I was planning on putting a new hard drive in my friends 233 mhz iMac. Since it only has a 4 Gig hard drive, more room is needed and externals are little pricy. Probably going to put a 40-80 gig hd in. How do you partition it, i read that if the hard drive is bigger then 4 gigs you have to partition it. I'm going to put 10.1 on it. So, anyone know how to do this?
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Putting a new hard drive in
- Thread starter JzzTrump22
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i don't think you have to partition it and I don't know where you got that information but if you still want to you would go into disk utility (it's in applications/utilites/) and you would click on the disk and then click on the partition bar. and you are going to have to partition it while it is not the boot volume so that means you need to boot from the cd.
I have read other threads that say that with the old imac you need to install OS X in a partition on the first 8GB of the drive and update all firmware updates BEFORE OS X installation. I think that there is also a limit on older macs to the size of disk that can be installed (or recognized) Possibly its 128GB. With your imac as it is, you might be able to make some space by removing all the additional printer drivers & language options that osx install by default.
evil_santa said:
Correct.
In older Macs you must install the OS in a partition within the first 8 GiB which translates to ~7.4GB. [Its a long story... don't ask. Just accept] 7400 MB should be your first partition in which you install OS X. The rest is where everything else goes.
The iMac has older chips and cannot see more than 128GB of a hard drive. Partitioning won't help here-- this is pure old fashioned technology at work. But an 80GB drive should be fine, and even a 60GB drive should work.
People have placed 7200 rpm drives in their iMacs before, no issues.
You will need to install all firmware updates before the OS X install/hard drive upgrades/etc.
Disk Utility is used.
When installing, it is under the Installer menu. (Installer->Disk Utility)
On a normal install of OS X it is in Applications->Utilities
Does anyone have a complete walkthrough on everything on the partition and updating the firmware. I have no clue how to do either.
After reading your thread, I'm still not convinced you need to partition it. Two years ago, I replaced a 3GB with a 30GB drive in my 366MHz clamshell iBook, without partition, and have had no problems running Panther.
Which Web sites did you say suggested partioning?
But if you do, Disk Utility in your Apps is the way to go. Just remember, you cannot undo it without reformatting your drive.
Which Web sites did you say suggested partioning?
But if you do, Disk Utility in your Apps is the way to go. Just remember, you cannot undo it without reformatting your drive.
You should partition and definitely u/g firmware.
Where to find firmware
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117 or
http://download.info.apple.com/Appl...pdates/English-North_American/Macintosh/iMac/
How to install firmware
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60385
Regarding your 8GB concern, see
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25249
PS Learn to use Apple Support site. Lots of good information.
Where to find firmware
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117 or
http://download.info.apple.com/Appl...pdates/English-North_American/Macintosh/iMac/
How to install firmware
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60385
Regarding your 8GB concern, see
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25249
PS Learn to use Apple Support site. Lots of good information.
Just a confirmation. You need to set the first partition to 8 GB or less or the machine won't boot (from the drive, cd is still okay). I put a 40 GB in my old 233 MHz iMac adn it worked great with a 6 GB boot partition and the the rest on another partition.
Just install the drive and boot from the CD. open Disk Utility from the menu and partition the drive however you see fit, but the first partition must be less than 8 GB. Then install the software like you would normally.
Another note, make sure you set the jumper on the drive for Master as some come set for Slave. I installed a 30 GB in my brother's 233 MHz iMac and forgot to do that and had to take it apart again and set it.
Just install the drive and boot from the CD. open Disk Utility from the menu and partition the drive however you see fit, but the first partition must be less than 8 GB. Then install the software like you would normally.
Another note, make sure you set the jumper on the drive for Master as some come set for Slave. I installed a 30 GB in my brother's 233 MHz iMac and forgot to do that and had to take it apart again and set it.