Oct 02, 2019 How to make a full backup of your Windows 10 PC A full backup is crucial to safeguard your system and files, and in this guide, we'll show you the steps to create one using the Windows 10's System. Jan 03, 2020 Use these steps to create a GPT partition on a removable drive: Open Start. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result and select the Run as an administrator option. Type the diskpart command and press Enter. Enter the list disk command to view all drives connected to your computer and press Enter.
Apple's Time Machine is the go-to backup method for many Mac users. Apple's termination of the AirPort series puts some users in a lurch over how they will be continuing to back up their Macs using Time Machine when Time Capsule is no more. Luckily there a few Apple approved Time Machine backup optionssans Time Capsule.
However, not everyone will be able or willing to use a spare Mac as a backup location or attach yet another external drive or even buy an expensive Time Machine capable NAS. There do exist other hacked solutions that will allow you to use any networked location — including a Windows share. Although this method cobbles together various utilities to make it function (and as such could be subject to points of failure), you can easily set up Time Machine to use a non-approved location for backups. Here's how!
The problem
The issue that makes Time Machine more difficult in terms of options for backup locations is that it requires use of Apple's proprietary HFS+ filesystem. Although I'm certain the HFS+ features that Time Machine uses for file versioning and linking could be 'mimicked' for use on other more open filesystems, the reality is that Apple chose HFS+ and supports that filesystem exclusively in Time Machine (in fact as of this writing Apple's new APFS isn't even supported for Time Machine backups as of yet).
Create a Windows share location
I won't go into detail on how to create a shared folder on a Windows PC but before you begin, you'll need to have a share created and accessible to your Mac that you want to run Time Machine on. For example, if you have a Windows PC named 'Server' and a network shared folder on the Windows PC named 'share', you'd be able to test for connectivity by doing the following:
- Start Finder.
- Click GO > Connect to Server.
Enter smb://Server/Share where 'server' is the name of the Windows PC and 'share' is the name of the shared folder.
- Click Connect.
If you've properly set everything up, you'll be prompted to enter a registered user and password. Make certain to save those credentials to your keychain for the OS to automatically use those credentials for connecting to the share for future access. You should also see that share in Finder in your 'Shared' section and see the 'Eject' icon next to it since it is now mounted.
Create a sparsebundle image
We now need to create an 'image' file that will, in essence, pretend to be an HFS+ filesystem for your Mac to back up to.
- Start Disk Utility.
- Go to File > New Image > Blank Image.
Rename the Save As to TimeMachine.
- Press the Down Arrow next to Save As.
- Select your mounted Share.
- Rename the Name of your sparsebundle.
Select the Size of the backup location. Be generous. If you want to be able to at the very least backup the entire contents of a full hard drive, elect a size at least equal to your Macintosh HD drive size. As a word of warning, the size you choose will be the size of the disk space that will be immediately created on the remote share.
- Make certain that the Format is set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
- Click Save. This will take a while especially if you set a large file size.
- Click Done.
Make the remote share automatically mount
In order for this hack to survive reboots, we need to ensure that the remote share is automatically mounted when you restart your Mac. Here is a simple way to get this done. Some drawbacks of this method are that it only works once you've logged in and it won't work for other users of your Mac.
- Start System Preferences.
- Select Users & Groups.
- Select your Username.
- Click Login Items.
Click the +.
- Navigate to and select your mounted share and TimeMachine.dmg file we created earlier.
- Click Add.
You may need to unmount the share before this can take effect but as of this moment, that share will automatically mount every time you reboot and log in.
Make Time Machine use the remote share and file
Finally, we're ready to make Time Machine see and use the Windows 10 share housing our sparsebundle file.
- Start Terminal.
- Enter the command sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/TimeMachine/ where 'TimeMachine' is the name you gave to your sparsebundle you created with Disk Utility.
- Enter your Password.
Check Time Machine
Now we just need to check that Time Machine sees the disk and is ready to use it for backups.
- Start System Preferences.
- Select Time Machine.
You should now see that Time Machine has a backup location and Select Disk shows the proper name of the sparsebundle.
Final Comments
Yes, this is far and away from the simple 'just works' ideology that Apple is famous for. But if you have no other choice, it works for our Time Machine purposes. Do you have any comments or questions? Let us know in the comment section!
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A DMG file is essentially Apple's format for mountable disk images in Mac OS X (macOS) computers. When opened, it mounts a virtual disk on the computer, and is normally used for installing new applications. DMG file is usually encrypted and compressed, unlike ISO, which is an uncompressed disk image format.
While DMG files are usually downloaded from the Mac App Store, they can also be burned to a USB disk when you want to install a utility on another machine. In such cases, you will need to create a boot disk or burn it to a USB flash drive so it can be used on another system. This article shows you four different ways to do this.
Part 1: How to Burn DMG to USB on Mac for Free (Disk Utility)
The native disk image utility on Mac is ideal for burning a DMG to a USB drive. Once you burn the file to the drive, this drive can be used to install the associated application on any other Mac system. The process may vary slightly depending on which version of Mac OS X your computer is running, but the steps below will give you a fair idea of how the process should be carried out.
