Suddenly after Years, Disk Utility Can't Make Image from Folder

Question

Suddenly after Years, Disk Utility Can't Make Image from Folder

Disk Utility > File > New Image > Image from Folder

I always choose 256 bit encryption with compression.

Operation failed with status 28: No space left on device

This began happening just recently after more than a decade of using this feature to create an encrypted backup of my Quicken file. It started happening before I upgraded my computer and continues to happen on my new computer -- neither of which were/are anywhere near their secondary storage capacity, so the only remaining possibility is that the file size crossed a threshold. Just today, I confirmed this and narrowed it down to this bracket experimentally:

WORKS when source folder size is 67.1MB or smaller, target file size is 65.7MB.
FAILS when source folder size is 71.1MB; cannot create target file.

I suspect that no one has been maintaining this utility at Apple for a long time. This also seems true of certain other MacOS utility programs such as the native Contacts app, which responds incredibly slowly past a certain database size and seems like no one has been responsible for updating and regression testing it for more than a decade. I use native apps when possible with the expectation that, unlike third-party apps which can come and go with the seasons, the native apps will always be available and will always be maintained and kept up to date with the changing environment and usage modes. The first of these two assumptions has held true in my experience but the assumption that they will always be maintained, regression tested and improved has not.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Dec 23, 2022 11:57 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 25, 2022 11:01 AM in response to BeldarConehead

A MacOS command-line alternative to Disk Utility for creating a compressed and encrypted archive of a folder using the Terminal app:

zip -er {archive_name}.zip {folder_name}

For example:

Choose and save off a password to use for your encrypted archive file.
zip -er QData-Image.zip QData-Image
- Enter and confirm your password to start the compression.

To find the location in Terminal of the folder you want to compress and encrypt:

Open a Terminal window;

go to Finder and navigate to the folder containing the folder you want to encrypt;
right-click on the folder you want to encrypt and select Get Info;

next to Where, select and copy the full path to the folder;
back in Terminal, enter 'cd {full_path}' and paste the full path;
- use the center button on a trackball or CMD-V to paste the path
finally, enter the command above, tailored to your folder and archive names.

More info on the "zip" command:

https://www.winzip.com/en/learn/tips/encrypt-zip/mac/

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

121,250 points

Dec 24, 2022 05:02 AM in response to léonie

but not on my small MBP with 256GB storage and "optimize Mac Storage" enabled.

Were any of the files in that folder not downloaded? When you create an image from folder it sets the image size to the size of the items in the folder. If everything isn’t downloaded when it creates the image, it could be the image is too small when it copies the files to the image.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

199,927 points

Dec 25, 2022 11:21 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney-15E wrote:

but not on my small MBP with 256GB storage and "optimize Mac Storage" enabled.

Were any of the files in that folder not downloaded? When you create an image from folder it sets the image size to the size of the items in the folder. If everything isn’t downloaded when it creates the image, it could be the image is too small when it copies the files to the image.

I tried to force a download from iCloud before I created the disk image, but because the items in the folder were large videos, they may have have been optimized instantly again.

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Answer 4

Feb 2, 2023 11:06 PM in response to léonie

No, in my case all of the files in the folder to be archived were really there. They are financial databases that occupy a relatively small amount of space but contain decades of financial history that I would not want to lose and would not want anyone to hack. I encrypt, compress and upload these databases to the cloud whether or not a backup disk is at hand. The compression ratio is not very high but the encryption is the main point.

I too use "Optimize Mac Storage" for all of the photos in my Photos app. I don't expect to EVER be able to keep pace with the storage footprint they take up, so as in your case there will always be photos available only on my cloud storage account. I've never lost a photo or video because of anything Apple's ever done or failed to do, so I'm content to rely on the wisdom of their capacity and redundancy policies. I would never try to compress or encrypt large photos, videos or movies myself because it's just not practical. Apple probably does it but that would all be automated on their cloud storage servers.

Hope this helps you think through your use of compression and encryption. For me, it's for the small but important stuff that can be quickly uploaded to the cloud, and that you would want to upload to the cloud after every update, even when a local backup drive is not immediately available.

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Answer 5

Dec 24, 2022 12:32 AM in response to BeldarConehead

Works for me in macOS 13.1 with those settings and a 380 MB folder.

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

199,927 points

Dec 24, 2022 04:55 AM in response to BeldarConehead

It is working for me on my Macs with 2TB internal drive, where I am not using "Optimize Mac Storage", but not on my small MBP with 256GB storage and "optimize Mac Storage" enabled.

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Suddenly after Years, Disk Utility Can't Make Image from Folder

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