Panther Install Erase One Partiton

I have an iBook Clamshell that I want to install Panther on the partition that has OS X 10.1 now. The other partition has OS 9.2.2 and it seems to be giving me some trouble. Can I erase the OS 9 partition with disk utility, then install Panther on the 10.1 partition using upgrade install or archive and install? Or should I unpartition the HD before installing Panther? I'm very new to Macs (this is my first), so I really don't want to this up. Also, I've never installed an OS on any computer.

clamshell

bpl323 said:

If you're new to installing OSs the very first thing I would do is back up absolutely anything you wouldn't want to loose.

That said--are you sure you have two partitions on this disk? Usually (in my experience) OS9 is installed as a "classic environment" not a partition.

The easiest way to upgrade would just be to pop in Panther and upgrade (vs. erase and install).

Click to expand...

I backed up yesterday to a thumb drive, even things I thought I might want or need.

When I look at disk utility, it shows two parts to the HD which also show up on the desktop, one called Macintosh HD and one called iBook. Added together they equal 6GB. The OS 9 is on the smaller iBook partition,but when OS X 10.1 boots up (my startup disk), OS 9 then also boots next in Classic environment (I think this is because I have some OS 9 programs on the desktop.). I can also change startup disk to iBook and boot right into OS 9.

I'm glad the upgrade is easier, and I'm hoping I can treat the stuff on the OS X 10.1 partition as files that will be upgraded by the install. I'm just not sure what will happen to the other partition if it is erased first. I'm guessing the install disk will treat both partitions as one HD. Does an erased disk have to be put into a certain format before using again (also hoping install disk will do this for me)?