Load OS 9 for updates??

A retail Tiger disk does not contain OS 9 or Classic. The disks that come with a new computer contain a Classic installer, but I don't know if you can make a bootable OS 9 from this, which is what you need to install firmware updates on an older Mac.

You may want to install this firmware update on the G4 if it hasn't been installed already; doing so requires that the original drive has Mac OS 9 installed on it. Mac OS 9 is not included on the Tiger installation DVD; it must be installed from the original disks for your machine or an universal Mac OS 9.21 CD. Afterwards, you can put the original drive in a FireWire enclosure and only connect it to your machine when you need to use Classic or Mac OS 9. Using an USB enclosure is possible but not recommended; it will be much slower than FireWire if you don't use an USB 2.0 PCI card, and you may not be able to start your computer from the enclosure if you do. If you will be or have installed Mac OS X on the original drive, you must use a FireWire enclosure, as USB drives usually won't boot Mac OS X on a PowerPC Mac.

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Disk Utility on the Tiger disk will give you the option to install OS 9 drivers when you erase the hard drive. Selecting this option means you can later install OS 9 (from a disk that does not come with Tiger). There are some OS 9 disks on eBay. Read the fine print to be sure they wll work with your Mac.

Hi, Grinch -

The ability to install OS 9/Classic is not included with any retail package (separate purchase) of OSX 10.2 or later.

Your G4 DA model originally came with a model-specific version of OS 9.1; it can not use a retail OS 9.1 (or earlier) Install CD. The only one it can use, other than the Software Install CD or Software Restore CD that originally came with it, is a retail OS 9.2.1 Install CD (there are no retail OS 9.2.2 Install CDs).

You can often get retail OS 9 Install CD's at sites like these -
http://store.yahoo.com/hardcoremac/index.html - Apple Reseller
http://www.applerescue.com/

EBay is another possibility.

Regardless of the source, be sure to get a retail OS 9 Install CD - those are white, with a large gold 9 on them; the retail OS 9 Install CD's have a universal installer; model-specific Install CD's do not.

In case you need the OS 9.2.2 updater -
Article #75186 - Mac OS 9.2.2 - Download and Info

Hi, Grinch -

How come 9.0 will not work? Hardware not supported?

Correct. In general, a Mac can not boot to an OS earlier than the one it shipped with.

In the case of the G4 DA models, they shipped with a modified version of OS 9.1, one which uses Finder v. 9.1.1. That Finder version is not available on a retail OS 9.1 Install CD.

This Apple KBase article is handy reference to determine the minimum OS's for models -
Article #25114 - Mac OS 8, 9: Compatibility With Macs

One of the important items in that is note (3).

Hi, Grinch -

How do you find all these articles so fast?

I bookmark any article I come across that may be useful; over the years I have quire a few (several thousand). I keep them sorted into appropriately named folders in IE's Favorites so I can find them easier. Also, IE has a Find function that works in its Favorites - select Organize Favorites (the item itself, not a submenu) in the Favorites menu, and the Favorites window will open; then press Command-F. I leave that window open behind the browser window.

I also keep the ones I post relatively frequently (more than a couple of times) in SimpleText documents (three of them - KBase, Downloads, Non-Apple), with the links preformatted for text display in Discussions. I group the article links in logical clusters in each document for ease in locating them; SimpleText also has a Find function. This makes it easy to locate a link, then copy/paste it into a message.

Mac OS X 10.1 came with OS 9.2.1 I believe that is where I got mine. 10.0 came with 9.0 so that everyone would have minimal Classic support. Not sure if there are any complete sets of 10.1 out there though.

It's been a while, but from memory the release of OSX 10.1 came two ways - a version for use as an upgrade for those who'd acquired the beta OSX 10.0, which inlcuded an update OS 9.2.1 CD (not a full-install version); and a full retail version of OSX 10.1, which included a full-install retail OS 9.2.1 Install CD.

As I recall, there was a poor decision made by someone - the upgrade OS 9.2.1 CDs (those that came with the upgrade OSX 10.1 version) were given a white label and gold 9, same as full-install retail disks. Not a good idea - too easy to get one of the update-only ones thinking you were getting a full-install retail one.

The retail OS 9.2.1 Install CD was also made available at a special low price (about US$20) for purchasers of the retail OSX 10.2 and 10.3 packages; that program was discontinued before the release of OSX 10.4.

***

Correction - it may have been OS 9.1 CDs (upgrade and retail) that were shipped with the OSX 10.1 releases. Reason for that - the OSX 10.0 beta could use OS 9.0.4 as Classic, but OSX 10.1 required OS 9.1 as a minimum for Classic (as do later OSX versions).

Wish I'd kept my notes from back then....

Hi, Grinch -

Great.

One of the nice things about OS 9 System Folders - you can copy them to a backup volume or to another drive without any need for a utility program (such as a cloning utility). All you need to do is drag it to the target volume and let Finder copy it there.

It may be necessary to fix a few aliases after the copy process is done.