Apple Software Restore
Encyclopedia
asr or Apple Software Restore is a command line utility in Mac OS X
used to apply a DMG disk image
to a selected volume or mount point on a file system
. It is often used for cloning large numbers of Macintosh
computers. Apple Software Restore can read an image locally or from a server via HTTP or its own multicast asr:// URI
.
asr has two methods it can use to restore an image to a volume: it can either copy items in a file-by-file mode, or it can copy the image as a (optionally compressed) stream of bytes. As the latter method does not need to go through a complicated filesystem it is much faster, typically being limited only by the speeds of the drives or network connections involved. But in order to use this faster method the dmg involved must be checksummed, and in some cases the files re-ordered inside the image. This is also done by the same binary.
The graphical Disk Utility
uses asr processes in the background to perform restores.
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
used to apply a DMG disk image
Disk image
A disk image is a single file or storage device containing the complete contents and structure representing a data storage medium or device, such as a hard drive, tape drive, floppy disk, CD/DVD/BD, or USB flash drive, although an image of an optical disc may be referred to as an optical disc image...
to a selected volume or mount point on a file system
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
. It is often used for cloning large numbers of Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
computers. Apple Software Restore can read an image locally or from a server via HTTP or its own multicast asr:// URI
Úri
Úriis a village and commune in the comitatus of Pest in Hungary....
.
asr has two methods it can use to restore an image to a volume: it can either copy items in a file-by-file mode, or it can copy the image as a (optionally compressed) stream of bytes. As the latter method does not need to go through a complicated filesystem it is much faster, typically being limited only by the speeds of the drives or network connections involved. But in order to use this faster method the dmg involved must be checksummed, and in some cases the files re-ordered inside the image. This is also done by the same binary.
The graphical Disk Utility
Disk Utility
Disk Utility is the name of a utility created by Apple for performing disk-related tasks in Mac OS X. These tasks include:*the creation, conversion, compression and encryption of disk images from a wide range of formats read by Disk Utility to .dmg or—for CD/DVD images—.cdr, which is identical to...
uses asr processes in the background to perform restores.