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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Need Advice on Installing External Hard Drive

Saccharin - Feb 18, 2006 - 6:41 pm

Hello.

I just purchased a new Seagate 250 GB external Firewire hard drive for use with my iMac. I have a few questions:

One is that I would like to know exactly what it is I need to do to get my computer to recognize it.

The other is I would like to know which drive I should install Tiger on. I already have it installed on my iMac but it only has a 10 GB hard drive. Add in the programs for it and almost half of my drive is taken up. My computer is starting to get really slow.

If I decide to install Tiger on my external could someone give me a walkthrough on how to do it without losing any items I currently have on my iMac? What is the best option for what I would like to accomplish?

Thank you for your time.

one1step1 - Feb 18, 2006 - 7:22 pm

What happens when you plug in the Firewire drive? Do you get a disk icon at all on your Mac?

Do this, open Disk Utility (Utilities->Disk Utility)
It should list any drives you have. If you see the new drive, click on it (be very sure it's not your current disk!!!( , and then from the tabs on the right, choose 'Partition', from the 'Volume Scheme' menu, choose 1 partition (if thats how you want it). T
hen under Volume informations area, for
Name: Macintosh HD
Format: Mac OS Extended (journaled)
and the size will probably be in there for you already. Then click on the 'Partition' button.

Let me know if this helps!
-Jonathan

Visit me online
~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.thinkmac.net
Mac Tips Daily! Podcast
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Saccharin - Feb 18, 2006 - 9:51 pm

Will this move my current Mac HD to the Seagate? If I do this, what should I use the Mac HD for, if anything?

one1step1 - Feb 18, 2006 - 9:59 pm

No, that won't move it. You need to go through some additional steps, but you first need to get to this point. I'll outline the add'l points once you get the drive working.
Let me know if that worked for you.
Thanks,
jonathan

Saccharin - Feb 18, 2006 - 10:29 pm

Ok, I'll let you know when it arrives.

Thanks for your help.

Saccharin - Feb 19, 2006 - 8:25 pm

I just had one more question before I do this. Is it a better idea to put my Mac HD stuff (Tiger, apps, etc) on my new Seagate? And if I do, what should I use my iMac drive for, if anything?

Thanks.

one1step1 - Feb 19, 2006 - 8:40 pm

Yes, I would use the new drive for everything, it will be as fast, if not faster. After you get the new drive up and running with Mac OS X and all of your stuff on it, then I would take the 10gb internal drive, and erase it, and reinstall Mac OS X on that as well. This serves two purposes (more than that actually, but I am only going to list two ;-). One, you will always have a drive to boot off of, if anything goes wrong with your external drive. Two, when you need to troubleshoot something, you can always boot into the 10gb drive and see if you Mac is having the same trouble. Since the drives and OS installs are separate, you will be able to solve a lot of problems with the process of elimination.

I looked at your system profile, and it looks as if you only have 256MB of memory. Additional memory will speed up your mac more times over than a new hard drive. You should upgrade OS X to at least 512MB to make it usable, and 1GB if you can.

Saccharin - Feb 19, 2006 - 9:47 pm

Thanks for the advice Jonathan.

I have already upgraded my memory once (it only came with 64MB!). I suppose it's time to do it again. I believe the max amount of RAM I can install is 512MB. But I think I read somewhere that I could install up to 1GB if I used a special kind on RAM chip. Do you know what kind this is?

one1step1 - Feb 19, 2006 - 9:52 pm

Not really sure, but you could go to http://www.macsales.com or http://www.transintl.com and find your mac, and you should be able to discern what kind of ram you need. You can probably call the toll free number and talk to a tech. I trust both of these companies very much, and only buy my Ram from them. If you could get to 512MB you would notice a marked improvement.. not so much after 512MB unless you are running a bunch of programs at the same time. But 512MB will get you to about your top speed.

Let me know what you find out.

-jonathan

Saccharin - Feb 20, 2006 - 3:03 pm

I checked it out and went ahead and ordered 1GB of memory. I figured I'd just go ahead and max it out.

I will let you know when the Seagate arrives.

