Disk Utility - Create Image Fails

Hello all -
I'm trying to make an image of one of my hard drives as a back up. I've followed the instructions in Disk Utility help, but when I click "Save" to try to create the image I get a failure message "Unable to create <Disk Name>. (Resource Busy)".
I've tried saving to the destination with a new folder, that did not solve the problem. No other applications are running and both the source and destination disks are mounted and appearing on my desktop. The source is a USB connected drive, destination is a firewire drive, and I can read and write to both the source and destination disks.
Anyone have any idea what this failure message means and how to correct the problem? Thanks - Randy

If you don't mind I'd like to discourage you from backing up a drive onto a disc image file no matter where you plan to save it. Disc image files can be very problematical when it comes to trying to restore the backup. Furthermore, you cannot boot from a disc image. If the disc image file becomes corrupted then you have no backup.
I would like to propose that you think about a better way to backup your drive. You can clone the drive to your backup drive. It's easy to do using Disk Utility's Restore feature. A clone backup is not only bootable but you have direct access to all the files on the backup.
In order to make a bootable clone open Disk Utility. Select Disk Utility Help from the Help menu. Search for +duplicating a disk+. Click on "Duplicating a disk" at the top of the list of articles. Follow the directions.

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Disk Utility: Create image fails with input/output error

Starting to create an image and saving it into an external hard drive (MacOS extended Journaled).
It starts after less than 60 secs it comes out with an error : Failed to create the image (input/output error)

If you don't mind I'd like to discourage you from backing up a drive onto a disc image file no matter where you plan to save it. Disc image files can be very problematical when it comes to trying to restore the backup. Furthermore, you cannot boot from a disc image. If the disc image file becomes corrupted then you have no backup.
I would like to propose that you think about a better way to backup your drive. You can clone the drive to your backup drive. It's easy to do using Disk Utility's Restore feature. A clone backup is not only bootable but you have direct access to all the files on the backup.
In order to make a bootable clone open Disk Utility. Select Disk Utility Help from the Help menu. Search for +duplicating a disk+. Click on "Duplicating a disk" at the top of the list of articles. Follow the directions.

Disk Utility: Create Image from Volume Without Unused Space

I'm trying to create a disk image from a mounted volume (flash memory in a video camera) but I don't want to write to it later, it's just for archiving. The problem is that the size of the original volume is 16 GB, so every image I create is huge, even if there is less than a 1 GB used.
For example, I only have two short clips on there, about 1.1 GB used. When I create a new .dmg from the volume, the file is 5.28 GB and when I mount it it tells me the size of the volume is 15.3 GB. Clearly I understand why this is happening, it's creating a bit for bit copy of the original volume, but I don't need all that space since I'm never going to write to it.
In disk utility it won't let me resize the image (it's grayed out). What do I do?

I actually don't understand why this is happening (when I do this the created disk image only uses the space it needs) but you can get around it as follows. First create a blank read/write disk image to the size you want and then restore the memory card to that image.

Disk Utility create image error - "Invalid Argument" - on USB drive.

I wanted to use a USB 2.0 drive that I share with a Windows machine to backup my son's iBook. I divided the drive into two partitions and formatted the iBook backup partition as FAT32. I attempted to create a read-only disk image on the USB drive in order to backup the iBook, but it does not complete successfully - it terminates with an "Invalid Argument" error. I also tried creating a read/write disk image and that terminates with an error "File or Folder not found." Anyone have any tips or clues as to what may be the problem?
iBook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I figured out my problem to some extent. I was not creating an empty image, but was trying to create a disk image without selecting a folder. Once I selected create an empty image from the File menu I did not get the error and was able to create an empty image on the USB drive.

DISK UTILITY -- "New Image" problems

Maybe I don't get how this works. I used an external USB drive to back up my MacBook Pro, making an image un=sing Disk Utility "New Image." THis seems to have worked fine. When I attach the external drive and double click on the DMG file it open and I seem to have access to all contents.
Today I tried to make a second "New Image" on the same drive of my iMac24" and everything runs and makes a DMG file, but when I click on this one I get a msg saying the disk image "couldn't be opened" with the reason given being "no mountable file systems."
Does this make perfect sense to somebody?
Have I completely misunderstood the use and practice of the "new image" in Disk Utility?
Thanks.