Step 1: Go to Applications >>Utilities >>Disk Utility and click on it to launch the program.
Step 2 : On the left, you'll see all the available drives. Insert the USB drive and watch as it appears on that list.
Step 3 : Now open a Finder window and locate your DMG file. Drag and drop it under the drive names in the Disk Utility app.
How To Make A Dmg Backup System
Step 4 : Next, select the file, and then click on 'Burn' in the same window. In the popup that appears, select your destination drive, which is the USB flash drive you want to burn the DMG file to. Click 'Burn' in the popup window.
Once the process is complete, remove the USB stick and use it to install the application associated with that DMG on any other Mac computer.
Part 2: How to Burn DMG to USB (Bootable) via DMG Editor on Mac
How To Make A Dmg Backup Account
UUByte DMG Editor is a versatile application that can help you burn converted DMG files to a USB drive. The interface is very simple, and all you need to do is click a few times and the job is done for you. DMG Editor gives you the option of creating boot disks or boot drives, and is the perfect tool for transporting your DMG files in their ISO avatar. Assuming you have a USB drive with enough capacity, it can hold several programs.
DMG Editor doesn't require any technical expertise because it is specifically designed for new users who may not be comfortable handling disk images. All the hard work is done behind the scenes, and the layout is intuitive enough for any novice to figure out what to do. For first-time users, here's a small guide for using it to get a converted ISO file burned to a USB drive.
Key Features of DMG Editor
- Make USB bootable after burning to USB.
- Able to edit DMG file and recreate it.
- Also support burning to CD or DVD disc.
- Easily extract files from DMG file.
Step 1: Install UUByte DMG Editor
Install DMG Editor after downloading it from the official site. Insert your USB drive into a free port.
Step 2: Insert USB Drive and Import DMG File
Launch DMG Editor and select the 'Burn' option, which will take you to a new window.
Step 3: Start Burning DMG to USB
Select the DMG file and specify the destination, which is your USB drive. Click on Burn. That's it! In a few moments your USB drive containing the converted DMG file will be ready. You can now use this to install the program or programs to another Mac computer after converting them back to the DMG format.
Part 3: Convert DMG to ISO and Burn ISO to USB
In certain instances, you may want to use a Windows computer instead of a Mac, which means you won't have the disk utility. Besides, Windows can't natively handle DMG files, so you will need to convert it into an ISO disk image that Windows can work with. Follow the steps below to do this.
Step 1: Download the DMG file and then convert it to ISO using a free online conversion service like YouConvertIt.
Step 2: Once you do this, you can use another utility like ISO Editor to burn the ISO file to a USB drive.
Remember, even if you convert the DMG to ISO, it's still Mac-compatible only, so you can't use it to install the program on a Windows system. However, it's helpful when your own system is a Windows PC and you want to burn the DMG file to a USB drive. In this case, you will need to convert it back to the DMG format for the installation.
Part 4: How to Burn DMG to USB on Windows 10/8/7 (TransMac)
How To Make A Dmg Backup Software
If you're on a Windows PC, another way to burn a DMG file to a USB drive is to use TransMac. This is very useful if your Mac has become unbootable and you only have a Windows alternative. In such cases, you can use TransMac to burn the DMG file for Mac OS X (whatever version you want to install on your broken Mac) to a USB drive and do the installation that way.
To install Mac OS X, you're going to need a USB with at least 16 GB of free space. Also, it's better to take a backup of existing data so you don't lose it during the burn process. Follow the steps below to use TransMac:
Step 1: Download an original copy of TransMac to a Windows PC. The 14-day trial will let you execute the process we're going to describe, so go ahead and install it.
Step 2: Download the DMG file for the version of Mac OS X that you want to install. Now launch TransMac, but make sure to run it as the Administrator. Click on 'Run' once the application is launched, and insert the USB flash drive.
Step 3: The next step can be a little confusing because, normally, you would select the DMG or ISO file first before selecting the destination drive. Here, it's the other way around. In the main window, right-click on the USB drive in the left-side panel, then select 'Restore with Disk Image'.
Step 4: You'll get a warning popup. Select 'Yes' if you've backed up the contents of the USB drive, or else click 'No', backup the drive and then resume the process at Step 3.
Step 5: This is where you select the disk image, so go ahead and choose your Mac OS X .DMG file and click 'Ok'. The DMG file will now be burned to the drive you specified.
Summary
All of these methods work well, so it's just a matter of preference and convenience, and depends on whether you have a Mac or a Windows PC. On a Mac, Disk Utility may show you some errors when burning a DMG file to a drive. Similarly, when you use a Windows system, converting DMG to ISO could corrupt the file, making it unusable once you convert it back to DMG. That's why we recommended YouConvertIt for that. Based on all these factors, choose the method that will work best for your specific situation.