[G4] stuck and need to upgrade-resend, last got sent back-WOW!

[Ronald Steinke]

On 16 Jan 2007, at 11:50, Marla wrote:

> Wow! thanks Steve, for the level of detail of your
> reply. i have some further questions for
> clarification, if you don't mind:
>
>>  I am assuming that you are using OS X.
>
> I currently have OS 10.2.8, and apparently need a
> firmware upgrade before I can upgrade my OS...
>
If you need to upgrade the firmware, you can only do it on a drive  
that has a valid operating system already installed on it. Therefore,  
you have to install and format the new drive and put a valid OS on it  
before you can upgrade it to a newer version of the OS.


>> Install the new drive inside your Mac (there should
>> be room for a second hard drive), and initialize it
>> with DiskUtility.
>
> Disk Utility is separate software, I need to purchase
> it, right? And is a new controller card
> expensive/complicated to install?
>
No, Disk Utility is automatically installed by the OS installation  
CD. It is hidden in your Applications folder in the Utilities folder.  
Launch it and it will allow you to format the new drive. Be sure to  
format it in the Extended format.

If you are going to use a new drive that is larger than 128Gb, you  
will need to install a new IDE Controller card that is at least a  
PC-133 model. The job is a simple "insert in one of the empty PCI  
slots, seat firmly, attach the ribbon and power cords to the drives,  
and reboot" issue. You may find that the new controller card does not  
let you view the drive as an individual drive when you use Apple  
System Profiler to view information about your Mac, it may only show  
up in Profiler as a generic device instead of as a drive. Disk  
Utility will see the new drive without any problem. I have used a  
card from Sonnet company and have no complaints at all. It gave me  
two ribbon connections, so I could have installed four drives if I  
had power connections for them.

>> Then, just download CarbonCopyCloner (donation wear)
> to your old drive,
>
> can I do this download BEFORE installing the new
> drive??
>
You can do the download at any time, before installing and formatting  
or after. It will not matter to CCC. The only thing that CCC really  
needs is that the new drive must be at least as big as the drive  
being copied, preferably bigger.


>> yet--you may need to copy some registration
> information over to the new drive).
>
> Will my machine tell me I need specific registration
> info? Or will I need to figure it out by osmosis?
>
If you use CCC, it will make an exact copy, bit by bit, of the old  
drive. ALL data will be copied and you should not have any problems  
with having to put any registration data on the new drive. Be  
prepared to give CCC plenty of time to do its work. Do not expect it  
to finish in less than half an hour unless your original drive is a  
small one, like 20Gb or so.

Hope this gives you more confidence to work inside your Mac.