[G4] booting options with failed hard drive?

[jonseward at mindspring.com]

Hi Chris,

Your original install disc &/or software rstore discs issued with the
computer are the gold standard for booting.  
Save them, keep them well, make cloned copies to store elsewhere.  Can't go
wrong.  I had an old PowerMac and 
sometimes thing would get hinky on the new OS and I'd have no recourse but
to you those old legacy floppies.

You should be able to boot up from your Leopard install disc from the
computer's optical drive, or from a portable 
drive, should the internal drive go bad.  Once you boot up, you may have
little or no access to the files and 
applications on the corrupted internal drive - but at least you can take a
look around.

Repair utilities like Tech Tool pro and Disk Warrior can also help to
repair and salvage drives and files that have gone 
bad, without needing to wipe a drive clean or trash it.  

Similarly, there is a utility application available to add partitions to an
existing boot drive without reformatting or 
losing data.  Since you don't want to buy another drive, you may want to
look at that.

I've never had a partition become so corrupted that I could not reinstall
the OS or salvage the files.  I have had 
physical/electronic problems with drives that have crippled them and led to
the loss of data and files.  That's why I 
prefer the multiple drive approach over multiple partitions.

If your OS data becomes corrupted and the drive is sound, then you should
be able to do a clean install of the OS 
directly from your install disc, holding down 'C" at startup, and not need
to invest in another hard drive.

Myself, I try to always install another internal drive, larger than my boot
drive, partitioned minimally to provide one 
partition for a pristine version of the OS, and another partition for
backup files.


HTH,


jon




Original Message:
-----------------
From: YOUR FRIEND, CHRIS august.ham at verizon.net
Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:41:57 -0500
To: g4 at listserver.themacintoshguy.com
Subject: Re: [G4] booting options with failed hard drive?

Hello JON!

thanks for your reply. i have a couple questions; i do not know a thing 
about any of this, so please bear with me.

Carbon Copy Cloner.  Make sure that all files, including the invisible 
ones
are cloned.

= i made the clone using prosoft data backup 3. does the fact that it 
will boot from the clone partition of my external verify that all the 
data on my internal - including the hidden files - is properly copied?

I don't see the point of putting the cloned install disc on your primary
drive.  It's more likely that the drive will fail
than the partition.

= what i meant is i want to put the copied os's on my external hd; if 
you think i should do that, should they go on the clone partition, make 
their own partition - or does it matter?

Have you thought of installing a second, internal hard drive?  There's
plenty of room.  If the drive is cable selected, then a if your primary 
drive fails you will automatically default to start off of your 
secondary, w/o needing the keyboard command.

= yes i have; in fact i originally bought one and exchanged it for the 
mercury. cash is tight and i want to minimize what i spend on this 8 
year old unit; even though more expensive, the mercury can "follow" me.

Similarly, you can boot from your install disc in your optical drive.

= ok - i think this is what i'm after! does this mean that in case of 
main hard drive failure, i can install an os install cd or dvd, restart 
holding down "c", and then somehow select the external drive to boot 
from?
if thats the case, then i won't have to worry about buying another kb, 
correct?

= one last one; one of the discs i have is leopard {retail} i want to 
back it up and eventually install it when i figure out how. i've read a 
lot of people do their os upgrades from a separate partition, keeping 
the original os intact in case of problems[?] then switching to the 
upgrade. please explain exactly how to do this; will installing it on a 
partition be the same as having the install dvd? {my dvd reader is 
acting up too, so i'd like at least have it on the machine to install 
somehow in case that fails too}

thanks again
chris



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