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MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Original poster
The usual way to dual boot Mac OS 9 and OS X is to first boot off an OS X installation disc and partition the drive using Disk Utility with the option "Install Mac OS 9 Disk Drivers" checked. Then proceed to install OS 9 on the first partition and then OS X on the second partition. However, on a Mac that doesn't support native booting of OS 9 the OS 9 Disk Drivers option is missing in Disk Utility.

The easy workaround is to spoof the Mac to be a supported model. The OS 9 Lives install makes OS 9 think the Mac mini G4 is a Power Mac G4 Cube. So we can use the same spoof in Open Firmware for the OS X Install Disc to enable the OS 9 Disk Drivers option.

Here is the code to enter in Open Firmware (make sure to include spaces shown).

To access properties: dev / .properties

To spoof the model string: " PowerMac5,1" encode-string " model" property

To spoof the compatible string:" PowerMac5,1" encode-string " MacRISC" encode-string encode+ " MacRISC2" encode-string encode+ " Power Macintosh" encode-string encode+ " compatible" property

To boot mac: mac-boot

Make sure the OS X install disc is inserted and that there aren't any currently bootable partitions on the hard drive or SSD (otherwise you'll need to instruct Open Firmware to boot from the CD).

I tested this with the 10.4.2 Mac Mini restore disc 1 and also the 10.3.5 retail install disc 1. Interestingly, the graphics display correctly with the 10.3.5 disc with the spoof, but not without. At least on the early 2005 Mac mini. I tried it on the late 2005 Mac mini and the graphics still did not display correctly.

After you restart the Mac after partitioning the drive enter Open Firmware again to eject the disc: eject cd

Then after you insert the OS 9 lives install disc and boot from it make sure to exit the drive setup and proceed directly to restoring OS 9 to the drive.

After OS 9 is installed eject the OS 9 install disc and then insert the OS X install disc. Boot from the OS X install disc, such as by selecting it in the Startup Disk preference pane in OS 9. Then proceed to install OS X on the second partition.

To switch between them install the IdentifyTool in OS X so that the Startup Disk preference pane shows the OS 9 partition as instructed in this post: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...d-and-os-9-on-a-g4-mini.2278689/post-29467017

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However, on a Mac that doesn't support native booting of OS 9 the OS 9 Disk Drivers option is missing in Disk Utility.
If you use Target Disk Mode, surely that would allow you to repartition with OS 9 Drivers, right? Requires another PPC mac, of course, but it may be easier than fooling about in the firmware.
 
If you use Target Disk Mode, surely that would allow you to repartition with OS 9 Drivers, right? Requires another PPC mac, of course, but it may be easier than fooling about in the firmware.
Okay. I don't have another PowerPC Mac that officially boots OS 9. I found this thread where someone shows how to partition the drives using Terminal (someone linked it in the thread that discusses the IdentifyTool app). I still like the Open Firmware spoof method the best because I like the graphical interface of Disk Utility.

 
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