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Question Profile
| DATE | Nov 17, 2007 |
| TICKET | #335042 |
| STATUS | Closed |
| SUBJECT | Replace Hard Drive and RAM |
| CAT | Computers, Operating Systems, Applications or Connected Devices |
| TYPE | Computer Hardware (RAM, Drives, Video Cards, Motherbaord, CPU, etc) |
| DESC | Memory |
| DESC | |
| PLATFORM | Apple Macintosh (PowerPC G3,G4,G5) |
| MODEL | iMac G5 |
| PROC | 2.0 ghz |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| DRIVE | 250 GB |
| NAME | Matthew |
| USERNAME | menenbach1 |
| TECHNICAL | Little Experience |
| ISSUE | Need Advice |
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> Replace Hard Drive and RAM
menenbach1 - Nov 17, 2007 - 11:42 am
I have a iMac G5, 2.0 ghz with 1 GB (1 slot) of RAM and 250 GB hard drive. I have noticed that every now and again my computer freezes and my hard drive is clicking. Obviously, there is a problem with my hard drive. I typically run disk utility and repair any disk problems, but it persists.
Here is what I would like to do: (1) Replace my hard drive; (2) upgrade my RAM to 2GB; (3) back up all my data so I can put it back on my new hard drive.
Questions:
(1) My current hard drive is 250 GB Maxtor 7Y250M0 -- do you have a suggestion on the hard drive I should purchase? I was thinking of all getting more than 250 GB. Where can I purchase your suggestion?
(2) What RAM should I purchase? I researched and found 1 GB DDR 400 PC3200. That should work, right?
(3) Before I switch out the hard drives, how do I go about making sure I can keep all my data? I have an external hard drive... what do I copy over? Then, afterI replace the hard drive, and reinstall my OS, how do I go about putting everything back on my new hard drive?
Thank you for your assistance.
Here is what I would like to do: (1) Replace my hard drive; (2) upgrade my RAM to 2GB; (3) back up all my data so I can put it back on my new hard drive.
Questions:
(1) My current hard drive is 250 GB Maxtor 7Y250M0 -- do you have a suggestion on the hard drive I should purchase? I was thinking of all getting more than 250 GB. Where can I purchase your suggestion?
(2) What RAM should I purchase? I researched and found 1 GB DDR 400 PC3200. That should work, right?
(3) Before I switch out the hard drives, how do I go about making sure I can keep all my data? I have an external hard drive... what do I copy over? Then, afterI replace the hard drive, and reinstall my OS, how do I go about putting everything back on my new hard drive?
Thank you for your assistance.
Serenak - Nov 17, 2007 - 8:23 pm
Hello Matthew
thanks for choosing to use macosx.com and I will try to help you.
Yes I agree that any "clicking" HDD should be swapped out ASAP
Let's tackle this in stages...
Upgrading the RAM is easy - just buy from a reputable company (Crucial or Kingston are good) and make sure you know exactly what RAM you require - MacTracker suggests that if you have an iSight built in you need 240pin PC2-4200 (533) DDR2 SDRAM or if you don't the RAM you suggested.
Changing the HD is not too hard on the early G5s - it gets harder on later models - if you have an iSight this may not be easy at home - if you have the pre iSight like I had then it is easy.
Any reputable brand is fine - just buy online and look for disk names you recognise... I am in the UK so I cannot comment on US sellers. Here ebuyer.com is very good for such things.
How to back up - I recommend either the well known Carbon Copy Cloner free here http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html or shirt pocket's SuperDuper! here http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDup...scription.html (free demo available that will do the basics you need...)
Preferably the external HD should be empty for the following or be partitioned so you can have a clean partition.. Clone your drive with either of the above tools making sure you have made a bootable copy... (this may take some time...) once it is finished test that you can boot from the External - it has to work or you culd get into trouble.
Once you are happy that you can boot from the external swap out the current drive for whatever you have purchased and then reboot the Mac from the external - nothing should have changed except you have a big empty internal HD now
, Now clone the external HD back to the new big internal and you are away... No reinstalling no mucking about - just no more clicking HD...
Hope that helps
thanks for choosing to use macosx.com and I will try to help you.
Yes I agree that any "clicking" HDD should be swapped out ASAP
Let's tackle this in stages...
Upgrading the RAM is easy - just buy from a reputable company (Crucial or Kingston are good) and make sure you know exactly what RAM you require - MacTracker suggests that if you have an iSight built in you need 240pin PC2-4200 (533) DDR2 SDRAM or if you don't the RAM you suggested.
