Jimakos

Q: Help with using an external USB hard drive to start up a powerbook?!

Hello ppl of the apple support communities,

 

My uncle recently gave me an Apple Powerbook G4 with a bad internal hard drive and the Mac OS X installation disk that came with the machine! In my country Greece to repair this powerbook costs about 140$ that i dont have! I need your help! I connected the external USB disk to 2 USB ports,and started the Mac OS X 9.2 installation! I went to Utilities Menu checked the disk erase tab and at Volume Format i used ''Mac OS Extended(journaled)'' and checked the box ''Install Mac OS 9 Driver'' and then click Erase. However the box for the ''Install MAc OS 9 disk drivers remained checked.(Seems like they cant be installed!)Then when i go to the partition tab ad at ''Options...'' i cant find this GUID thing and i can only choose between ''Apple Partition Scheme'' and ''PC Partition Scheme''!!

PowerBook, Mac OS 9.2.x, BAD HARD DRIVE

Posted on Jun 11, 2011 1:01 AM

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Q: Help with using an external USB hard drive to start up a powerbook?!

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  • by BGreg,

    BGreg BGreg Jun 14, 2011 5:08 AM in response to Jimakos
    Level 6 (17,522 points)
    Jun 14, 2011 5:08 AM in response to Jimakos

    GUID partition scheme is required for Intel-based systems. The Powerbook would use the Apple partition scheme.

     

    While it's probably what was provided with the Powerbook, I wouldn't bother with OS X 9.2. If you plan to use it to connect to the internet, there are so many advances that have taken place since 9.2, especially in handling web sites and security. And some web sites rely on newer versions of plug-ins, like Flash, to name one. You should also expect that watching online video's will be difficult, as even the last Powerbooks have difficulties with some video's. 

     

    Good luck with your project!

  • by hywels,

    hywels hywels Jun 14, 2011 12:28 PM in response to BGreg
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2011 12:28 PM in response to BGreg

    Not sure you can start up a powerbook from a usb drive.  The usb is only 1.1.  It will boot from an external drive in a firewire enclosure if you can lay your hands on one of those.  Or if you can get another working 2.5" hard drive the internal one is not difficult to replace (the user's manual gives instructions).  It  sounds as if the dvd drive is luckily still working so you can install OS X from that.  I agree about not going back to OS9.