After erase and installing when i try to use classic it says not installrd

Question

I have tried to open classic in system preferences/system. It said that i do not have a version of mac os 9 installed.I have tried the imac software install and restore disk, followed the instructions. When I get to the install it says to put in the disk I am already using in. So I eject it and put it back in, and nothing happens. Just in case I have tried the hardware test disk as well, however the only file on inserting this disk is, read me first. so i am at a loss any help would be great.

Answer 1

If you have an external hard disk drive, formatted for use
with Mac OS (HFS+) you could attach even a USB 2.0
unit to a computer and have a Classic OS9.2.2 system
installed on there; and direct OS X system 9 preference
to look there to find it. If you can get a copy of OS 9.2
on such a drive, it will work adequately and that should
also have an Applications 9 folder with it.
Since you can drag/drop an OS 9.2.2 system (unlike X)
an external drive installation can be done from any Mac
with an OS 9 system folder. However, that may not be
a correctly licensed copy (unless a backup of original)
and from someone else's computer, it may have extra
OS9 apps and unneeded stuff cluttering it up.
You should be able to put the second original installer
disc into the computer and have the OS9 Classic system
install into your computer from there. The system is
small and for the most part takes little room on a hard
disk drive; be that an external or an internal one. I have
an OS9.2.2 system and Applications-9 folder on a small
external USB 2.0 HDD and my iBook G4 can see & use it.
(My iBook came with the OS 9.2.2 installer on second disc
but it was not installed on my computer; so I never put it in.)
With a system on an external hard disk drive, you have to
be sure it is properly unmounted and the icon representing
it which appears on the desktop when it is mounted, is not
there; you can 'eject' such a disk, or drag it to trash; after
quitting whatever you were running from said disk drive. At
some point, if it will not unmount, (as I found) you may have
to mess around and be sure to try to quit whatever app or
system - this may involve relaunching it again - to make sure.
{You have to unmount the external drive before turning it off
or unplugging it, to not damage the directory or contents on it.}
If you install direct to the computer's own internal hard disk
drive, and it is not partitioned, you should not worry about this.
On first-run of System Preference's 9 Classic start, your
system may have a dialog box saying something to the
effect that your Classic system needs an update, and do
you want it to do that? (not exact words) Click yes. And
then also, when you run Disk Utility to repair your OS X
system's 'repair disk permissions' notice under one of
the main Disk Utility menu bars, you can Repair OS9
Permissions. Do that, too. This can be done separate.
Good luck & happy computing!
edited.
PS: There may be another source for drivers so you
won't have to install Classic OS9 to just use a basic
scanner. There are third-party drivers out there and
some of them are free. Sometimes, one from a similar
model number, at times, a few model numbers removed
may work fine in a slightly older model scanner or printer.
Some of the scanner drivers may cost a small fee and
are downloaded from a site online.
(Since Tiger is the last OS X system to support Classic,
if you still need most of Classic beyond peripheral drivers
weigh this before upgrade considerations to Leopard.)