Changing the HD is not too hard on the early G5s - it gets harder on later models - if you have an iSight this may not be easy at home - if you have the pre iSight like I had then it is easy.
Any reputable brand is fine - just buy online and look for disk names you recognise... I am in the UK so I cannot comment on US sellers. Here ebuyer.com is very good for such things.
How to back up - I recommend either the well known Carbon Copy Cloner free here http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html or shirt pocket's SuperDuper! here http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDup...scription.html (free demo available that will do the basics you need...)
Preferably the external HD should be empty for the following or be partitioned so you can have a clean partition.. Clone your drive with either of the above tools making sure you have made a bootable copy... (this may take some time...) once it is finished test that you can boot from the External - it has to work or you culd get into trouble.
Once you are happy that you can boot from the external swap out the current drive for whatever you have purchased and then reboot the Mac from the external - nothing should have changed except you have a big empty internal HD now
, Now clone the external HD back to the new big internal and you are away... No reinstalling no mucking about - just no more clicking HD...Hope that helps
menenbach1 - Nov 19, 2007 - 11:16 am
Thank you for your help. I do not have an iSight, so I am hoping I can do this myself. Last night, I purchased 1GB RAM, and a 320 Western Digital HDD. I wanted to buy more space; however, I wanted to make sure I purchased a HDD that is known to work in an iMac G5. I checked a forum and it suggested the Western Digital HD 320G|WD 7K 16M SATA2 WD3200AAKS - OEM. Hopefully it works out.
Obviously, my biggest fear is losing all of my information. Would it make sense for my to partition my 500GB external drive. Mirror my current HDD on one partition and back up other folders such as My Music, My Photos, My Documents, etc... on the other partition? That way, if I cannot re-clone my new hard-drive I can do an install? Thoughts?
On another note, I have never booted from an external drive before, how do I go about doing that?
Lastly, the two cloning programs you suggested... will they assist me in putting the clone drive back onto my new hard drive?
I appreciate your help.
Obviously, my biggest fear is losing all of my information. Would it make sense for my to partition my 500GB external drive. Mirror my current HDD on one partition and back up other folders such as My Music, My Photos, My Documents, etc... on the other partition? That way, if I cannot re-clone my new hard-drive I can do an install? Thoughts?
On another note, I have never booted from an external drive before, how do I go about doing that?
Lastly, the two cloning programs you suggested... will they assist me in putting the clone drive back onto my new hard drive?
I appreciate your help.
menenbach1 - Nov 19, 2007 - 3:13 pm
I have also been told that you cannot boot from a USB external drive? Is this correct? I am planning on buying an external drive on Friday... I want to make sure I purchase one that willg et what I want accomplished?
Would it make more sense to just copy the files I need and re-install everything? If yes -- what do I specifically need to copy onto my external drive?
Would it make more sense to just copy the files I need and re-install everything? If yes -- what do I specifically need to copy onto my external drive?
Serenak - Nov 19, 2007 - 4:52 pm
Hello Matthew
Quite a lot of questions in there so I will try to tackle them one at a time
Firstly the safest way to protect your data is to make a full clone onto a clean drive or partition one clone will copy the complete contents of the drive. System, Users, Data, everything. So once you have a clone somewhere your data is preserved. There is not any requirement to make a clone and also backup your data - though you may if you are very very cautious.
To boot from an attached bootable drive you start up holding down the Alt key - after a while you will get a screen showing bootable systems available. You click on the one representing the external and it should boot. I do not think you can boot from USB drives these days - though some older Macs could.
For a new external go for a firewire drive - not only will it be a bootable drive but it will be a faster option too.
Personally I would follow this procedure - clone the current drive onto your nice new FW drive. (also onto your older external too if you wish - if there is data on the older external you could make a "sparse image" which is not a bootable image but will prevent it getting mixed up with anything already on the older external)
Boot the Mac from the FW drive by setting the startup disk to the external in the System Preferences or by using the Alt key method to make sure it works.
Now I would disassemble the Mac and fit the new HD and the RAM following instructions you have. Reassemble the Mac and attach the FW external.
Boot the Mac - it is probable that it will find the external and boot from it anyway as the only viable OS - if not use the Alt key technique. Now using CCC or SuperDuper! or whatever other tool you used simply reverse the clone selecting the External as the source and the new internal as the Target. Once this is done set the startup disk back to the internal and boot the Mac..
If all has gone according to plan the Mac will now be exactly as you left it but have more RAM and a bigger new HD (and you have a great backup on your external FW drive.)
