Classic environment

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Level 1

16 points

Classic environment

Because of some legacy software, I cannot abandon the Classic environment. Accordingly, I cannot upgrade to Leopard, which apparently no longer supports Classic. If I partition my hard drive to put OS 9.2 on one partition and Leopard on the other, I have to erase the hard drive. Any suggestions?

PowerMac 4x2.5 GHz G5 and iBook 1.42MHz, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Mar 30, 2009 9:19 AM

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Answer 1

Niel

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Level 10

741,353 points

Mar 30, 2009 9:23 AM in response to Dr_Pete

Restart the computer from the Mac OS X 10.5 install DVD, open the Disk Utility from the Utilities menu, click on the Partition tab when your drive is selected, and try repartitioning it without erasing the drive. Neither of the computers listed in your profile can boot into Mac OS 9; therefore, you need to keep Mac OS X 10.4 as well.

(42144)

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Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

427,217 points

Mar 30, 2009 9:28 AM in response to Dr_Pete

If you don't already do this you really should have all your drive backed up on an external hard drive. It is a matter of when a drive will fail, not if. That said, if you have everything backed up you can partition the drive that is already backed up (erasing in the process since you still have everything on the backup drive) and reinstall Tiger + Classic on one partition and Leopard on the other. Then restore files from the backup. We can provide extra details but we need to know on which of your computers you are doing this, the size of drives you have, space available, any external drives you own, etc.

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Answer 3

Mar 30, 2009 9:31 AM in response to Dr_Pete

As Niel said - you can't actually start into Mac OS 9 from the computers you have listed in your profile. You will need to run Mac OS X 10.4. If you want to run Leopard, you will need to follow Niels directions to partition your drive and install 10.4 and 10.5, but then, what's the real point of upgrading?

We have some folks who are still on 10.4 because of this reason, some apps that used Classic plug-ins are needed.

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Answer 4

Dr_Pete Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 30, 2009 1:51 PM in response to Justin Andrews

Thanks, Justin, for replying to my post. Your question, "...but then, what's the real point of upgrading?" is a very pertinent one. Right now, I don't feel a great urgency to upgrade, but as time goes by, Tiger will fade away and Leopard, Snow Leopard, and future cats will be the only games in town. Already, MacWorld has virtually stopped publishing articles about Tiger. Accordingly, I am trying to think ahead to what I'll do when I am forced to move up from Tiger. I currently back up to a second internal 500GB drive, but I back up with a "Duplicate" protocol, rather than a "Back-up" protocol, in order to keep the back-up drive bootable. If I'm going to have different OSs on the two drives, I will no longer be able to "Duplicate," and that makes back-up more complicated. I guess I'll delay moving to Leopard as long as possible.

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Answer 5

a brody

Level 10

85,308 points

Mar 30, 2009 1:53 PM in response to Dr_Pete

In the what's the point in upgrading question, I've written a FAQ* which may help you in the future:

http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html

Some people are still sitting in ProDos (Pre-Macintosh Apples) because that's all they need!

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation

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Answer 6

Dr_Pete Author

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16 points

Mar 30, 2009 1:58 PM in response to Limnos

Thanks, Limnos, for replying to my post. I currently back up to a second internal 500GB drive, but I back up with a "Duplicate" protocol, rather than a "Back-up" protocol, in order to keep the back-up drive bootable. If I'm going to have different OSs on the two drives, I will no longer be able to "Duplicate," and that makes back-up more complicated. I guess I'll delay moving to Leopard as long as possible.

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Answer 7

Dr_Pete Author

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16 points

Mar 30, 2009 1:59 PM in response to a brody

Wow! You've got to be kidding!

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Answer 8

Dr_Pete Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 30, 2009 2:02 PM in response to Niel

Thanks, Neil, for replying to my post. I didn't realise Leopard's Disk Utility allowed partitioning without erasing.
I currently back up to a second internal 500GB drive, but I back up with a "Duplicate" protocol, rather than a "Back-up" protocol, in order to keep the back-up drive bootable. If I'm going to have different OSs on the two drives, I will no longer be able to "Duplicate," and that makes back-up more complicated. I guess I'll delay moving to Leopard as long as possible.

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Answer 9

a brody

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85,308 points

Mar 30, 2009 2:05 PM in response to Dr_Pete

Nope, believe it or not there are a few people still using Apple ][s out there.

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Answer 10

Dr_Pete Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 30, 2009 2:28 PM in response to a brody

Your article at http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html is extremely helpful.
One point: You write, +Select "About this Mac" from the Apple menu and click the More Info... button. Click "ATA" in the left pane of System Profiler when it opens, and locate your hard drive in the right pane. Below the hard drive manufacturer's product or model number, you'll find several lines of information about the drive. One will be "OS 9 Drivers".+ Listed under "ATA" is my Pioneer DVD drive. My hard drives are listed under "Serial-ATA." Neither of my Hitachi 500GB HDs have OS 9 drivers so if I partition to put Leopard on one volume I understand that I would have to put Tiger 10.4.11 on the other and use the Classic environment of 10.4.11, rather than booting into 9.2.x.

Message was edited by: Dr_Pete (Corrected equipment profile)

Message was edited by: Dr_Pete
(Corrected equipment/OS profile)

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Answer 11

a brody

Level 10

85,308 points

Mar 31, 2009 6:55 AM in response to Dr_Pete

Neither of my Hitachi 500GB HDs have OS 9 drivers so if I partition to put Leopard on one volume I understand that I would have to put Tiger 10.4.11 on the other and use the Classic environment of 10.4.11, rather than booting into 9.2.x.

That's correct. Also G5s and iBook G4s can't boot into Mac OS 9 regardless. Starting in 2003 new Macs were made that could only use Classic, but couldn't boot into Mac OS 9.

PowerMac G4s older than 2003 (some of the 2002 models were rereleased in 2003 with only Firewire 400 ports and not Firewire 800 ports) and iBook G3s can boot into Mac OS 9 if Mac OS 9 drivers are installed on them. Unfortunately iBook G3s can't boot into 10.5 either.

Message was edited by: a brody

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