Partitioning Drive (reviving Power Mac G5)

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Partitioning Drive (reviving Power Mac G5)

I'm a PC guy bringing a Power Mac G5 back to life. It was given to me and even though it's old, I'm excited to get it going once again. I bought a cheap power cord, DVI to HMDI cord and a copy of Leopard. I realized that it doesn't have a hard drive so I installed an old SATA drive and planned on formatting and partitioning the drive as the Mac OS was installing from the Leopard DVD. The installation process begins but then says: "The installer cannot prepare the volume for installation. You may need to prepare your disk using Disk Utility." I cannot access Disk Utility to partition the drive. It can be formatted but not partitioned.

The solutions that I've found are "Open Disk Utility and format the drive". I do not have Mac OS installed on this computer.

Another one is, "Partition the drive from another computer with Mac OS." This doesn't work for me as I have only PC's.

Another solution I've read is "Restart the computer and go into Recovery and then run Disk Utility". I cannot get into Disk Utility because I'm doing something wrong or Disk Utility has to be installed on the drive already, I'm assuming.

I'm disappointed that I cannot format and partition a drive from the Mac OS install DVD like I can other OS's. Do I have to buy a hard drive that is formatted and partitioned for Mac?

Mac OS X (10.5), null

Posted on Feb 10, 2016 7:38 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 10, 2016 7:46 PM in response to JamesStL

1. Boot the computer using the Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that you got

for your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.

After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see

a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.

2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue

button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive

size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of

partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button

and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended

(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.

3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed

with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.

4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup

Assistant. After you finish Setup Assistant will complete the installation after which

you will be running a fresh install of OS X. You can now begin the update process

by opening Software Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your

installation current.

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Answer 2

JamesStL Author

Level 1

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Feb 10, 2016 7:53 PM in response to Kappy

When I try to do Step 2, a menu bar never pops up and I can't access Disk Utility. Is there anything else that I can try or do to bring up the menu bar?

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Feb 10, 2016 8:02 PM in response to JamesStL

Just checking...

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.*

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Answer 4

JamesStL Author

Level 1

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Feb 10, 2016 8:13 PM in response to JamesStL

😁 Oh my, I figured it out. I'm using a DVI to HDMI cord to my television which is not displaying the correct dimensions right now. (facepalm). The menu bar was not visible on the screen. I got to the select your language screen then moved the cursor to the top of the screen and randomly clicked around. A drop down menu bar appeared and Disk Utility is there. I've been trying for a long time to get this straightened out. I feel like an idiot but the replies posted made me try it one more time. Thank you.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Feb 11, 2016 7:46 AM in response to JamesStL

Good work anyway! 🙂

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