Installing & cloning

[Blue Velvet]

In early Sept. I have to manage the installation of 3 x new G5s and entirely new versions of Adobe CS, Quark 5 & 6, Office 2004, Suitcase X1, plus a few other apps and a local PDF workflow with watched folders using Distiller 6.

Ideally doing this on one machine and after installing updaters, fonts etc, checking permissions, I would then like to clone the installation to the other G5s using Target Disk Mode so avoiding having to repeat the same process with the other machines.

Each machine will prob. have at least three accounts on them: Admin, User (name of usual operator) & Temp (for cover staff).
They then will be networked to an existing 4-machine OS 10.3.4-only group that will have dedicated G4s for RIP, ISDN, etc.

Could someone please give some helpful and easy-to-understand advice here?
Maybe some idiot-proof step-by-step instructions or things to bear in mind?

I'm not really that techy -- just a print designer who needs to keep a close eye on our production schedule.
Some concerns I have are: what software to use to do this, serials & product activation, admin & users... well, everything really.

Any words of wisdom much appreciated!

 

[Coolvirus007]

you can clone by using carbon copy cloner and selecting the g5 (connected via firewire target disk mode as the destination). The good thing about carbon disk cloner is that it makes the target disk bootable.

 

[saabmp3]

Don't setup the user accounts until after the clone, unless you want all the users on all the machines.

BEN

 

[aptmunich]

But if he does that and installs the software first, it's pirating isn't it?

I mean if you clone office 2004 to 3 machines and then autoupdate won't micro$oft notice and be pissed? (i.e. 3 identical serial numbers?)

 

[Blue Velvet]

But if he does that and installs the software first, it's pirating isn't it?

I mean if you clone office 2004 to 3 machines and then autoupdate won't micro$oft notice and be pissed? (i.e. 3 identical serial numbers?)

It's 'she'... BTW

Good point, this is one of my concerns (particularly with activation & registration)

...but anyway, forgot to mention that we will have legit licenses/serials for everything that will go on these machines, incl. fonts.

My employers are FAST* certified and they've come in and had a snoop round a few times in the last couple of years...

None of these machines will be hooked up to the web -- so I'm sure activation is just going to be a barrel of laughs!

*Federation Against Software Theft
(could be just a UK body -- regardless, my job's on the line if everything isn't found to be ship-shape)

Thanks for all posts so far.

 

[Horrortaxi]

you can clone by using carbon copy cloner and selecting the g5 (connected via firewire target disk mode as the destination). The good thing about carbon disk cloner is that it makes the target disk bootable.

Disk Utility in Panther will do the same thing.

 

[jsw]

It's not really "pirating" if you own the software and don't use it elsewhere, even if you do use the same license numbers. You paid for 'x' copies, you're using 'x' copies, and you don't let anyone else use the serial numbers.

That said, a lot of software won't work if it detects other installations on the subnet with the same serial number. I would call the various vendors and ask them if there is a clone-worthy solution - something that would let you install all or most of the software, clone the disk, then do the activation. In fact, a lot of software does install everything, then ask for serial numbers, etc., at the end. Often, it'll let you skip this step during the initial install - perfect for setting up a disk for cloning. If you can just install most or all of everything, but not activate it, then you should be in good shape. You could clone it all, then do a final activation and setup of user accounts on each machine at the end (of course, the Admin and Temp accounts could be the same, or, of course, you could set up accounts for all users on the initial device, have them enter their passwords, then clone the disk - then users could use any machine they wanted.

 

[jsw]

Since you are going to be using G5s, I just wanted to let you know that it is really, really, really easy to remove a hard disk from one and put it in as the second disk in another. Whether or not this is advantageous for cloning, I'll leave to the more hardware-savvy in this forum. It will likely at least be faster.

Also, I'm not sure of the exact procedure to clone using Disk Utility, nor am I certain that you can clone the entire disk from one G5, stick it into another one, and be OK. Probably, you can. I'd hope someone else can verify this fact.

So... assuming it is OK to clone the drive, and assuming that you have a Firewire-based or direct (installing drive in second bay) way to do so, here's what I'd do:

(1) Take the first G5, the one you want to serve as the clone master, and go through the initial setup. Keep the others in their boxes.

(2) Add all accounts you'll need (i.e., admin, temp, all users). Let users enter their passwords, or else they'll need to change the default on every machine they want to get to. Easiest if they do in once on the master.

(3) At this point, any G5's cloned from this will have all the same accounts. That's a good thing. Be sure to also set up any email and other preferences the way you and the users would like.

(4) Add any "free" software you intend to use (stuff that doesn't require licenses, serial numbers, etc.). Make sure it works.