Thank you.

Saccharin - Feb 22, 2006 - 3:15 pm

Hello Jonathan.

The Seagate arrived today and I installed it. I did everything you mentioned in your first reply. I am awaiting your further instruction.

Thanks.

one1step1 - Feb 22, 2006 - 7:26 pm

Great - glad it arrived.

You can do this a couple ways -- 1.) A Clean install of OSX, and then use the migration assistant to transfer your accounts and data over (you will lose some items - maybe an app or two, and printers and such, but no big deal. 2.) Copy the 10GB drive to your 250MB Drive, and then boot from the 250GB drive, since it will be a duplicate of your old one.

If you want to go with #1, which is how I would do it, but it takes a few more steps. Or , you can do #2, and here is a link to an article on how to do it.
http://www.digital501.com/2006021110/mac-backup-osx/

They call it a hot swappable, but it does the same thing, just don't pay any attention to the user comments below the article. Just follow the instructions precisely, and you will be fine.

Before you do anything, repair Disk permissions on your current hard drive, and be sure to exit any applications you are currently running.

If you aren't familiar with that, here is a link to tell you how:
http://www.think-mac.net/blog/archiv...rmissions.html

Let me know how it goes! If you need any help, I am usually available on ichat, there is a link on my website, on the sidebar. http://www.thinkmac.net
good luck!
-jonathan

Saccharin - Feb 22, 2006 - 9:14 pm

Thanks for the info.

I probably won't be able to get to this until Friday, as I'll be glued to the TV watching the Olympics after work tomorrow.

I'll should be able to let you know something by the weekend.

Take care.

Saccharin - Feb 28, 2006 - 7:25 pm

Hi Jonathan.

I got an e-mail from macosx.com that stated this ticket is closed. I apologize for not getting back with you right away, as it has been a hectic weekend at work for me.

If for some reason we cannot continue this ticket, I will contact you via your web site or iChat if I need any further assistance. I have tomorrow off so I should be able to get this done then.

Take Care,
Jamie

one1step1 - Feb 28, 2006 - 7:50 pm

Not sure why they closed it, but I think if you reply it should still work.
You can contact me via this, or my web site, or ichat if I am around. Thanks,
Jonathan

TechSupport - Mar 3, 2006 - 8:30 pm

This ticket has been moved to the open forums for more exposure.

Please follow this link:

http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269141

Saccharin - Mar 12, 2006 - 7:42 pm

Hi Jonathan.

I've copied my Mac HD to the Seagate 250. Unfortunately, when I try to boot from the Seagate, I get nothing but a blank screen.

Thank you for your time.

one1step1 - Apr 8, 2006 - 6:25 pm

I wondered about this ticket-- they moved it.

Did you ever get this working?
Thanks,
jonathan

Saccharin - Apr 8, 2006 - 9:07 pm

Yeah, I got it working. However, I cannot boot from the drive. I've read that although some drives claim to be "Mac compatible", that doesn't necessarily mean that they're bootable. Is this true?

one1step1 - Apr 8, 2006 - 9:17 pm

Jamie,
Yes this is true. It depends on the firmware of the external enclosure. Also, are you sure it is a Firewire drive, and not a USB drive.?

I read that you copied it over with Super Duper.
How have you tried to boot the drive? Did you go to System Prefs->Startup Disk-> and then choose your external drive and choose Restart?

Thanks,
jonathan

Saccharin - Apr 9, 2006 - 5:08 am

Yes, it is a Firewire drive connected via Firewire cable. I also tried the "System Prefs->Startup Disk-> and then choose your external drive and choose Restart" thing several times and no luck.

one1step1 - Apr 9, 2006 - 10:09 pm

A couple things could have happened. 1. Your external firewire enclosure doesn't support it.
2. Something went wrong on the backup copy, something underlying you can't tell. If you haven't packed the drive with too much stuff yet, you could always try to reinstall OS X onto this external, and that will tell you for sure. If it doesn't work.. well, your drive probably doesn't support it.
At least you upgraded the memory, and that is going to give you the biggest performance boost.

-jonathan