External disk

Nicky Y. Schleider wrote:
> i'm trying to use an external disk to boot my power mac G5 since it's
> hard drive is almost full. i have WD mybook which i reformatted. i
> installed leopard on it, but when i try to install the 5.1 upgrade, i
> get a message that the disk doesn't meet the requirements. also, i
> specified it as my startup disk which worked fine, but it doesn't
> stick. it reverts back to the internal drive for startlup. can
> anybody give me some help?

i'm not sure what's causing your problem, but to avoid it, and probable
future problems, i highly recommend just using the internal drive to
boot. i would move stuff (documents and such) off of the internal drive
onto the mybook drive to create space. moving the system (OS) is a pain.

dmitri

> i'm not sure what's causing your problem, but to avoid it, and
> probable
> future problems, i highly recommend just using the internal drive to
> boot. i would move stuff (documents and such) off of the internal
> drive
> onto the mybook drive to create space. moving the system (OS) is a
> pain.

i already moved off just about everything that i could. i've been
trying to find more stuff to move, but can't.

nicky

Nicky Y. Schleider wrote:
>> i'm not sure what's causing your problem, but to avoid it, and
>> probable
>> future problems, i highly recommend just using the internal drive to
>> boot. i would move stuff (documents and such) off of the internal
>> drive
>> onto the mybook drive to create space. moving the system (OS) is a
>> pain.
>
> i already moved off just about everything that i could. i've been
> trying to find more stuff to move, but can't.
>
> nicky

Really? How big is the internal drive? Is it all one volume? Your
installation must be huge. Do you have a bunch of huge Adobe apps or
something? If the drive is significantly less than 80GB, you can get an
80GB drive for under $50 (some under $40) these days.

Dmitri

At 1:18 PM -0800 1/30/2008, Dmitri Borovoy wrote:

>--snip--
>Really? How big is the internal drive? Is it all one volume? Your
>installation must be huge. Do you have a bunch of huge Adobe apps or
>something? If the drive is significantly less than 80GB, you can get an
>80GB drive for under $50 (some under $40) these days.
>
Dimitri:

For a G5, 80GB was the minimum it shipped with. Why mess around with
an 80GB when I see 160s at $55 and 250s at $77 and 500s are around
$100 on special?

And since there are two internal bays, adding a big internal is
pretty painless and much fater than FW external.

--Jim

--

Jim Carr
jimcarrmac.com

> Really? How big is the internal drive? Is it all one volume? Your
> installation must be huge. Do you have a bunch of huge Adobe apps or
> something? If the drive is significantly less than 80GB, you can
> get an
> 80GB drive for under $50 (some under $40) these days.

i have an 80 gig. it's also so slow when i boot from it. actually, i
don't want to put any money into this machine, because i would like to
upgrade to an intel. right now, that's not economically feasible.
since i asked and received your kind help, i will tell you that i have
another disc that would upgrade to 5.1, so i'm booting from that. i
have a lot of apps. it's all one volume.

thanks.

nicky

At 4:54 AM -0800 1/31/2008, Nicky Y. Schleider wrote:

>>Really? How big is the internal drive? Is it all one volume? Your
>>installation must be huge. Do you have a bunch of huge Adobe apps or
>>something? If the drive is significantly less than 80GB, you can
>>get an
>>80GB drive for under $50 (some under $40) these days.
>
>i have an 80 gig. it's also so slow when i boot from it. actually, i
>don't want to put any money into this machine, because i would like to
>upgrade to an intel. right now, that's not economically feasible.
>since i asked and received your kind help, i will tell you that i have
>another disc that would upgrade to 5.1, so i'm booting from that. i
>have a lot of apps. it's all one volume.
>
Nicky:

If you are planning to replace the G5 with MacPro, the SATA drives
that fit in the G5 can be transplanted easily into the new Mac. Which
makes importing settings easy. You probably want to re-install
applications when you get the Intel.

--Jim

--

Jim Carr
jimcarrmac.com

> And since there are two internal bays, adding a big internal is
> pretty painless and much fater than FW external.

i guess i'm really leary of trying to install a hard drive. i've
installed memory, and i installed a pci card in one computer. i don't
know if i can manage a hard drive.


nicky

Nicky Y. Schleider wrote:
>> Really? How big is the internal drive? Is it all one volume? Your
>> installation must be huge. Do you have a bunch of huge Adobe apps or
>> something? If the drive is significantly less than 80GB, you can
>> get an
>> 80GB drive for under $50 (some under $40) these days.
>
> i have an 80 gig. it's also so slow when i boot from it. actually, i
> don't want to put any money into this machine, because i would like to
> upgrade to an intel. right now, that's not economically feasible.
> since i asked and received your kind help, i will tell you that i have
> another disc that would upgrade to 5.1, so i'm booting from that. i
> have a lot of apps. it's all one volume.

Try this article:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060301112336384


Wow. I've never heard of an installation that big (or even half that
size). Are you sure that your system and apps are pushing 80GB (or the
74.5GB that you're probably actually getting)?

The only thing I can think of, without having you buy a bigger internal,
is put the external drive inside the G5 case (it would have to be the
same interface, and you would have to take the external apart). This is
not something that I would usually do.


What OS and what drive are you booted to when you set the default boot
volume? Can you boot from the external drive if you hold
Option-Command-Shift-Delete on boot?

