[HM] Re: G4 Upgrade Project

[Charles H. Nowlin]

Howard,

Because I believe you may be uncertain about how to physically 
install your hard drive and CD ROM, I checked the path that I used to 
get the 130  page mirrored door G4 manual (in pdf). I started with 
http://search.info.apple.com. At the top of the page is a row of 
possible Apple sites. I clicked on "Manuals." When that page came up, 
I scrolled down to the "Search" box. I entered "G4 manual" and sent 
it on its way. When it returned, it had the first page of 8 pages 
with a total of 73 results of G4 manual information. I do not know 
your exact model; Digital Audio, Gibabit Ethernet, etc, but I expect 
you can find yours there somewhere. Download the manual. The manual 
for the mirrored door G4 gives detailed instructions, including the 
locations of key release mechanisms, for the physical installation of 
extra hard drives.

After physically attaching cables and mechanically installing you new 
hard drive close up your computer and boot OS 9. OS X possibly can do 
the rest, but I know only OS 9 methods. At first, you may be worried 
that your new hard drive does not appear on your desktop. The 
manufacturer probably anticipated that it would be used on an IBM 
clone. Your new hard drive just needs Macintosh drivers installed and 
to be formatted. If you want not to format it, it will probably work 
using the IBM format that it likely has. But I am uncertain as to 
whether other disk maintenance software made for the mac will happily 
handle a DOS formatted hard drive. Formatting also has the advantage 
of checking for bad sectors and marking them so that your data will 
not be at risk later.

In OS 9, run "Drive Setup" to install drivers. It is certainly ion 
the "Utilities" folder on the installer CD of whichever version of OS 
9 you use. Otherwise, it can be downloaded from Apple. Drive Setup 
first searches for all of your hard drives. After Drive Setup 
finishes its search, you will likely see your drive listed as 
"Untitled." If you do not see it, check  your "jumper block" 
locations to be certain they are all on "cable select". Also, make 
certain that both power and signal cables are fully seated. When you 
do see "Untitled" listed, it will be "grayed out" because it has no 
Apple drivers. Ignore  that detail. Select it and click on 
"initialize."  Drive Setup will install drivers. If you want to 
partition your hard drive into two or more hard drives, next select 
"Customize volume" from the function menu. There are arguments for 
and against partitioning. I avoid it whenever possible. Trouble with 
either partition can disable all other partitions. Better to use a 
separate hard drive. If you want not to partition,select "Mount" from 
the functions menu of Drive Setup. That finishes the fist part of the 
software side of installing a new hard drive. Next I recommend that 
you format the new drive. Find your new hard drive, "untitled" on 
your desk top now, select it and use  "Erase" under the OS 9 
"Special" menu in the Finder window. That functions just as it does 
on 3.5 inch floppies.Select the new format that you want. "Erase" 
will finish the job. But don't wait for it to finish, go to bed. For 
an extremely large hard drive, it might be wise to plan a trip or 
other major activity that does not involve your Mac for the next few 
days.

Stay ion touch,

Charles H. Nowlin