools-June1998.dmg
4. Eject the disk image:
$ hdiutil detach /dev/disk1s0
5. Burn the image to a new CD:
$ hdiutil burn IRIX6.5-InstallationTools-June1998.dmg
this will give you an output similar to:
Preparing data for burn Opening session Opening track Writing track ..................................................... Closing track ..................................................... Closing session ..................................................... Finishing burn Verifying burn… Verifying ..................................................... Burn completed successfully ..................................................... hdiutil: burn: completed
6. Verify that your IRIX host can read the burned disc and repeat the steps above for the remaining IRIX CDs.
Using disc-burning software
Any disc-burning application able to produce 1:1 copies should work fine with IRIX CDs. It is still a two-step process: first you create an image out of the IRIX CD and then you burn that image to a blank disc using your disc-burning application. Members confirm successful backups with SimplyBurns and Toast.