This will enable owners on that volume if they are disabled:
sudo /usr/sbin/vsdbutil -a /Volumes/<external volume name>

This will make the volume bootable:
sudo bless -verbose -folder "/Volumes/<external volume name>/System/Library/CoreServices" -bootinfo

Try fixing file permissions using Disk Utility.

You don't have to look at adding a hard drive as an investment in THAT
machine. Leave the 80. Get a 500 or 750GB drive if you want, anything
big enough, and make the new larger drive the boot drive with all your
stuff. Keep the 80 around for overflow and critical backup stuff. When
you are ready to buy a new machine, take the BIG drive and put it in
the new machine and you are ready to go, albeit you'll want to upgrade
some software to Universial or Intel versions if needed. Then
reinstall the original system software on the 80GB and sell the G5 or
do whatever you were planning on doing with it in the first place.

Jeffrey

the option- command-shift-delete is something i didn't know about.
i'll try. i've tried fixing file permissions. that's another
problem. when i try to fix permissions, it hangs. that happens on my
home computer too. but when i run super duper, permissions seem to
get fixed. right now, there is some problem with compatibility
between super duper and leopard. they're working on that.

thanks.

jim:

i didn't know the G5 could take an SATA drive. i don't know much
about them. how hard is it to install a drive?

thanks.


nicky

On Feb 1, 2008, at 8:23 AM, Jeffrey McPheeters wrote:

> You don't have to look at adding a hard drive as an investment in THAT
> machine. Leave the 80. Get a 500 or 750GB drive if you want, anything
> big enough, and make the new larger drive the boot drive with all your
> stuff. Keep the 80 around for overflow and critical backup stuff. When
> you are ready to buy a new machine, take the BIG drive and put it in
> the new machine and you are ready to go, albeit you'll want to upgrade
> some software to Universial or Intel versions if needed. Then
> reinstall the original system software on the 80GB and sell the G5 or
> do whatever you were planning on doing with it in the first place.

thanks for the suggestion. i've always given away my old computers,
but i'm thinking of selling this one.


nicky

Jeffrey McPheeters wrote:
> You don't have to look at adding a hard drive as an investment in THAT
> machine. Leave the 80. Get a 500 or 750GB drive if you want, anything
> big enough, and make the new larger drive the boot drive with all your
> stuff. Keep the 80 around for overflow and critical backup stuff. When
> you are ready to buy a new machine, take the BIG drive and put it in
> the new machine and you are ready to go, albeit you'll want to upgrade
> some software to Universial or Intel versions if needed. Then
> reinstall the original system software on the 80GB and sell the G5 or
> do whatever you were planning on doing with it in the first place.

I'm going to have to agree with Jeff here. It would not be a lost
investment. Installing an internal disk is not much harder than
installing RAM. It's all plug-and-play.

http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-55170.html

hi guys,

i took your advice and ordered a 750 g hard drive for my computer. it
should solve the problem thanks for all your help. now all i have to
worry about is installing it.

nicky

Hi Nicky,

Easing the installation of SATA Hard Drives is one of the several benefits that has come with the move to SATA from those ATA beasts. No jumpers to figure out and get right, no pins to get bent and once you discover what goes where, the cable connectors are quite robust and easier to attach.

Just remember that on the G5, the computer needs that plexiglass cover in place to guide the airflow and keep the processors cool -- so don't try to restart it without that cover in place and seated correctly.

I found that the most awkward part is figuring out how the guides behave to tuck the upper drive in under the casing. It is a clever design but a bit baffling until you see how they work.

Hope that helps,

John Wolff

Hamilton, New Zealand

On 1-Feb-2008, at 06:23, Nicky Y. Schleider wrote:
> i guess i'm really leary of trying to install a hard drive. i've
> installed memory, and i installed a pci card in one computer. i don't
> know if i can manage a hard drive.


The SATA drives are a much easier install than RAM or a PCI card.

Slide out the tray, loosen the screws a tad, put the drive on the
tray, tighten the screws, slide the tray in.

i want to thank all you guys who have given me some info on the
installation of the hard drive.

nicky

Lewis Butler wrote:

"The SATA drives are a much easier install than RAM or a PCI card.

Slide out the tray, loosen the screws a tad, put the drive on the tray, tighten the screws, slide the tray in."

I suspect that Lewis is referring to the Mac Pro, where the drive trays are indeed svelte, rather than the G5.

John Wolff

At 6:52 AM -0800 2/4/08, LewisGmail wrote:
>Slide out the tray, loosen the screws a tad, put the drive on the
>tray, tighten the screws, slide the tray in.

        With the earlier G5 towers that I am familiar with is even easier
than that as there is not even a tray. You unscrew the four rubber screws
that Apple stores beside the drive region and screw them into the sides of
the drive - they act as guides to slide the drive into the slots of the
case. You then slide the drive into the slot and connect the power cable
and the SATA cable, and flip the little holder over so that the drive does
not slide out again.

        If you want to take out the original drive which is mounted above
the empty slot, it needs to slide out and down a bit.

        Sometimes the power and SATA cables get a bit in the way, so it can
be a bit fiddley to slide the drive past them, but not really difficult in
any major way.

        Apple has information here about the machine linked below, and
links to the do-it-yourself pages that used to give details about how to
install stuff like this, but now the DIY page redirects to the "Online
Service Assistant" which doesn't seem to ever get to those instructions.

<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86790>

--
* Johann Beda - contact link: <http://xri.net/=j-beda> *
* Johann's MostlyMac Computer Consulting - <http://mmcc.beda.ca/> *