ApplePi-Baker is build specifically for MacOS, to make backups or restore images (IMG).
Initially intended for Raspberry Pi users, this tool can be used for plenty other applications as well.
For example flashing LibreElec or disk for ODroid, making backups of photography SD cards, etc.
All this is done in the same format as used by the command line tool “dd”.
ApplePi-Baker supports a nice list of compression formats.
For making backups: 7Zip, tbz, tgz, tlz, txz and Zip.
For doing restores: 7Zip, bzip, gzip, ISO, Jar, lzip, rar, tar, tbz, tgz, tlz, txz,xz and Zip.
Besides supporting compression, ApplePi-Baker can also resize a Linux partition to make it fit on your target disk (depending on the amount of used data in the partition of course) or minimize your backup to what is really used on the disk.
Note: Resizing only works for regular MBR disks with a standard partition table.
After some major changes in ApplePi-Baker 2.1.x, I’ve released version 2.1.6 today which fixes some minor issues.
To list a few:
- Access Violation error when showing advanced view when there were no supported drives available
- During resize (shrink or expand partition), ApplePi-Baker couldn’t find the temporary file on occasion (thanks Loe and Wolfgang!)
- ODroid resize issue resolved (thanks Götz!)
- Improved stability for partition resize (shrink/expand)
At this moment one bug remains open, and that is when there is not enough disk space on your Mac to do a backup and/or resize.
Download the latest version of ApplePi-Baker from the original article: ApplePi-Baker v2 – Backup & Restore SD cards, USB drives, etc.
If you run into any issues, bug, or errors using ApplePi-Baker, then please report these with the original article as well.
Comments
There are 15 comments. You can read them below.
You can post your own comments by using the form below, or reply to existing comments by using the "Reply" button.
Hi,
Constantly freezes :-(
10.14.6
Alexei
Hi Alexei,
I’d love to help you out, but could you be more specific when it freezes?
For example; At startup? during Backup, or Restore? When inserting a new disk? During decompression?
If the IMG was compressed; what format was being used?
If during backup and restore: by any chance are the IMG’s files stored on a network share?
hans
Will there be a new version compatible with OS Catalina?
Sean
It should be, but like similar tools (Etcher for example), we run into a problem (or Apple bug?) not allowing us to directly access disks, even if the user gives access.
So this is work in progress and I haven’t seen a solution yet that works reliably (you can try adding ApplePi-Baker in System Preferences – Security&Privacy, under the Privacy-tab, in the “Full Disk Access” list).
Running APB like so from Terminal, does work though, but I can hardly call that a “fix”
…
hans
I got access violation (it has worked 5 weeks ago)
cmd line start with sudo says:
ApplePiBaker[50801:5222935] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception ‘NSGenericException’, reason: ‘-[NSAlert runModal] may not be invoked inside of transaction begin/commit pair, or inside of transaction commit (usually this means it was invoked inside of a view’s -drawRect: method.)’
*** First throw call stack:
(
anton
Hi Anton,
Did you run the release or beta version? What version of macOS are you running? Is your Mac an Intel or M1 model?
For the version info, it is easiest to go to Apple Pi Baker -> “i” icon (about) -> clipboard icon (upper left corner, just under “About ApplePi-Baker”). This will copy all teh version info so you can paste it in a reply here
Hans
I updated to ApplePi-Baker-v2.2.8-(Build-16)-beta-macOS-64bit.dmg on macOS 12.0.1 (21A559) Monetrey iMac M1.
Unfortunately, I’m unable to start ApplePiBaker and receiving the error “Access violation.”
I hope you can help. Thanks in advance.
DJay
Update: I just had to restart the Mac and after this ApplePiBaker asked to istall the helper and everything is working now.
DJay
Hi DJay!
Awesome – glad to hear that a reboot fixed the issue, and excellent that you posted it here.
I’ve seen APB run very stable on Intel hardware, but the occasional M1 user runs into an issue like this.
Unfortunately, I do not have M1 hardware – otherwise I’d be compiling and testing either a fat version (intel + arm binary) or an additional Apple Silicon version. I’ll have to wait a little before I have a budget for M1 hardware.
Hans
Thanks, Hans. I appreciate your work and wouldn’t want to miss ApplePiBaker. 🙏
DJay
Thanks DJay! And thank you so much for the coffee – you have no idea how much the coffee is appreciated!!
Hans
I have the (slightly revised) M1 Mac Mini purchased Nov 2021. The app crashes with these violation errors every single time, except for the first run after a reboot. Reboot your Mac, start the app and leave it there, and you’re fine. But close the app and restart it, pow, Access Violation. Happy to test or attempt a compile of an M1 version if it helps.
NotMax
Hi NotMax,
thanks for the info … odd, sounds like a potential Rosetta issue …
I’m trying to find time to do a full recompile with a newer MacOS SDK, and hopefully manage to compile and test an Apple Silicon version as well.
Still not M1 available for testing, so anyone willing to test is most welcome.
I’ll post here where there is a M1 test version.
Hans
With ApplePi baker, while restoring a backup on the same sd card, I got the “file might be too large”. Any idea what is wrong?Thanks
renaud
Hi Renaud,
That is odd indeed, never encountered this.
When you do a restore anyway, by ignoring this message, does it work?
Also: try to look at the IMG file size (decompress it if you zipped it or anything like that) and see if the number of bytes do match the SD card size.
You already said it’s happening when doing a restore to the same card.
In case this is a different card of the same brand, model and capacity: keep in mind that these two can be different in capacity, even if it is just a few bytes.
Also a tip: you can use the resize option if the filesystem uses MBR and a standard partition table (not GUID, not extended partition table), with the typical FAT+LinuxExt partition scheme.
Hans