Creating a Macintosh CD-ROM
(HFS only) with Hybridator

Summary: Walkthrough showing how to burn on a PC a Macintosh CD-ROM, that is a Macintosh (HFS) partition to be mounted and used on the Macintosh. The data come from a preexisting Macintosh volume, which can't be changed.
 

Introduction

This page presents the steps to build a Macintosh CD-ROM on a PC. All the work is done with Hybridator. Hybridator is freeware and can be downloaded from this site.
Our Macintosh CD-ROM is built from data stored on a Macintosh (HFS) disk, which will be copied in whole. The CD-ROM be only readable on a Macintosh. If both conditions don't hold true, please return to Hybridator page or visit the Macintosh CD-ROM production page for other methods.

Origin of Data

Start Hybridator. Its main screen is following:

Click on the "Browse" button to select the drive holding the Macintosh HFS drive. This drive must be a HFS volume and it must be a local drive. You can't access a networked drive this way. In the case of a networked drive (NTFS drive holding Macintosh files, for an example), please see our FAQ. In the case of a MS-DOS formatted volume holding Macintosh files copied by Apple PC-Exchange (now File Exchange), please see also the FAQ.
Since the whole contents of the drive will be copied onto the CD-ROM, the Macintosh drive should have a capacity of less than 650 MB (or the remaining space in the case of a multisession CD-ROM).
If the drive is partitionned, Hybridator lets you select the partition you want to copy.

Target Image

Since we are building a pure HFS volume in this walkthrough, select the "HFS Image" button in the "Target" box. You can type the filename directly or click the "Browse" button to create the target file in any subfolder of your disk.
You must naturally have enough free room on the disk to create the target file (up to 650 MB, depending on the size of the original Macintosh volume).
Now, click on the "Start" button to launch the copy. That's all. You can close Hybridator.

Burning the CD-ROM

You have now to launch your favorite burning software and ask it to burn the CD-ROM from the image file. The way to do it depends on the software. Please see our FAQ on CD-ROMs for instructions on how to do it with several packages. Please consult also our FAQ on MacImage for some useful comments in the context of making Macintosh CD-ROMs on a PC.

Limits of This Method

This method is quite simple, but there are some limits, which must be fully understood.
You can't modify the Macintosh volume. It is copied in whole and you can only select the partition if there are several ones on the physical disk.
If you want to put this Macintosh partition on a CD-ROM with an existing ISO partition, please see the other Walkthrough with Hybridator. In this case, data files aren't shared. If you want to share the files, see our page on Macintosh CD-ROM production with MacImage.
See also the FAQ of MacImage and the more general FAQ on CD-ROMs for more answers to common problems.

 
Pierre Duhem (ex-Logiciels & Services Duhem)
3, rue Pierre Haret - F-75009 Paris (France) - Tel. (+33) [0]149 700 455
web: http://www.macdisk.com