Hey. If you want to make a DMG image of your iMac, you will need to boot off the install DVD and use Disk Utility from the DVD. To create the DMG is the same process: Select the "Macintosh HD" icon on the left hand side list of Disk Utility, click the "New Image" button, leave "Image Format" as "Compressed" and its up to you for Encryption, I always leave it as "None".
Select to save your DMG image on the external hard drive and click save. Once the image is done, click on "Image" on the menu bar and click on "Scan Image for Restore...".
That's it!
Good luck

Disk Utility create encrypted disk image hangs

I'm trying really, really hard to backup my data but apple is not making it easy for me.
I need my files encrypted for an offline backup. Time machine only allows home folder to be encrypted, and due to my home folder being on my SSD drive I cannot fit my files all in there, not by a long shot.
Using Disk Utility, I choose "new disk image from folder", and select "read only", 256-bit encryption. Some of the folders worked. However some will just hang for hours on "Creating Image, copying...". I can see at the destination the dmg file has stopped incrementing larger. It has reached the full size of the folder approximately. Does apple fail at some file types? I already ran disk repair several times to no avail. I don't know what else to try, it just doesn't want to work. All I want is an encrypted backup, that any OSX install can retrieve without any special software involved. Sometimes I'll get a very unhelpful error message "Operation not supported". Whatever that is supposed to mean. Google was no help so hoping for some insights here.

Create an encrypted sparse disk image instead of from folder, mount it, and then drag & drop your files into ii.

Disk Utility: Creating a new blank image receiving "file too large" error.

Hello All!
I'm trying to create a 10GB non-encrypted, non-compressed RW blank image via the disk utility. The DU runs for a few minutes then barfs out "file too large" error. I have over 30GB free on my HDD. I tried with a smaller size of 6GB to no avail. Also tried unsuccessfully to create from a file (about 4 GB). My ultimate goal is to create a case-insensitive image to run an extremely important program needed for high priority work productivity (i.e. WoW). Thanks in advance for any advice! You will be my new best friend if you help me resolve this. =D
Hollie
"There are only 10 types of people in this world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't."

Hi Hollie, and welcome to the forums!
Have you created images before successfully?
Is this to/on your boot drive, or an external drive?
Have you done any Disk/OS maintenance lately?
We might see if there are some big temp files left or such...
How much free space is on the HD, where has all the space gone?
OmniDiskSweeper is now free, and likely the best/easiest...
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper/
WhatSize...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13006/
Disk Inventory X...
http://www.derlien.com/
GrandPerspective...
http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

Disk Utility - create ISO Data DVD image for burning?

Which are the exact options in Disk Utility that I need to select, in order to create an ISO DVD Data image that will be readable by PCs and Macs alike?
I have looked on the web and in the help but am none the wiser due to lack of an explanation of the options
Format: Mac OS Extended (journaled),...,MS-DOS (FAT)
Partitions:Single partition - Apple Partition Map,...,Single Partition CD/DVD with ISO data
If you cannot point me in the direction of some decent documentation, please just tell me which options I need to select to create an ISO Data DVD
Thanks

Try this link.
Basically, you can drag a folder into the list on the left. Then, with the folder selected, click New Disk Image from the toolbar at the top (not sure of the exact wording, but it's something along those lines). Make sure to select ISO from the pop-up menu.
Also try this article to convert a DMG to ISO.

Disk Utility create new image question

In the side bar of Disk Utility, it lists the devices and then, indented, the names of the disks. If I want to create an image of an existing DVD, does it matter whether I choose "Upper Superdrive" or the disk title?

Also, can someone explain the difference bewteen a read-only image and a master image?

