Suitable Drive for OS 9 in G4 MDD?

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Level 1

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Suitable Drive for OS 9 in G4 MDD?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/seagate-1tb-internal-serial-ata-hard-drive-for-deskt ops/8490625.p?id=1186003683968&skuId=8490625

I would like to know if the Seagate 1 TB SATA HD at the above link would be suitable as a replacement system start up drive for my G4 MDD, 1.25 GHz with FW 400, running OS 10.4.11 (Tiger). Could I buy a 2 TB drive instead, that would work? I realize I'd have to buy a SATA card. Alternatively, would an IDE drive be required for this older computer? They look expensive - since they're considered "legacy" nowadays.

I need a dual boot system to run OS 9.2.2 and I believe I would be able to partition this drive into sections or volumes that would allow this.

Would 200 GB partitions be acceptable, or are lower divisions preferable? Also, any tips on installing, and on which partition? I have the MDD OS 9 Install Disc, as well as a retail Tiger disc. Should I install the OS X first, with OS 9 drivers and then install the OS 9, or is OS 9 included in the Tiger disc.? I'm not sure.

Thanks.

MDD G4, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Nov 27, 2013 12:15 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Neville Hillyer

Level 4

1,879 points

Dec 7, 2013 1:31 PM in response to keithgvp

I have a 733 MHz G4 in daily use and my SATA card does not support booting so I boot from a 125 GB (largest disk my G4 will see all of) IDE drive.

I have multiple partitions but for most people maximum flexibility can be obtained with 2 partitions. One with Leopard and the other with both Tiger and an independent OS 9.2.2. I do not use Classic but I sometimes boot directly into OS 9.2.2.

You may not be able to select OS 9.2.2 in Leopard System Preferences Startup Disk but you can select both other OSs from both Tiger and OS 9.2.2. You can select all three OSs by holding the option key at boot.

If you don't install OS 9 drivers at the time of formatting the disk you will never be able to boot directly into OS 9.

You should be aware that the use of a directly booted OS 9 circumvents much OS X security. This is so for both installed OS 9 drivers and portable OS 9 media. You can improve security with OS 9 Multiple users (a boot password) or a firmware password. I don't use a firmware password as any glitch may be tedious/impossible to overcome.

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