This destination is not within the first 8 GB of the hard disk.

Use XPostFacto 4 to install. It gets around that 8GB limit..

http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/Framework.cfm?page=XPostFacto3.ht ml

You'll need a second drive with OS 9 to run the XPF installer from.

Deb.

Edited to add: Or not, as I now read down the XPF webpage..

Steve,

The only safe way means partitioning the drive.

Didn't know the installer stopped you, but it is essential that the whole of the OS fits in the first 8GB if the disk. I put a 120GB disk in my old iMac G3, and I just had to partition it, even though I'm usually dead set against it.

If you have the need, like I did, you can have multiple partitions in the first 8GB, each sized for a particular OS. Can't remember the sizes I used, but I could fit OSX 10.2, OS9 and OS8.6 all in their own partitions, with plenty of space to spare in each, and another whopping 99GB partition for them all to use.

I'm sure some have managed to get the OS installed without partitioning, and as long as the OS remains in the first 8GB all will be fine, but all you need is an OS update, or some software install that installs some OS functionality to cause it all to go wrong.

Oh hey, Steve.

Just wanted to add to Simon's post that if you DO go the multiple partitions route, and space is an imperative for the OS X drive, you can strip out the language kits when you get to the point to customize the install.

With only English loaded on my beige w/Panther, I got it down to 1.2GB

Deb.

You will have to partition a drive that size on the built-in ATA interface. If you use a PCI ATA card and hook up the drive to that, it won't require partitioning, and it will be 2-3 times faster. MCE Tech had some of the older ACARD ATA66 PCI cards on sale for a pretty good deal, the ATA66 are limited to <137GB drives.

I think the <8GB first partition requirement applies to booting either OS X or 9, but they can both live together fine on that partition.

If you get short on space in that 8GB partition, you can use aliases, or UNIX soft links to an entire directory tree, like /Users, to point to another partition. A link for /Applications doesn't always work with some installers, they enforce an actual folder rather than a link, but you can move individual third party apps to another partition and have aliases to them inside /Applications. When you initially make a copy of the original to the other partition you have to preserve file permissions using a utility like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper.

10.2 doesn't require XPostFacto, but 10.3 and 10.4 do for the Beige G3's.

Yeah, and don't install the non-required printer drivers in OSX, this saves 100's of MB - especially if you don't need HP drivers (my 10 year old HP desk jet still works perfectly under Leopard so I can see where the space goes).

OS9.2 comes in at about 350MB (incl HP drivers) and another 200MB for the default apps.

From memory, OS8.6 was about 400MB total. I went 1GB, 2GB, 4.9GB for 8.6, 9.2.2 and X 10.2 respectively.

Here's the "official" word on the 8G partition:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106235

The Beige G3 was among the last Macs to require this, and then only when ATA hard drives are involved.

Obviously the other info posted about PCI drive controllers, etc, override this.

The Beige G3 will hold up to 768MB RAM--having a full boat of RAM improves OSX performance when you have a small boot partition by reducing the number of "writes" that Virtual Memory performs. You will need to keep close to half of that partition as free space to get satisfactory performance even from Panther.

Glen Doggett wrote:
...MCE Tech had some of the older ACARD ATA66 PCI cards on sale...

MCE Tech store

I have used both of these cards in my G3, they work pretty well.