Q: Is there anyway to add OS 9 over OS X?
I'm currently running 10.3.9 on my 300MHz iBook G3 Clamshell. I was wondering if there is any way to install OS 9 on it without having to erase 10.3. Thank you in advance.
iBook, Mac OS X (10.3.x)
Posted on Feb 12, 2016 11:08 AM
Yes.
Since that machine model originally came with OS 8.6, you will need to use a retail OS 9 Install CD. The retail discs have a white label with a large gold 9 on them, and were available in versions OS 9.0, OS 9.0.4, OS 9.1, and OS 9.2.1. Since locating downloadable OS 9 updaters has become not easy (since Apple discontinued them from their site), it would be best to use a CD version as close as possible to the final version you want.
All you should need to do is boot the machine to the OS 9 Install CD, then run the installer.
Some items of consideration before doing this:
• The hard drive must be formatted as Mac OS Extended (also called HFS+), not journaled.
• There must be sufficient room on the hard drive for the additional install of OS 9. Remember to leave at least 10% of the drive unused.
• If the hard drive is not original, it should be less than 200GB in size. If it is 200GB or larger, OS 9 can not use it as a boot volume. This issue can be addressed by partitioning the hard drive, making the partition for OS 9 smaller than 200GB.
• If you elect to install OS 9.1 or earlier, the Startup Disk Control Panel included in those versions can not recognize any version of OS X as being a viable, hence selectable, OS. The solution is to download and install Startup Disk CP version 9.2, available here -
Startup Disk 9.2.1 Document and Software
The Startup Disk CP that comes with OS 9.2.1 will recognize OS X as a viable and selectable OS.
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Switching back and forth between OS X and OS 9 -
• When OS X and OS 9 are on the same volume (partition), use Startup Disk (preference pane or control panel, as applicable).
• When OS X and OS 9 are on different volumes (partitions), you can use Startup Manager or the preceding.
Posted on Feb 12, 2016 11:56 AM