The alternative option is to do a clean install on to the internal HD from your original disks and then migrate the old user account(s) and Applications etc. back from your FW drive when the setup assistant prompts you to do so.
Either of these is perfectly valid - personally I would not bother with the second unless I had any reason to think the OS needed "cleaning".
Hope that is clear - sorry my replies are not always prompt, I am in the UK so sometimes the time difference affects it
Quite a lot of questions in there so I will try to tackle them one at a time
Firstly the safest way to protect your data is to make a full clone onto a clean drive or partition one clone will copy the complete contents of the drive. System, Users, Data, everything. So once you have a clone somewhere your data is preserved. There is not any requirement to make a clone and also backup your data - though you may if you are very very cautious.
To boot from an attached bootable drive you start up holding down the Alt key - after a while you will get a screen showing bootable systems available. You click on the one representing the external and it should boot. I do not think you can boot from USB drives these days - though some older Macs could.
For a new external go for a firewire drive - not only will it be a bootable drive but it will be a faster option too.
Personally I would follow this procedure - clone the current drive onto your nice new FW drive. (also onto your older external too if you wish - if there is data on the older external you could make a "sparse image" which is not a bootable image but will prevent it getting mixed up with anything already on the older external)
Boot the Mac from the FW drive by setting the startup disk to the external in the System Preferences or by using the Alt key method to make sure it works.
Now I would disassemble the Mac and fit the new HD and the RAM following instructions you have. Reassemble the Mac and attach the FW external.
Boot the Mac - it is probable that it will find the external and boot from it anyway as the only viable OS - if not use the Alt key technique. Now using CCC or SuperDuper! or whatever other tool you used simply reverse the clone selecting the External as the source and the new internal as the Target. Once this is done set the startup disk back to the internal and boot the Mac..
If all has gone according to plan the Mac will now be exactly as you left it but have more RAM and a bigger new HD (and you have a great backup on your external FW drive.)
The alternative option is to do a clean install on to the internal HD from your original disks and then migrate the old user account(s) and Applications etc. back from your FW drive when the setup assistant prompts you to do so.
Either of these is perfectly valid - personally I would not bother with the second unless I had any reason to think the OS needed "cleaning".
Hope that is clear - sorry my replies are not always prompt, I am in the UK so sometimes the time difference affects it
menenbach1 - Nov 19, 2007 - 7:04 pm
Thank you so m uch for your response. This really helps me. Make much more sense now. Last couple questions and hopefully I will be good to go...
(1) You mentioned ... if you had a reason the OS needed "cleaning." What did you mean by that?
(2) Does the fact that I have "clicking" -- have any effect on making the clone?
(3) The old HDD -- if something goes horribly wrong... can I put it back in and all will be fine? Or is it pretty much a done deal when I take it out?
Thank you so much for your help.
Matthew
(1) You mentioned ... if you had a reason the OS needed "cleaning." What did you mean by that?
(2) Does the fact that I have "clicking" -- have any effect on making the clone?
(3) The old HDD -- if something goes horribly wrong... can I put it back in and all will be fine? Or is it pretty much a done deal when I take it out?
Thank you so much for your help.
Matthew
Serenak - Nov 19, 2007 - 7:32 pm
Matthew
1) well by "needing cleaning" I meant if your OS has been misbehaving in any way (persistent permissions problems, applications losing their prefs etc.) - if it has been operating fine then you do not need to worry about that.
2) Not unless you have been having obvious disk faults... A clicking drive is not good and may fail at some time soon (then again it may go on for ages merrily clicking away without any obvious problem - depends on why it is clicking... but prevention is better than cure and clicking is never a good thing). Even if you have, a clone operation will report any faults to you - "x file could not be copied" etc. and even an imperfect clone is better than none. If your clone reports problems elating to the System files use option 2... However if you Mac is currently operating fine the likelihood of this is very very small.
3) None of these procedures touch your current drive - it could be refitted and all would be as if you never changed it... (you could always buy an external enclosure and fit it into that and make it into an external if you so wished...) Imagine copying a CD - you get a copy of the CD, but the original is untouched, this is what cloning does to a HD - cloning is used because the special permissions on system files (and a lot of system files themselves) cannot be copied via "drag and drop" so a cloning tool is required to do this (basically it accesses special "root" commands to copy stuff)
You will be fine - I know if you have never tackled this stuff before it can be a bit scary and no one wants to end up with dead drives and lost data... But once you have done it successfully you will have moved a step up the "tech ladder"
Let me know how it goes ...