(5) Assuming you've verified with the vendors that you can install their software, then provide serial numbers later, install all software that you can but do not enter a serial number (unless you know that you can change it later).

(6) Using Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility, select the drive and "Repair Permissions".

(7) You've now gone as far as you can. Do one final check to make sure everything is where you want it to be and the prefs are the way people want them.

(8) Unpack the next G5 - the first to be cloned - and clone the disk using whatever method you've decided to use.

(9) Boot the cloned G5 and activate the software using the keys. Record the steps you use to do so. If it all works, you're golden. Clone the rest, set up licenses on them all, and you're off!

(10) If it doesn't work, you'll need to see what requires additional effort on your part (did you forget to install something? etc.). Then reclone that original cloned G5 until it works - leaving the rest "pristine" until the process is perfected.

Best of luck. Of course, you could just install everything manually in a sort of assembly-line fashion. That might be easier. But, this way, you'll have a master disk you can use to set up any new G5's that you buy later (or fix any that go bad) - if you go out and buy a second internal hard drive and clone the master to that before you set up the master G5 with all the licenses, serial numbers, etc. (and then not muck with that second internal disk - remove it or else leave it alone so it stays pristine).

BTW, I'm not sure how this would work with hardware-detecting licenses, like whatever it is that iTunes uses. I'd thinkt such things would be fine, as they directly query the hardware to see which machine they're running on.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Since you are going to be using G5s, I just wanted to let you know that it is really, really, really easy to remove a hard disk from one and put it in as the second disk in another. Whether or not this is advantageous for cloning, I'll leave to the more hardware-savvy in this forum. It will likely at least be faster.

Also, I'm not sure of the exact procedure to clone using Disk Utility, nor am I certain that you can clone the entire disk from one G5, stick it into another one, and be OK. Probably, you can. I'd hope someone else can verify this fact.

So... assuming it is OK to clone the drive, and assuming that you have a Firewire-based or direct (installing drive in second bay) way to do so, here's what I'd do:

(1) Take the first G5, the one you want to serve as the clone master, and go through the initial setup. Keep the others in their boxes.

(2) Add all accounts you'll need (i.e., admin, temp, all users). Let users enter their passwords, or else they'll need to change the default on every machine they want to get to. Easiest if they do in once on the master.

(3) At this point, any G5's cloned from this will have all the same accounts. That's a good thing. Be sure to also set up any email and other preferences the way you and the users would like.

(4) Add any "free" software you intend to use (stuff that doesn't require licenses, serial numbers, etc.). Make sure it works.

(5) Assuming you've verified with the vendors that you can install their software, then provide serial numbers later, install all software that you can but do not enter a serial number (unless you know that you can change it later).

(6) Using Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility, select the drive and "Repair Permissions".

(7) You've now gone as far as you can. Do one final check to make sure everything is where you want it to be and the prefs are the way people want them.

(8) Unpack the next G5 - the first to be cloned - and clone the disk using whatever method you've decided to use.

(9) Boot the cloned G5 and activate the software using the keys. Record the steps you use to do so. If it all works, you're golden. Clone the rest, set up licenses on them all, and you're off!

(10) If it doesn't work, you'll need to see what requires additional effort on your part (did you forget to install something? etc.). Then reclone that original cloned G5 until it works - leaving the rest "pristine" until the process is perfected.

Best of luck. Of course, you could just install everything manually in a sort of assembly-line fashion. That might be easier. But, this way, you'll have a master disk you can use to set up any new G5's that you buy later (or fix any that go bad) - if you go out and buy a second internal hard drive and clone the master to that before you set up the master G5 with all the licenses, serial numbers, etc. (and then not muck with that second internal disk - remove it or else leave it alone so it stays pristine).

BTW, I'm not sure how this would work with hardware-detecting licenses, like whatever it is that iTunes uses. I'd thinkt such things would be fine, as they directly query the hardware to see which machine they're running on.

Whew!
That's really helpful -- many thanks.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

It's 'she'... BTW

Good point, this is one of my concerns (particularly with activation & registration)

...but anyway, forgot to mention that we will have legit licenses/serials for everything that will go on these machines, incl. fonts.

My employers are FAST* certified and they've come in and had a snoop round a few times in the last couple of years...

None of these machines will be hooked up to the web -- so I'm sure activation is just going to be a barrel of laughs!

*Federation Against Software Theft
(could be just a UK body -- regardless, my job's on the line if everything isn't found to be ship-shape)

Thanks for all posts so far.

If you use Carbon Copy Cloner activation should not be an issue. The fact that you have license for each machine is the key. Because of FAST, you may want to call the software vendors and find out how they want to handle it.

A number of years ago it was just enough to prove that you have a license for each machine, even if the HDD had been cloned. Not sure of what the law is today.