1 ATA bus + 2 HDD's + 2 OS's = ?best possible config?

Question

As I still use some desktop audio composition applications in OS9 (NOT Classic), but use OSX chiefly for typical domestic use (web, mail, itunes), I would like to know the best possible means of optimising my G4 Digital Audio for VST hard disc recording with 2 HDD's hung off of the one ATA bus in the master and slave positions, without losing out on either OS9 or OSX system performance ?
At present I have the G4's OEM 40GB IBM internal HDD with both OS9 and OSX installed. Most of the data on the drive are mp3's, which I generally don't listen to too frequently on the computer (there's the iPod for that). I'm to receive a new 120GB Western Digital drive in the forthcoming few days which I'm eager to use in the best possible means.
I am assuming that my best means of proceeding would be to clone both OS's from the master 40GB IBM hdd to the new 120GB drive, copy all my audio app's to the 120GB drive, then switch the drives around on the bus, thus making the new 120GB drive my master while retaining the 40GB as a slave, acting mainly as a repository for my ipods content ?
Would it be advisable, upon formatting the new drive, to create two seperate partitions, one of which for OS9 and the other for OSX, for optimum system performance ? Should I first format the drive in OS9 or does it matter if I format it in OSX first ?
Will the fact that I have cloned over my OS's to the new 120GB drive affect my OSX applications in any way, in so much as my iTunes will still recognise where all the content is (if the content remains on the "original" master [now slave] 40GB drive), Safari's bookmarked pages will be retained, my email account will still be accesible from mail etc.
Or, would the simplest solution be that I shift everything (both OS's, all app's, data) off of the 40GB master drive to the slaved 120GB, and then switch the drives master/slave positions ? Would I then be able to delete both OS's from the original IBM 40GB drive, thus freeing up more hard disc, and proceed with the 120GB Western digital as my master system and main data drive.
Or (are ye still with me?) should I simply leave the OS9 system on the 40GB IBM, clone OSX to the new WD120GB drive, copy all my OSX related data (i.e. mp3's) to the WD, swop the drives master and slave positions, so that on booting into either OS9 or OSX I will always only ever be using either the master or the slave on that bus, thus making the best use of its limitations ?
If anybody has some idea of what it is I'm getting at then please feel free to share what advice you have (bar advising me to buy a new computer - I'll wait for the new Conroe'd Macs to appear before upgrading my computer hardware, thanks very much).
G4 Digital Audio 533Mhz   Mac OS X (10.3.9)   OS9.2.2

Answer 1

Hi, Brian!
You can simply initialize (format) the new WD drive using Disk Utility while booted to OS X on your IBM startup drive. Insure you check the Disk Utility box there to install the OS 9 drivers, which I'd recommend for any and all drives you have now or might get in the future, whether you're planning to run OS 9 on them or not. It doesn't take up any user-accesible space and not having the drivers should you need them is a problem that requires reformatting the drive and erasing everything on it in the process. You don't have to use OS 9 Disk Utility for anything beforehand.
As for master versus slave on a two-drive setup from a single ribbon cable, the Mac could care less which is which. It only cares that you have one of each. It doesn't care which drive is connected to which connector on the ribbon cable, either. You can boot and run equally well from a master or from a slave. The drives auto-negotiate, meaning that the controller recognizes the different drive speeds independently. Neither drive gets priority over the other for access to the bus. A slower drive configured as master will not limit the speed of data transfer on a faster slave drive. The drives will each be limited by their individual capabilities and by the overall "speed" of the drive bus, which in your case is capped at 66.7 MB/s maximum throughput.
If your IBM is a 5400 RPM drive, I'd put the OS's on the WD (regardless of its configuration as master or slave, which makes no difference), using the IBM as a backup drive.
If you're one who doesn't shy from partitioning, you could split the WD into two partitions, using one for OS X and the other for OS 9. You could later split the IBM as well, using different partitions for backups/clones and for data storage or a scratch disk. If you partition into multiple volumes, think through the sizes of the individual volumes you'll create. The most common problem folks run into is creating too many volumes and/or volumes that are later too small to be used effectively, wasting disk space. Safely changing partition sizes after-the-fact generally means erasing the entire drive to redo them. There are software utilities which will do this on-the-fly, but they all strongly advise backing up beforehand, which might say something about the risk in using them. Moreover, if you have to back up everything first, you may as well erase the drive and repartition from scratch...
Cloning makes an exact duplicate of a volume. Thus, if you clone your startup volume, you can boot to it and it will operate exactly the same as the original volume. The only apparent difference you'll see is that the startup volume you're running will be the one that appears on the top right corner of your desktop, instead of the original one. The clone copies everything over exactly as it was on the original, less some completely irrelevant temporary system files.
If you want to relocate your iTunes Music Folder (and all your iTunes music) from it's default location in Home/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music to another volume, you should perhaps do it after you've completed and tested the drive setups, cloning, etc. We can help you out with this if you'd like. It's easy to do, but involves a few setup steps to get it to operate correctly. I'd leave it alone for now until you're up and running from the new drive. At that point it will be easy to do.
Bottom line? I'd install the WD, partition it into two volumes, clone the IBM volume to one of the new volumes, copy the OS 9 Folder from the newly-cloned volume to the empty new volume, test startup and run from each of the new volumes to be satisfied that the cloning was successful, then trash the OS 9 folder from the new volume that has OS X on it. At that point you can either retain the IBM volume for backup or erase it and use it for whatever you desire (to include storing your music there).
If you need a cloning utility, I'd recommend Super Duper, which is extremely easy to understand and use. It's shareware, but allows for free use to do do full volume clones, which you are going to do here. Another good utility is CarbonCopyCloner (CCC), which is also fairly simple to use and allows for free use to do your clone. If you decide to keep and continue to use either one, CCC is less expensive, but SuperDuper has some additional, easy-to-use options that are enabled if you decide to purchase it.
Gary
1GHz DP G4 Quicksilver 2002, 400MHz B&W rev.2 G3, Mac SE30   Mac OS X (10.4.5)   5G iPod, Epson 2200 & R300 & LW Select 360 Printers, Epson 3200 Scanner