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HELP! I ran out of room on my start up disk!

T

TIFFADEE

macrumors member
Original poster
I have a G4 2002 Quicksilver Power Mac. My ram is maxed out and I have 2 Hard Drives in it. I have my Tiger OS on the smaller HD and I have run out of space to even upgrade my software or add songs to my iTunes or Pix to my iPhoto.

I would like to move some stuff to the bigger HD (like the iTunes and iPhoto), but I don't know how to do it.

I am scared of screwing it all up!!!

I'm sure there are things I could trash too, but I don't know which things to discard.

Could you please help me? You guys know so much.

Should I upgrade the other HD to Tiger before I do anything and could I add Tiger without losing the OS9 system on it (partition)? How is it done? My husband uses microsoft word 98 on it.

Thank you so much.

Patti😕
 
before doing anything, download an app like 'WhatSize' onto a USB stick and run it from that to determine which file is taking up the most space. I had a similar problem where a file called console.log ended up being 150Gb (crazy, i know). Post the results if it is one file taking up most space.
 
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
I will do that now and see what I can make happen. I will get back to you.
Patti
😱
 
Things Got Worse!

My husband said that he knew what he was doing so instead of listening to you guys or reading instructions, he put the itunes folder from HD1 onto the desktop and then copied into HD2, which took 2 hours.

There was a message that all the files were unable to copy over. We couldn't shut down the computer.

This morning while I was asleep, he said he had a grey screen for 3 hours and when he could finally get the desktop up, HD2 wasn't showing up and then he did a desk utility verification on it and got an error on HD1 that needed repair, AND a fatal error on HD2 in red!!!
The HD1 wouldn't repair with the tiger disk in....

ARGH!!!

When I open up itunes, I can play a song, but then it freezes and I get the rainbow wheel. The same thing happens when I go into the itunes file in HD1 or HD2, it freezes and I get the rainbow wheel. I have to force quit. Everything I do that isn't on the internet freezes.

Except...

I tried to do a software update, but I got red exclamation points that told me that I obviously wasn't able to get the update on iphoto, itunes or security update. Then it frozeand I got the rainbow wheel and had to force quit out of software update.

The guy on the phone at applecare told me to reinstall tiger on HD1 with an archive and preserve user settings box checked. It didn't work. I got an error message and now applecare is closed til tomorrow.

I'm so frustrated. I guess I should go to bed and start fresh tomorrow morning hoping for a great answer from you all. I don't have to be at work til 2:15pm so I can call applecare again if need be.

I think I will have to bring the big ass thing into Apple to have them fix it. Unless you have any other suggestions.

Thanks again in advance.
Patti😕
 
First step is to ban the hubby from the computer.

I would be inclined to use the brute force method -- go out and buy a 120 GB IDE hard drive at your favorite seller, should be maybe $60.

Install that, jumpered as "Master" (change your former boot drive to "Slave" and leave it attached), Reboot from the Tiger CD and install Tiger on the new drive, use the migration assistant to import your user information from the former boot drive.
 
CanadaRAM said:
First step is to ban the hubby from the computer.

I would be inclined to use the brute force method -- go out and buy a 120 GB IDE hard drive at your favorite seller, should be maybe $60.

Install that, jumpered as "Master" (change your former boot drive to "Slave" and leave it attached), Reboot from the Tiger CD and install Tiger on the new drive, use the migration assistant to import your user information from the former boot drive.
Click to expand...

I second that. It's time for a clean sweep.
 
I think the most pressing issue here, is why did you marry an idiot who thought action was a better course of action than well thought out planning?

Must be a Bush 🙄
 
I am listening to you and he is officially banned!

Hello,

I am going to J & R tomorrow before work, to get a Western Digital 500GB IDE hard drive. (only $99.99)

On Saturday, I will be carefully cleaning the dust out of my MAC and installing the new hard drive and following your instructions to a "T". If there is anything I need to know please add it for me before then. My friend will help me.

When I did a verify disk thingy, I got error that my HD1 has an HFS volume error and it won't even take a disk repair or a software update and HD2 says S.M.A.R.T Failing in RED!!! However, I did get permissions repaired so I will try other things maybe....whadya think?

ARGH!

I have saved as much as I could fit GB wise on the desktop or on CD before it actually fails. Itunes still not working, and not all songs are going over to HD1, nor will it take a software update there.

I spoke to apple and they told me they can't/won't work on my computer cuz I put the HD2 in myself and the extra RAM so they won't touch it!
I am going to use this new HD as the start up disk and move everything over after I've installed my Tiger.

I hope it works out for me.

