If I boot up from the install disk on an iBook G4 and partition its hard drive, will it completely erase everything on the HD?
Thanks, jrsx
Thanks, jrsx
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iBook G4 partition
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No it won't, unless you change the partition scheme. I would recommend doing the partitioning if the iBook HDD in Target Disk mode though. It's faster that way.
Depending on which version of Mac OS X you are booted it from, it may. I believe it was with some version of 10.4 that Mac OS X got the ability to partition and resize partitions without erasing the disk. But if you have the Mac OS 9 drivers installed on that disc, the drive must always be erased if you are to partition or resize the drive.
I have Classic Support installed, which I do use, but Disk Utility says their are no other partitions than the main one. I recently completely wiped the drive and installed Mac OS 10.4, too. Are those the drivers you are talking about? And if so, how can I partition the drive avoiding any data loss or erasing of?
Classic support and the OS 9 drivers are two different things and are not linked in any way. The OS 9 drivers are stored on 9 or 10 hidden partitions that total about 30MB of space at the front/top of the drive. You can see if they are installed by going to the partition tab for your internal hard drive and looking at the check box for OS 9 Drivers. If it is checked, they the drivers are installed and the drive cannot be changed without erasing it. If it is unchecked, they are not installed and the drive can be changed without erasing it as long as a proper version of Mac OS X does the partitioning.
Well, I went to disk utility and clicked on the partition tab of the 40GB drive like you said, but I saw no box for OS 9 drivers installed. Also, I am on a G4, and OS 9 cannot be installed, it is impossible. So would their really be OS 9 drivers anyway?
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Uhhhhh...I'm very confused. If there is no OS 9 drivers, what else could wipe it without me wanting it to? Is there any way to simply split the drive into two 20 GB volumes without data loss?
What do I have to do to partition the drive? All I want is a blank 20 GB volume on the other half. Simple. What do I do?
I am running 10.4.11, but the only install disks I have are the original 10.4.2.
RedCroissant said something about partitioning in target disk mode. What is this and how do I use it?
Hey JRSX,
TDM is a way to make the machine you're using appear as an external HDD on another Mac. This way, partitioning works faster and is normally easier since you're not using the limited resources of the machine that want to partition.
If you have other Mac, great. If not, then using TDM really isn't an option. If you have another Mac with either a FW 400 or 800 port, then it's easy.
Shut down the iBook and connect the two Mac with a firewire cable. Once that's done, power on the iBook and hold down "T" until you see the Firewire symbol nice and huge floating around on a blue screen.
Then on the other Mac, you should see the Firewire HDD icon appear on your desktop and then use disk utility to partition it the way you want.
Unfortunately, I don't have another mac.
So, if my mac does support non-destructive disk partitioning, am I able to create another volume, then?
So, if my mac does support non-destructive disk partitioning, am I able to create another volume, then?
No worries. If you're running 10.4.11, then you should be able to do it no problem. Plus, Disk Utility will tell you what it's doing when you try to partition the HDD anyway.
when you add a partition, DU will tell you :
Partition Disk
"Partitioning this disk will change some of the volumes. No volumes will be erased."
This volume will be added: "Name of partition"
This volume will be resized: "Name of partition"
Are you sure you wish to partition the disk ".................."?
If it doesn't say that, it will tell you something else and will warn you and then you can always revert back to the current configuration with no loss of information.
It should be fine. I've partitioned drives after booting from it and through TDM, so it should be fine. As long as you have the space available, then there shouldn't be a problem.
Cool! Thanks! But also the disks are for 10.4.2, and I have 10.4.11 installed. I heard you have to have 10.4.5 + disks to partition without erasing. true?
I don't think so. Since you have 10.4.11 installed, you shouldn't need the discs at all. Just open disc utility after you boot and do it there.
The only reason it wouldn't work is if there is no actual free space on the drive.
The problem is: you can't do it straight from disk utility. I think you have to boot up from the disks if you want to partition. see:
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Also, how do I mark a partition as the main boot partition, so it boots that partition as default, always, instead of going to startup disk and manually selecting the startup disk each time?