Disk utility - create disk image

Creating image works with most disks, but not with DVDs made with my TIVO
With TIVO disks, a shell of about 32 K with no content is produced within a few seconds. Same result with all settings of the utility.
Is there an incompatibility here?
Thanks for any help on this.
kajz, Portland OR
G-5, dual 2.0 PowerPC Mac OS X (10.4.7) iLife6, 2.5 G of RAM, 40 G of free disk space

Does Disk Utility show the correct info (Format, Used, Number of Files, Number of Folders) at the bottom of the window when the DVD is selected? Does it shoe one volume on the drive? Do all the VIDEO_TS files show up (with correct sizes) in Finder? If you have the MPEG-2 Playback Component for QuickTime you should be able to play the .VOB files in the Preview window of Get-Info (Cmd-I).
If Finder shows thing OK, you can drag the VIDEO_TS folder onto DVD Imager
<http://lonestar.utsa.edu/llee/applescript/dvdimager.html> to create a disk image file.

Disk Utility - Create encrypted disk images super sloooow

Trying to create encrypted disk images via Disk Utility on my iMac (i7 8GB) is super-slow in 10.8. It worked quite fast in 10.7, but now it's super-slow and doesn't even seem to ever finish.
I've tried re-installing 10.8 with no difference.
Anyone else having trouble with this? Even a small dmg (~200MB) doesn't seem to work.
Unencrypted images seem to work OK (if not a little slow).
I realize that the encryption process will be slower but something is definately wrong with 10.8 disk utility in this regard. I have 1TB+ free space. I have tried with another user account as well.
My task was: (new disk image, read-write, 128bit encryption)
2012-09-03 08:59:59 -0400: Initializing…
2012-09-03 09:00:00 -0400: Creating…
2012-09-03 09:03:28 -0400: Copying… <<< seems to be stuck here...

Good morning,
Have you tried using Disk Utility from within the recovery mode? (Hold down CMD and R when booting)
I used to have this problem but creating them this way really improved the time.
Give it a go...
Rob

Verbatim disk drive historically used only for time machine backups. Recently i added some other media files to use some of available space without partitioning, the disc now refuses to mount in finder despite appearing in disk utility. Repair fails. HELP

Sorry to elaborate a bit more.
I have used time machine since owning my mac book pro with no issues. i keep the timemachine backups on an external hard drive made by Verbatim. This has not external power source.
Recently i decided to use up some of the available space on the external verbatim disk drive to store some movie files which were sitting on my macbook pro.
Therefore i created a new folder outside of the time machine backup folder and stored the movie files in there.
From then on Time machine failed... and a few days later i noticed it was not mounting in 'finder'
Therefore i used disk utility to see if it was recognising it. Which i was. However when i try to repair it the repair process fails.
In disk utility i am presented with 1 TB Samsung HN M10 which has a child called Verbatim HD.
The 1TB Samsung hardware appears fine, but the verbatim disk i am unable to fully verify and fix.
Does this mean i have lost all my back ups?
Have I lost all the media that i put on there?
Is there any way to fix this?
Any help would be appreciated.
didier07...

To summarize: You used an external Verbatim HD for your TM backups. Then, you stored some movie files on the "spare" space on the Verbatim drive. Now, Disk Utility isn't being recognized, and repair is disabled. Your home Samsung drive is working fine, but the Verbatim cannot be verified.
The problem, I believe, is that the external Verbatim drive wasn't partitioned. There should be two partitions: one for TM backups, the other for video. That way, you can perform backups, and still retain some space for video or somesuch.
Frankly, I don't know how to fix this except through the following. (1) Erase the Verbatim drive, (2) Create a new blank space and format it, (3) Make two partitions - one for backup, the other for video. (4) Run TM through one partition, but switch to the other for your videos. The better solution might be to have one dedicated drive (perhaps the Verbatim) for backups, and another dedicated drive for video backups; that way, you'll have plenty of space for expansion.
I hope someone will correct me if I'm incorrect, but I believe you've essentially lost your backups and media. I don't know how you can retrieve that clump of the now-undifferentiated data on the Verbatim drive. To retrieve any lost data, you're going to require another external drive that's larger in capacity, as well as data recovery software; don't expect encouraging results. If you're desperate, there are firms like Drive Savers that can offer a more comprehensive solution - at a cost.
Post if you have questions, or additional concerns!