I can do this!!! I know I can...(ever feel like that little ole ant?)

Thanks for your support in my time of utter frustration. Hubby isn't allowed to do anything but email anymore.

Thanks again.
Patti
 
Move all your iTunes Library to the larger drive. The iTunes app still needs to be on your system drive, but this is what you should do:

1. Go to Home user ƒ /Music/iTunes
2. Locate the "iTunes Music" folder
3. Move THIS folder to your large drive.
4. Once the folder is moved over, trash the "iTunes Music" from the 1st drive
5. Find your "iTunes Music" folder that you just copied to your large drive. Click it and make an alias of the folder (you will later re-title the alias)
6. Move the alias to the iTunes folder on your home drive where you just deleted the folder from.
7. Title the folder alias as "iTunes Music" -- same as the original, but this is an alias, pointing your iTunes program to use the folder full of music on your large drive, where you have relocated your tunes.
8. Launch iTunes as usual -- all your Tunes should pop right up, but they are located on your other drive 🙂

Hope this helps
Good luck,
Ward
 
I Still Need Help...fast!!!!

So I went to J & R and bought the freakin' drive and 2 cans of air. I opened the computer up and cleaned it and loved it, then....I saw that in order to install a hard drive bigger than 137GB, I would need a ULTRA ATA/100 controller card.
So I missed J & R by 10 minutes, but made it to the mac store just in time to find out that they didn't have one, so they sent me to.....BROOKLYN!!!!! I went.....The guy on the phone knew what I wanted, I walked in and bought an ULTRA ATA/133 controller card and an extra ribbon cable (cuz I knew if I didn't get it, I'd need it) Turns out the CD won't install the driver for the card and the new 500GB hard drive is not being seen anywhere on my computer!!!!
What's a girl to do?
Believe it or not, I am a technician with a 1st class FCC licence for 28 years (that and a metrocard will get me a ride, not a driver).
So what do I do now?
Patti 🙁
 
Uhhh.. if your SMART readings are telling you there are serious issues, your drive is dying, and you need to pretty much copy whatever you can to a new drive. Buy a new 250 GB drive, they're cheap, and copy whatever you can. You're probably going to end up throwing out the old drive.
 
but i just bought a brand new 500gb hard drive and installed it. computer is not seeing it and then i bought the ata/133 controller card and cant install the driver for it cuz the cd is for pc not mac. doc says driver shouold be recognized by g4....nothing.
 
TIFFADEE said:
but i just bought a brand new 500gb hard drive and installed it. computer is not seeing it and then i bought the ata/133 controller card and cant install the driver for it cuz the cd is for pc not mac. doc says driver shouold be recognized by g4....nothing.
Click to expand...

Just grab a 120GB drive, and install it. The important thing right now is to get your files stored away safely.
 
sounds like you tried to install a PC ATA/133 controller in your mac. Not gonna work. buy a mac version like the Acard 6280M.

You can still format the 500GB drive with disk utility with your built-in controller. Only ~137GB will show up, though.
 
I uninstalled the f###ing card and put it back in the box and i'm going back to brooklyn tomorrow to exchange or return it for a mac card. thank you. I've been going nuts since 8pm! i sent them an email.
fyi...it was mikey's hook up on north 6th street in williamsburg.
 
TIFFADEE said:
but i just bought a brand new 500gb hard drive and installed it. computer is not seeing it and then i bought the ata/133 controller card and cant install the driver for it cuz the cd is for pc not mac. doc says driver shouold be recognized by g4....nothing.
Click to expand...

That's not how it works.

Your computer only has 36-bit address capabilities, true. But it will see up to 137 GB of your drive (1KB=1000; 128GB where 1KB=1024).

Your ATA controller card shouldn't really even need software... I've got an ATA/66 ACARD AHARD PCI card in this Beige G3, and it just recognized it when I plugged it in.

The trick behind the 137 GB limit is thus: the ATA/PCI cards for mac trick the computer into thinking they're SCSI controllers and SCSI hard drives... and SCSI drives don't have the 128 GB LBA-limit.

However! There is actually software to get you around that issue, without the need of hardware. And you cannot just put your old drive on a new card, because the drive must be formatted on the card.

I can't find the site with the software right now, though.
 
I had a G4/400 (upgraded to 1GHz) for awhile and installed several HDs in it through the years. Go to Other World Computing (OWC) - http://www.macsales.com

The G4 uses a standard ATA drive, not ATA/133, but it should be easy to find an internal HD on there that will work, for the older G4.

