Cloning Mac Os 9 partition, preserving authorizations

[supernova777]

as i was trying to do in the previous thread:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=1223.0

im trying to make a clone of a mac os 9 partition that will preserve the app authorizations
so that we can instantly install working systems to a new g3/g4 mac in under 10min!
i really hate having to enter all these codes by hand to install apps and doing it over and over when i have to reinstall /revert
wastes too much of my time

has anyone any relevant information to achieving this goal?
ive done it once . and it worked a few weeks back (maybe 6-7)
and now its not working!

i've used disk utility under mac os x 10.4.11 to create .dmg..
also used ccc.. and super duper! all creating .dmg files.. and none of them are working!

quick google search reveals some other threads on other sites:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/424420-cloning-hard-drive-maintain-software-authorizations.html
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/calling-all-mac-digi-002-users-need-some-i-t-help.164497/

[supernova777]

actually ive just realized something
possible cause #1
a crucial difference!!!
when i had this work before.. i was using a drive that only had 1 partition on the entire drive..
it wasnt split into 2 parts..
each partition 50% of the disk size..
it was 1 partition 100% of the disk size

further details/evidence of what i did when it worked:
 i had used a IDE drive that was about 20-40gb in size, formatted mac os extended (non-journalled)
and i used superduper or ccc (one of the two) and i restored it to my 60gb SSD  (the new drive being larger then the old)
and it worked!!!!!! i did have to rebuild the desktop file tho because some icons came up not working right by holding cmd-option on boot


perhaps the problem is its not working because os9 is on the 2nd partition
not sure about apple partition map but i think there might be primary partition + extended partition types

why is life so complicated;)
great now i need to start all over again to test this theory.. *sigh*

some info for consideration:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Partition_Map

sidenote/offtopic:
interesting to see this on this page, i never knew this was possible? to boot a intel imac with an external disk (firewire or usb) that is able to boot both powerpc + intel mac?  
(from different partitions obviously?)
Apple never officially supported booting from an *internal* APM partitioned disk on an Intel-based system,
but there is an official Apple document describing how to set up a dual bootable *external* APM partitioned disk for use with **BOTH** PowerPC and Intel.[7]

[MacTron]

i really hate having to enter all these codes by hand to install apps and doing it over and over when i have to reinstall /revert
wastes too much of my time

Welcome to the Club 

im trying to make a clone of a mac os 9 partition that will preserve the app authorizations
so that we can instantly install working systems to a new g3/g4 mac in under 10min!

This only going to work with some hard drive based authorizations. Not Motherboard ID or MAC address based authorization will work.
Some hard drive based authorization needs that folders ID numbers must be preserved, so HD cloning will work. Others only take note of the Hard Drive model number (so can be copied from one hard drive to another if both are exactly the same model) so HD cloning won't work...

There is alot of possibilities...

[supernova777]

is there any technique i can use to check exactly what is written to the drive when the authorization occurs?

for exampel to authorize ableton live 4 u have to type out a large number of codes by hand from an external computer
its such a pain in the ass.. to look back and forth copying 4-5 digits at a time.. GRRR

perhaps we should just be happy that we found a single way in which it works and move on lol

[supernova777]

after reading that thread
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/calling-all-mac-digi-002-users-need-some-i-t-help.164497/
this guy whos talking in this thread.. he says all works fine.. except that he has this backup drive that has multiple partitions on it..
when he unmounts that drive everything works fine. all this auths.. it seems like the presence of a drive with multiple partitions is causing the authorizations to not work!?

yet at the end of his thread, the op says:

The error I had was due to a bad cloning with Carbon Copy Cloner. I switched to SuperDuper. Problem solved.

so maybe it is the actual version of the cloning program that is to blame?  .. sigh .. more investigation..
i wish i knew how the authorization works..

mactron
do u know off hand which auths are related to hardware/mac ids?

[MacTron]

i wish i knew how the authorization works..

Usually, based on some parameters (Hard Disk or Motherboard Related) an unique and big key is generated and stored in a preferences file, If some of this parameters do change (usually Hard Disk or Motherboard) the authorization is no longer valid.

mactron
do u know off hand which auths are related to hardware/mac ids?

Not from my memory...
But just place your main HD in another Mac and the things that still work have Hard Disk Related authorization and the things that don't work have  Motherboard Related authorization or both

[supernova777]

just place your main HD in another Mac and the things that still work have Hard Disk Related authorization and the things that don't work have  Motherboard Related authorization or both

hmm right right good idea!
maybe i can at least come up with which apps i can safely install and which should be individually installed afterwards to keep things to a minimum amt of effort to reinstall .

ableton live 4 is clearly not able to be cloned.. and moved to a new computer
so it must be doing some sort of hd/motherboard id ref check like mactron said!

[supernova777]

does anyone else use a-dock?
my a-dock shortcut arent working on the cloned image when its restored which is strange
ie: clicking an icon on the dock says it cant find the file.. which shouldnt be the case

i think all my problems cloning are related to the fact that on both the source + destination ive used hd's that were partitioned into 2.. 1 for x, and 1 for 9..
im going to restart over from scratch and try again... using a single hd for only os9.. and restoring onto a 2nd mac with again, only a single hd for os9.
i think this is the reason why it worked once for me before and now its not working