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Create a customized look for disk images in 10.3 System
Here is the method I usually use to create a disk image with customization for icon placement and size, default window size, background images, etc. These are the steps needed for Disk Utility in Panther, but you should be able to do the same thing with Disk Copy in Jaguar.
  1. Open Disk Utility and choose "New" -> "Image From Folder...".
  2. Select the folder you want to create the image from, provide a name for the image in the "Convert Image" window and select "read/write" from the Image Format pop-up menu, choose the save location, and click save.
  3. Mount the newly created image and customize its top-level window by changing the attributes such as those already mentioned. You can add a background images and/or a folder without allowing their icons to be viewed in the Finder by using the SetFile utility that comes with the Developer Tools to remove their visibility. Be sure to use the latest Developer Tools available for your system.
  4. Without closing the disk image volume's window or unmounting its volume, go back to Disk Utility and choose "Convert..." from the "Images" menu, provide a name for the image in the "Convert Image" window and select "compressed" from the Image Format pop-up menu, choose the save location, and click save.
Now when you mount the converted image, the customization for its window should remain the way you saved it.
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Create a customized look for disk images in 10.3
Authored by: DougAdams on Sep 09, '04 04:36:58PM

Thanks for this. I've been using FileStorm to prepare di's, but I much prefer this hands-on method.



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Create a customized look for disk images in 10.3
Authored by: kintel on Sep 09, '04 06:00:36PM

Setting a volume icon is also neat:

The icon should be named .VolumeIcon.icns and be placed in the root of the volume in questions. Then run the following command to tell the volume that it has a custom icon:

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a C /Volumes/VOLNAME



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Create a customized look for disk images in 10.3
Authored by: tim914 on Sep 23, '04 03:54:30PM

Anyone have a comment or idea on SetFile not appearing to perform its job?

I used:

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a v ./background.pct

but the file is still visible.

Tim

---
Tim Jones



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Create a customized look for disk images in 10.3
Authored by: tim914 on Sep 23, '04 04:52:25PM

I forgot to mention that I tried the uppercase V first with the same results and reloaded Finder.

Tim

---
Tim Jones



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Create a customized look for disk images in 10.3
Authored by: lukemcurley on Oct 26, '04 10:14:06AM

Hello,

Could someone please explain the set icon feature? Is this also needed if you set your own custom icons for files and folders within the dmg? I used the Get Info and copy and paste different icons for each. Are these icons then copied for good, or do you need to include the icon files in the dmg too?

Also is there a similar script for setting the background image of the dmg folder?


thanks



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Create a customized look for disk images in 10.3
Authored by: thornrag on Nov 07, '04 05:07:27PM

If I may, as a user of software applications delivered as Disk Images, make a plea to developers and packagers of software:

1. Don't turn off the Finder toolbar. In Panther, it only means I have to open another window to install your application, whereas, with my toolbar visible, I can just drop your application into my Applications folder in the toolbar.

2. Don't encode and compress your disk image needlessly. Please. Please. Please stop sending out disk images as .dmg.tar.gz, .dmg.sit.hqx, or other insane permutations of file compression and encoding.

Some tips:
- Disk images are safe to be transmitted over the internet as-is. No special encoding, such as MacBinary, is needed; a disk image has no resource fork. By Macbinary-encoding a disk image, you only increase the size of the file.

- Disk images may be saved as read-only compressed, which will in most cases offer compression comparable to .zip and is almost always as good as Stuffit. Even when its compression is inferior however, it does mount without being run through another app, which in the end saves more time and disk space than what is lost by using the slightly inferior built-in compression.

Here's what to do:

Release your software in a read-only compressed disk image. Don't go back and then re-compress (bad idea) or macbinary-encode (no point) the disk file. It's a waste of time and space.

And don't turn off the Panther toolbar. Your users will like to be able to just drop your app onto their Applications folder without opening another window.

By following these steps on your end, you reduce the steps your user must follow on their end to three: download the image, open the image, and drop your icon into their Apps folder.

Otherwise, you have your users downloading a file, running it through multiple decode/decompress processes using inefficient and ugly third-party software, then opening the image, and then turning on their toolbar or opening another finder window before they can even start using your app.

As a footnote ... okay fine. Your disk image is 137 MB as a read-only compressed image. It's 60 MB as a gzip-compressed disk image. Use gzip if you must. But there's no need to .tar it first! Just gzip the dmg!

Sincerely,
A befuddled disk image user



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