Your other option is to get a USB 2.0 PCI card (really cheap) and get a cheap external USB 2.0 HD (any of them will work)

OR

Get an external FireWire 400 drive. Either way, you shouldn't spend anymore than $150 - $175 to get a decent solution that will work. Your best bet for a boot drive is to find an internal ATA off OWC or any other Mac retailer that sells internal drives for older Macs. You just want to make sure it's not the newer SATA or SATA2 drive, because the older G4s don't use those.

Good luck!,
-Ward
 
and the saga continues...

Ok...

So...I awoke to a phone call from Mikey's Hook Up. They got my email.

They apologized for the mixup and said the ULTRA ATA/133 controller card should've worked even though the box said for windows. He said they have a Sonnettech one for double the price so I haggled with him, cuz of my time spent, yada, yada, yada...He said he would give it to me for cost so I went to Brooklyn again and he gave it to me for $80. (additional $30) ok.

I get home and open it up and there is a ribbon cable in the box. (so now I have an extra one...whatever!) I install it in the same pci slot that I tried last night. I hook the hard drive all up with the jumpers in setting choice #1 for master, close it up, plug it in and...no new drive....so I open it up and set the jumpers in setting choice #2 and close it up with all the mischigass, plug it in and again...no new drive.

I called the guy at the store and started to ask questions.

I kind of remembered that I had a high speed usb port hooked into that pci board and for some reason it worked with my daughter's shuffle but not my ipod, I had an idea that maybe it was the pci board so I switched the ULTRA ATA/133 controller card to a different pci board and did all that stuff again and.....

LO AND BEHOLD, I GOT THE WINDOW...

YA KNOW THE ONE?

THIS MAC IS SENSING THAT THERE IS A NEW DRIVE SHOULD I INITIALIZE IT?

I just about fell out of the chair. (My husband almost took the mouse and I told him to put it down! Do not touch!!!)

I initialized it and then I had to go to work.

I'm outta here at 10:15 and when I get home I am going to 1st install tiger on the new drive.

Apple told me that when I install the tiger a new itunes will install and ask me questions as to where to take my music from. (I hope my 5000 songs are still there. He never deleted them from there He just moved them around and pissed them off a little bit.)

Then...I'm gonna take Tominated's advice and get whatsize to see what can go away...
Then...I'm going to take Canadaram's advice and use migration assistant to import my user information from the old hard drive.

QUESTION FOR YOU??? When I'm done with all of that and getting all the stuff over I want from the original hard drive, do I erase and restore the original 60gb drive to get rid of that HFS volume error? and just use it as extra storage space?

I will let you know how I made out....but so far so good..I think...

Thanks again for all your comments. The hubby comments gave me good laughs and justification for my frustration with him. He TOTALLY took responsibility.

Thanks again!
Patti😱
 
WardC said:
Move all your iTunes Library to the larger drive. The iTunes app still needs to be on your system drive, but this is what you should do:

1. Go to Home user ƒ /Music/iTunes
2. Locate the "iTunes Music" folder
3. Move THIS folder to your large drive.
4. Once the folder is moved over, trash the "iTunes Music" from the 1st drive
5. Find your "iTunes Music" folder that you just copied to your large drive. Click it and make an alias of the folder (you will later re-title the alias)
6. Move the alias to the iTunes folder on your home drive where you just deleted the folder from.
7. Title the folder alias as "iTunes Music" -- same as the original, but this is an alias, pointing your iTunes program to use the folder full of music on your large drive, where you have relocated your tunes.
8. Launch iTunes as usual -- all your Tunes should pop right up, but they are located on your other drive 🙂

Hope this helps
Good luck,
Ward
Click to expand...

Why would you do all that? iTunes has a setting in the preferences which allows you to set the location of the iTunes music folder.
 
Hello, its me again.

Whenever I try to import or add to library with the file menu, for the itunes music folder, I get the rainbow wheel and I have to force quit.

Can I just try to open up the finder and physically take the folder out and put it on the desktop? Will that be ok?

I was able to move my photos and my playlists with the add to library (itunes playlist) and import (iphoto). That was good! Stopped kvetching for awhile.

Kinda frustrated again. Also, Migration assistant froze up on me too. My next task will be to move all my other stuff over so I can erase the other drive.

Is it possible to bring my netscape browser over with all the settings on it so my husband has his bookmarks?

Thanks.

Patti 😱
 
I'm still trying to move the music in my itunes. I keep freezing up here! I keep trying to do it by the book, but I can't get it to do it! rainbow beachball. I tried to do it again this evening and then I thought it was updating itunes on the old hard drive and then it was not responding. had to restart. such a pain in the ass. i cant consolidate the itunes library.
thanks
patti
🙁
 
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