[G4] Re: Super Duper Cloning software/Stuck-time for decisions

[Philip J Robar]

On Jan 17, 2007, at 7:55 AM, Marla wrote:

> Though I am sorely tempted to just say what the f---,
> let's just upgrade the firmware on the old drive,

As several others have clearly said you do not update the firmware on  
the hard drive, the hard drive is merely where you download the  
update to and run the update from.

It's not clear to me why you think you need to update your firmware.  
If your firmware is up to date enough to run 10.2.8 then it is up to  
date enough to run 10.3.x or 10.4.x. I can find no firmware  
requirements (other than one for some superdrives) for installing  
either newer OS other than that required to install 10.2 - which you  
by definition already have. (Of course having the latest firmware is  
generally a good idea.)

> it's behaved beautifully since Disk Warrior did its thing,

Then it's likely you do not have a failing hard disk. If you did then  
the Disk Warrior fix would only have been temporary. Once a disk  
starts to fail the problems only get worse. That being said if you're  
not doing backups regularly then you're playing a game of Russian  
Roulette that you will eventually loose.

> I think installing the new drive first sounds good to
> me. But can I get a free download of OS9? I don't have
> it on a disk - so how do I "fit a new drive, and
> install OS 9" if my old drive is temporarily out of
> the picture?

OS 9 is not free, you can't legally download it from anywhere. Your  
machine came with a license for OS 9.0.4, the upgrade to 9.1 is free.  
You will have to buy or borrow a copy from someone/somewhere. OS 9  
installs from a CD so having the old drive installed shouldn't be an  
issue. If you're not willing or able to pay to have the firmware  
upgraded you might try asking for help at a local user group.

> Also, I am not sure it's true about firmware  having
> to go from OS 9 only, because I remember looking up
> which upgrade to do and there was one for my specific
> phase of OS/firmware, which is  OS version of 10.2.8,
> and firmware/Boot Rom is 3.1f1...

Pointers to all available firmware upgrades, up to date as of Oct. 2006.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117

The firmware update page for your machine: http://docs.info.apple.com/ 
article.html?artnum=120068. It clearly states that you must have OS  
9.1 or newer and that OS X will not work.

> Hmm. Then there is the question of which drive to get.
> What do you guys think of this one:
>
> Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 Ultra ATA/100 120-GB Hard
> Drive model #ST3120213A

Any new drive you buy today will be faster than your current drive.  
7200.9's are not the fastest you can get, but generally they are a  
good value for your money. They are often on sale with additional  
savings via a rebate.

> Is my machine even capable of utilizing the 7200 RPM speed?

Yes.

> Oh, I just had a worry maybe that drive is only
> formatted for PCs, not macs... Any specific drive
> model to recommend?

You will need to partition the new drive with Disk Utility. This  
process is clearly documented in the on-line help.

Phil