1) well by "needing cleaning" I meant if your OS has been misbehaving in any way (persistent permissions problems, applications losing their prefs etc.) - if it has been operating fine then you do not need to worry about that.
2) Not unless you have been having obvious disk faults... A clicking drive is not good and may fail at some time soon (then again it may go on for ages merrily clicking away without any obvious problem - depends on why it is clicking... but prevention is better than cure and clicking is never a good thing). Even if you have, a clone operation will report any faults to you - "x file could not be copied" etc. and even an imperfect clone is better than none. If your clone reports problems elating to the System files use option 2... However if you Mac is currently operating fine the likelihood of this is very very small.
3) None of these procedures touch your current drive - it could be refitted and all would be as if you never changed it... (you could always buy an external enclosure and fit it into that and make it into an external if you so wished...) Imagine copying a CD - you get a copy of the CD, but the original is untouched, this is what cloning does to a HD - cloning is used because the special permissions on system files (and a lot of system files themselves) cannot be copied via "drag and drop" so a cloning tool is required to do this (basically it accesses special "root" commands to copy stuff)
You will be fine - I know if you have never tackled this stuff before it can be a bit scary and no one wants to end up with dead drives and lost data... But once you have done it successfully you will have moved a step up the "tech ladder"
Let me know how it goes ...
Serenak - Nov 19, 2007 - 7:35 pm
P.S. I am going off to bed now - it is midnight 30 here... i will be back online at about 9am UK time.
menenbach1 - Nov 20, 2007 - 9:29 am
Every now and then, I do have permission problems. the permission problems habitate my optical drive and iTunes. Should I do a clean install instead?
If yes -- do a clean install -- obviously I will not do a clone. What folders should I backup?
Thanks for your help.
PS Any suggestions on external drives? A Seagate w/ 500GB will be on sale on Friday in my hometown ($99 US), but it is not Firewire.
If yes -- do a clean install -- obviously I will not do a clone. What folders should I backup?
Thanks for your help.
PS Any suggestions on external drives? A Seagate w/ 500GB will be on sale on Friday in my hometown ($99 US), but it is not Firewire.
Serenak - Nov 20, 2007 - 11:15 am
Matthew occasional permission problems are minor and I would not consider that reason to do a Clean Install - in the end only you know how happy you are with the way the Mac is running.
Even if you decide that you are going to do a clean install I would still make a full clone of the disk - it is a lot easier than messing about and worrying over what you should and should not back up...
Any decent branded External drive would be good - remember you have to have FW if you want to boot from it - of course if you decide to do a Clean install that is not necessary. Even so I think you would be best advised to look at a FW drive.
Even if you decide that you are going to do a clean install I would still make a full clone of the disk - it is a lot easier than messing about and worrying over what you should and should not back up...
Any decent branded External drive would be good - remember you have to have FW if you want to boot from it - of course if you decide to do a Clean install that is not necessary. Even so I think you would be best advised to look at a FW drive.
menenbach1 - Nov 20, 2007 - 11:43 am
Thanks for your assistance. I should have everything by tomorrow night. Going to try all this on Thursday and Friday. I will let you know how it goes. I appreciate your help.
menenbach1 - Nov 21, 2007 - 12:19 pm
Got the external hard drive this morning... waiting for the rest to come. Probably will embark on this endeavor tomorrow or Friday...
menenbach1 - Nov 21, 2007 - 10:58 pm
Ok. Almost done... ran into one problem. Downloaded Carbon Copy. Made a clone of my hard drive. Was able to boot from the external drive. Installed new RAM. Installed new hard drive. Rebooted from external drive. Can see new hard drive in disk utility. I open Carbon Cloner. It does not see the new hard drive to allow me to clone back to my new internal hard drive.
Thoughts? Thanks.
Thoughts? Thanks.
menenbach1 - Nov 21, 2007 - 11:09 pm
To give you a little bit more information:
After I booted and my desktop was all running... the following dialogue box appears:
Disk Insertion -- the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. It then gives me 3 options: (1) Initialize (2) Ignore (3) Cancel.
I clicked initialize and it brought me to disk utility. I click on the new hard drive in the far left. In some of the information it states: Unformatted. DO I need to format the hard drive? Is that my problem? If so, how do I do that? Could there be another problem?
I appreciate your help. I almost did it all by myself!
After I booted and my desktop was all running... the following dialogue box appears:
Disk Insertion -- the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. It then gives me 3 options: (1) Initialize (2) Ignore (3) Cancel.
