Tiger Lab Migration Part 1a: Snags!
Snags! I've hit snags! And in the most basic part of this migration.
I don't know what it is, but it sure seems like any time I want to do something ambitious I end up having the weirdest problems. This lab migration is no exception. My first step is cloning my system drive, in case I need to revert back to the previous working state for some reason. A tedious but necessary precaution. And drop-dead simple, right? I mean, how many drives have I cloned in my lifetime? Well, I don't know for sure, but I lost count somewhere around twelve-bajillion or so. And how many times have I had a problem with it? Maybe three. And usually it was because I was doing something stupid.
But today, of all days, when I'm finally ready to take the plunge, wipe my system and install the dreaded Tiger, I find myself unable to successfully clone my drive to a disk image. Everytime (and I've tried Carbon Copy Cloner and Apple's Disk Utility) I get the same error message telling me that the disk image/folder is too big. Too big for what? I'm cloning a 13 GB volume to a 230 GB hard drive. Seem like I should have plenty of space. The error occurs, in all cases, right after the initial sparse image is created, and right before the ASR scan/conversion begins.
I tell you, I'm stymied.
I'm on my fourth attempt at this point, and this time, rather then being booted from the root drive, I'm mounting the system in firewire target disk mode, and cloning on a seperate system. (See? The advantages of having a lab full of computers. Nice.) My reasoning here is that I'm worried that there's something terribly wrong with my boot drive, and it's confusing the hell out of hdiutil. (Did I mention, the error message is from hdiutil?) So I figured I'd try from a presumably happy, healthy boot drive and see what happens.
I've been doing this all day, and it's getting pretty old. So, while my attempts at cloning run I am also:
1) Writing this blog (obviously)
2) Reading other blogs
3) Installing Red Hat Linux on a Windows box.
I am surrounded by progress bars, and yet I can't seem to make any progress.
Systems work can sure be frustrating sometimes.
Oh well.
_______
Update 1:
Argh! It happened again! Below is a screen capture of the error message.
Also, SprintPCS has been down for two days doing "maintenance." Probably removing cool features and replacing them with shitty ones. This seems to be a general tren in the industry. But I'll tell you, if I took so long to do maintenance, I'd be fired. What this means for me, of course, is that I cannot upload any photos.
Apparently, I can't do anything today. Maybe I should just go home.
Again I say, Argh!
_______
Update 2
Well, I've figured out the problem. Should've just googled that error message in the first place, but no, that would've been far too quick and easy. The problem is a bug in hdiutil and OSX 10.3.9 that prevents creating an asr restore image of disk images over 8 GB. So right this very moment I'm making a lean OSX 10.3.2 boot disk on a 6 GB firewire drive I have lying around. I'll boot off that drive to make my restore image. Hopefully, that will do the trick and I can move on.
Hmph! I knew there was a reason I didin't want to upgrade to 10.3.9. And there it is.
Um... WTF?
I don't know what it is, but it sure seems like any time I want to do something ambitious I end up having the weirdest problems. This lab migration is no exception. My first step is cloning my system drive, in case I need to revert back to the previous working state for some reason. A tedious but necessary precaution. And drop-dead simple, right? I mean, how many drives have I cloned in my lifetime? Well, I don't know for sure, but I lost count somewhere around twelve-bajillion or so. And how many times have I had a problem with it? Maybe three. And usually it was because I was doing something stupid.
But today, of all days, when I'm finally ready to take the plunge, wipe my system and install the dreaded Tiger, I find myself unable to successfully clone my drive to a disk image. Everytime (and I've tried Carbon Copy Cloner and Apple's Disk Utility) I get the same error message telling me that the disk image/folder is too big. Too big for what? I'm cloning a 13 GB volume to a 230 GB hard drive. Seem like I should have plenty of space. The error occurs, in all cases, right after the initial sparse image is created, and right before the ASR scan/conversion begins.
I tell you, I'm stymied.
I'm on my fourth attempt at this point, and this time, rather then being booted from the root drive, I'm mounting the system in firewire target disk mode, and cloning on a seperate system. (See? The advantages of having a lab full of computers. Nice.) My reasoning here is that I'm worried that there's something terribly wrong with my boot drive, and it's confusing the hell out of hdiutil. (Did I mention, the error message is from hdiutil?) So I figured I'd try from a presumably happy, healthy boot drive and see what happens.
I've been doing this all day, and it's getting pretty old. So, while my attempts at cloning run I am also:
1) Writing this blog (obviously)
2) Reading other blogs
3) Installing Red Hat Linux on a Windows box.
I am surrounded by progress bars, and yet I can't seem to make any progress.
Systems work can sure be frustrating sometimes.
Oh well.
_______
Update 1:
Argh! It happened again! Below is a screen capture of the error message.
Also, SprintPCS has been down for two days doing "maintenance." Probably removing cool features and replacing them with shitty ones. This seems to be a general tren in the industry. But I'll tell you, if I took so long to do maintenance, I'd be fired. What this means for me, of course, is that I cannot upload any photos.
Apparently, I can't do anything today. Maybe I should just go home.
Again I say, Argh!
_______
Update 2
Well, I've figured out the problem. Should've just googled that error message in the first place, but no, that would've been far too quick and easy. The problem is a bug in hdiutil and OSX 10.3.9 that prevents creating an asr restore image of disk images over 8 GB. So right this very moment I'm making a lean OSX 10.3.2 boot disk on a 6 GB firewire drive I have lying around. I'll boot off that drive to make my restore image. Hopefully, that will do the trick and I can move on.
Hmph! I knew there was a reason I didin't want to upgrade to 10.3.9. And there it is.
Um... WTF?
Labels: Lab, Systems, Tiger, TigerLabMigration
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 7:06 PM.
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