Nested .dmg's

DropDMG
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1

Hello,

I have a DropDMG config and layout for my product that generates a compressed .dmg. We will refer to this as “Product.dmg”. Product.dmg is about 7.5 GB. The original uncompressed data size is about 15 GB. Everything about Product.dmg works as expected.

I need to burn Product.dmg to an 8.5 GB dual-layer DVD for distribution to my customers. I realize that I cannot burn the contents of Product.dmg directly to the DVD, because when doing so it will expand the data, which is too large to fit on the DVD. So I must burn Product.dmg as a file on the DVD instead. I am fine with that.

So what I would like to do is create a second config and layout, which we will refer to as Disc.dmg. The idea being that I still wanted a nice presentation to my customers, even if it involved an extra step. So Disc.dmg would be an uncompressed container that has a background image, and would display a special icon for Product.dmg with some text telling the customer to double-click Product.dmg to install. When the customer double-clicks on the Product.dmg icon, it opens a new Finder window with its own layout and allows the user to drag the product to their applications folder. So I essentially want to nest one .dmg within another, each with their own unique layout.

The behavior get when trying to do this is that Disc.dmg’s layout and background seems to be ignored. When I open Disc.dmg, I get a plain Finder window with the stock disc icon for Product.dmg. The background image and placement of the icon for Disc.dmg is not present.

Is what I am trying to do possible?

Thank you.

2

Yes, this is like creating any other disk image except that the contents are another disk image file. Please make sure that when using Disk Layout are you dragging onto DropDMG a folder containing Product.dmg. Then DropDMG will create a new disk image (Disk.dmg) with that contents. Otherwise, DropDMG will try to convert Product.dmg to the format in the current configuration, which will not give you the nesting that you want. (And, also, conversion doesn’t apply the layout.)

3

What you describe is how I am using it. Product.dmg exists in a folder. I set the configuration in DropDMG to the Disc configuration, and then drag the folder containing Product.dmg onto it. It generates the correct thing (a new Disc.dmg containing Product.dmg), but with none of the layout information specified in the Disc configuration (no background image, etc.). Any clues what I might be doing wrong?

4

Have you tested your Disk layout and configuration with a different source folder (even an empty one) to see if you get the background picture?

5

I tried that, and it still didn’t work. So on a whim, I decided to try doing this on another machine, using the same Product config/layout but recreating the Disc config/layout from scratch and it worked. However, taking those files back to the first machine still doesn’t work.

It’s not a big deal to me, because the second (working) machine (Late 2013 Mac Pro, OS X 10.10.2) is where I ultimately want to build the images anyway. But it still seems odd that it won’t work on the first machine (Mid-2010 17" Macbook Pro, OS X 10.10.2). Both running DropDMG 3.2.6.

6

Is that the only layout that doesn’t work on that Mac?

7

So far, yes. But I have only been using DropDMG for a short time and have not tried to create too many layouts.

8

In that case, I would suggest creating a new layout to do what you want. If you like, I can take a look at the problem layout if you send it to me via e-mail.

9

As I mentioned above, I was able to create a new layout on a different machine and to get what I wanted working. So I am fine.

However, if you still want the problem layout to investigate I’m happy to send it to you. I was never able to get that one to function properly.

10

Yes, that would be helpful—thanks.