I clicked initialize and it brought me to disk utility. I click on the new hard drive in the far left. In some of the information it states: Unformatted. DO I need to format the hard drive? Is that my problem? If so, how do I do that? Could there be another problem?
I appreciate your help. I almost did it all by myself!
Serenak - Nov 22, 2007 - 4:08 am
Well done - Matthew, almost there...
Sorry I was away last night (local) -
Anyway YES you need to format the drive from Disk Utility
Select the volume (please be sure to select the correct one....) and click the Erase Tab/Button
Select Mac HFS+ (Journalled) in the drop down
Do it...
Profit...
Then you should be good to go.
Enjoy your "new Mac
Sorry I was away last night (local) -
Anyway YES you need to format the drive from Disk Utility
Select the volume (please be sure to select the correct one....) and click the Erase Tab/Button
Select Mac HFS+ (Journalled) in the drop down
Do it...
Profit...
Then you should be good to go.
Enjoy your "new Mac
menenbach1 - Nov 22, 2007 - 8:50 am
Two things:
(1) When you caution me to chose the correct volume, I assume you mean "Don't pick my external hard drive"
(2) I go to the ERASE tab and here are my choices: (a) MAC OS Extended (Journaled) (b) MAC OS Extended (c) MAC OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled); (d) MAC OS Extended (Case-sensitive); (e) MS-DOS File System; and (f) UNOX File System.
I assume I pick MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and then select ERASE... correct?
Do I bother with the security options?
Thanks.
(1) When you caution me to chose the correct volume, I assume you mean "Don't pick my external hard drive"
(2) I go to the ERASE tab and here are my choices: (a) MAC OS Extended (Journaled) (b) MAC OS Extended (c) MAC OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled); (d) MAC OS Extended (Case-sensitive); (e) MS-DOS File System; and (f) UNOX File System.
I assume I pick MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and then select ERASE... correct?
Do I bother with the security options?
Thanks.
Serenak - Nov 22, 2007 - 8:59 am
Yup don't try to erase the external...
Yes select Mac OS Extended (aka HFS+) Journaled and erase...
No need to worry about the security options - they are to do with securely erasing old data... nothing on the drive, so nothing to worry about.
OK
Go tiger go...
Yes select Mac OS Extended (aka HFS+) Journaled and erase...
No need to worry about the security options - they are to do with securely erasing old data... nothing on the drive, so nothing to worry about.
OK
Go tiger go...
menenbach1 - Nov 22, 2007 - 9:10 am
Two things:
(1) When you caution me to chose the correct volume, I assume you mean "Don't pick my external hard drive"
(2) I go to the ERASE tab and here are my choices: (a) MAC OS Extended (Journaled) (b) MAC OS Extended (c) MAC OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled); (d) MAC OS Extended (Case-sensitive); (e) MS-DOS File System; and (f) UNOX File System.
I assume I pick MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and then select ERASE... correct?
Do I bother with the security options?
Thanks.
(1) When you caution me to chose the correct volume, I assume you mean "Don't pick my external hard drive"
(2) I go to the ERASE tab and here are my choices: (a) MAC OS Extended (Journaled) (b) MAC OS Extended (c) MAC OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled); (d) MAC OS Extended (Case-sensitive); (e) MS-DOS File System; and (f) UNOX File System.
I assume I pick MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and then select ERASE... correct?
Do I bother with the security options?
Thanks.
menenbach1 - Nov 22, 2007 - 9:13 am
Ok... so it is now cloning back to my new HDD. Were are moving along!
What should I do w/ my new external when I am done? It obviously takes forever to make a clone... so I just do regular backups for now on? I would like to use the external as a hard drive and to back things up... would I need a partition to do that? If I partition, if I want to clone in the future, I would lose everything on the external, right?
Just looking for some suggestions... thanks!
What should I do w/ my new external when I am done? It obviously takes forever to make a clone... so I just do regular backups for now on? I would like to use the external as a hard drive and to back things up... would I need a partition to do that? If I partition, if I want to clone in the future, I would lose everything on the external, right?
Just looking for some suggestions... thanks!
TechSupport - Nov 25, 2007 - 5:00 pm
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Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:
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menenbach1 - Nov 25, 2007 - 5:00 pm
What should I do w/ my new external when I am done? It obviously takes forever to make a clone... should I just do regular backups for now on? I would like to use the external as a hard drive and to back things up... would I need a partition to do that? If I partition, if I want to clone in the future, I would lose everything on the external, right?
Just looking for some suggestions... thanks!
Just looking for some suggestions... thanks!
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