from Matthew's Apples
by Matthew Frederick Davis Hemming
February 2003
When the Compact Disc format was first introduced the consortium that gave birth to the standard used to include a little blurb on the jacket of every disc sold that said, in part: "with proper care this Compact Disc will last a lifetime."
Years passed, and experience was gained. The consortium now satisfies itself with a simple logo.
To wit, computing professionals who aren't idiots have learned that it is prudent to make back-up copies of data stored in a CD-based format (CD-RA, CD-ROM, CD-R, et al). Some discs lose their integrity through different kinds of weathering, often-used discs become scratched, or misplaced. Having a back-up copy of important data is just plain smart.
Among the most valuable discs any Mac-owner has are the system software and application restore discs that originally shipped with the computer (often containing utilities and drivers particular to each model), and a disc of a current version of the operating system installer. This last item costs costs almost two-hundred dollars, and is your only friend in a Mac's time of need.
Unfortunately, due to piracy concerns Apple has introduced a soft device on their CD-ROMs in order to provide a barrier to duplication. In the country where I live it is legal to duplicate optical disc media for the purposes of personal back-up, and in that spirit I present here simple instructions for avoiding the barrier which prevents duplication.
If such duplication of commercial data is illegal in your jurisdiction, institution, nation, state, space-commune or undersea city please do not continue reading: the information below has been forbidden to you by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an American body of law with arms long enough to wrap around the world. In fact, if I am threatened with a frivolous chilling effect letter from the legal representatives of an American corporation, I will have little choice but to comply with their wishes and cease all public discussion of this activity, lawful as it may be in my country and others, because I lack the monetary resources to defend myself.
In the meantime, here's the beef:
Apple's new formatting scheme puts an invisible file on the disc containing a unique identification string that agrees with a matching string in a database incorporated into the installer software. Most standard ways of copying the disc will ignore or corrupt this file, resulting in an invalid disc from which the installer will refuse to run.
Step One
Use Disk Copy (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Copy) to make a .DMG image file of the contents of the original Apple CD-ROM.
Step Two
Select "Convert Image" from the File menu, and browse to select the .DMG image file. Click Convert.
Step Three
A Save window opens. Save the .DMG image file as a DVD/CD Master (the formats are available in a pull-down menu). Click Save.
Step Four
In the Finder, rename the file to exclude the garbage .DMG suffix, so that MYIMAGE.DMG.CDR reads MYIMAGE.CDR (note: filenames and suffixes are not case-sensitive). This new image will burn correctly with your favourite disc-burning application (I use Toast, myself), including the invisible file with the identification string which unlocks the installation software.
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