Disk Utility - Scan Image for Restore - Freeze

I backed up my wife's iBook by starting her computer in target disk to my iBook which has a huge external attached. After about an hour, the image process was complete. Apple disk utility help says next to scan image for restore (not too sure why because I'm not restoring anything unless her drive dies). I begin the scan image for restore and get the progress bar that never shows and progress. Just keeps spinning/scanning for hours and I have no option to shut if off. Can't move external to trash because it in use, etc.
Does this mean the original disk image may be bad? Do over?
I'm using Disk Image as a solution for a total disk backup if a drive fails. No messing around with reconfiguring apps, etc. (i.e. plug and play) Is this the best way to do this?
I come from the Mac Plus days. Hopefully I can contribute to the new OS discussions at some point. Thank you much!

What format is the external drive?
Is it Firewire or USB?
Does the external drive have one of those front button touch things, like a My Book?
I'm using Disk Image as a solution for a total disk backup if a drive fails. No messing around with reconfiguring apps, etc. (i.e. plug and play) Is this the best way to do this?
I prefer a Clone myself.
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
Have a look at Synchronize! Pro X 6.0.5
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6897/synchronize!-pro-x
Or the most expensive one & my favorite, ...
http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html
Does this mean the original disk image may be bad? Do over?
It can take quite awhile, and the progress bar isn't accurate at all, but it sounds like something is wrong.

Boot Camp Assistant & Disk Utility First Aid failing?

Hi,
I am trying to open my download of 3DS Max for an assignment but the following problems are stopping me:
1. The message ' The document "Autodesk_3ds_Max_Design_2012_English_Win_32-64bit" could not be opened. The file is too large'
2. After advice on this forum I tried to create a partition with Boot Camp Assistant (of 32gb). But this failed and told me to repair the disk with Disk Utility.
3. Disk Utility gives the following messages after I have tried repairing and also verifying the disk
Would really appreciate some help!
Thanks

Reinstall Leopard, but first use the Leopard install DVD Disk Utility to reformat the HD to one partition. See:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh14.html
It's for Tiger, but applies for Leopard as well.
WARNING, you must have your data saved somewhere else.
Message was edited by: xnav

Disk Utility: "The burn failed because of a medium write error."

I am attempting to use disk utility to burn a disc image to DVD. I am getting the following error. I am using Apple branded DVD-Rs. I can burn to CD-R, but not to DVD-R. I can burn to CD out of itunes, but I can't burn to DVD out of iDVD, or with disk utility.
I get this message:
"The attempt to burn disc failed. The burn failed because of a medium write error."
Here is the info on my DVD-R from System Profiler:
MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857:
Model: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857
Revision: HAEA
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: Yes
And here is what is says under 'Disc Burning':
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857:
Firmware Revision: HAEA
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media:
Type: DVD-R
ID: RITEKF1
Blank: Yes
Erasable: No
Overwritable: Yes
Appendable: Yes
Write Speeds: 1x, 2x, 4x
This is an original 2006 2 ghz Core Duo 15" MacBook Pro.
i've tried TDK, Pioneer, Maxell and Generic DVD-R andT DVD-RW media, but always get this same error.
The log says:
Disk Utility: Burn started, Thu May 7 09:26:15 2009
Disk Utility: Burning to DVD-R (AN32) media with DAO strategy in MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 HAEA via ATAPI.
Disk Utility: Requested burn speed was 2x, actual burn speed is 2x.
Disk Utility: Burn underrun protection is supported, and enabled.
Disk Utility: Write (10), block: 0, count: 64 -> 3/11/00 Medium Error, Unrecovered read error
Disk Utility: Burn failed, Thu May 7 09:27:37 2009
Disk Utility: Burn sense: 3/11/00 Medium Error, Unrecovered read error
Disk Utility: Burn error: 0x8002006E The burn failed because of a medium write error.

Hi mdfrancois;
The lasers used in optical drives gradually lose power. Some more rapidly then others. If the output is too low then the optical drive would be classified as marginal.
Allan

Disk Utility - Create Image Fails

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