how many GB does Tiger need to function?

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Level 2

215 points

how many GB does Tiger need to function?

Hi, I think I'm about to be in trouble with my PowerMacG5. I installed MicroSoft Word and without realizing it, my hard drive now only has 1.25 GB! I was trying to dump some video footage to free up some space and the screen went black. It then started up again and the window was the same one that had been there before it went dark. Am I right in thinking I might not have enough juice to keep my OS working?? Any info will be very much appreciated. I'm very nervous right now. Thank you, Kate 😟

PowerMacG5 Quad, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on May 23, 2011 1:37 AM

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Answer 1

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BDAqua

Level 10

239,183 points

May 23, 2011 1:57 AM in response to Kate Porter

Hi Kate, yes, you need far more, 20GB to 30 GB minimum, 50-100 for more speed.

What's with this window? I don't quite understand?

"Try Disk Utility

1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.

2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)

*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*

3. Click the First Aid tab.

4. Select your Mac OS X volume.

5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.

(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)

If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward

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Answer 2

Kate Porter Author

Level 2

215 points

May 23, 2011 2:29 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for being there, BDAqua. The tower went to sleep, thus the black screen. I was trying to dump some photos and video and music and the computer won't stay on long enough to allow me to do this. I am really surprised that when I went to install Windows 8, there was not an alert of some kind to let me know there wasn't enough memory left to (or is that RAM??) to accept it. Windows needed only 1 GB, but I guess I was running on empty and that did it. Now when I started it again, it chimed and the white screen and the apple came up, but no wheel. What the heck do I do now?? Just shut it down? Oh, lord. I'll watch for your answer if you're still there. Thanks so much. Kate

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Answer 3

Kate Porter Author

Level 2

215 points

May 23, 2011 2:40 AM in response to Kate Porter

PS..I'm on my laptop, not the tower. It;s still got the white screen with the apple. no wheel. 😢 I'm going to have to just shut it down so the screen doesn't burn, if I've missed you and you're off-line. I'll wait a little while. I'll try to do what you suggested in your first email. Thanks, Kate

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

239,183 points

May 23, 2011 3:02 AM in response to Kate Porter

That is dangerously low Free Space, it can corrupt the HDD, does it boot from the Install Disc?

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Answer 5

Kate Porter Author

Level 2

215 points

May 23, 2011 1:40 PM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua, thanks for hanging in here. The computer came on as it usually does when I started it this morning. Though the Install Disc is now in the drawer (from last night) there didn't seem to be any involvement with it upon starting.

I'm now, in an attempt to create more GB's for the running of the OS, dragging video footage (hundreds of GB's) into the Second HD. Is this right? It is original footage, not aliases so will this do the job for now ? I tried what you suggested, by the way, but the Utility Repair would not respond to my cursor.Fortunately, it's on now (don't know for how long though) and maybe this will work. What do you think?

Thank you so very much for you input and patience, Best, Kate Porter

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Answer 6

Kate Porter Author

Level 2

215 points

May 23, 2011 1:42 PM in response to Kate Porter

Don't know how my reply got in the wrong plae in the string but the white screen was last night, not accurate now, for some reason I'm grateful to be able to say. Thanks, k

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Answer 7

Russa

Level 4

1,343 points

May 23, 2011 1:53 PM in response to Kate Porter

Kate,

Suggest you slow down a little bit and wait for people to give you some advice. Even with the new OS installation, it doesn't take much disk space, and you were probably close to your disk limit even before the installaiton of the new OS. What is the size of your disk... once you hit about 80% of used space on the disk it's about time for an upgrade.

It might be best to buy another hard disk and install it in your G5... you can get 500GBs of disk for about $89. Buying it online from macsales.com will get you a lot of disk space in about 2-3 days. That way you can save all your video and store it on the new disk with perhaps the Windows partition/installation.

You can also buy memory upgrades as well from them. But I don't you are really memory limited.

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