2 hard drive icons on desktop?

I am new to mac computers and have just inherited an old blue iMac which I already have updated to system OSX
However one thing I don't understand is that I have 2 hard drive icons on my desktop with different names, one contains the OS9 and OSX - the other is empty but says it has around 3GB of memory on it - is this really another hard drive thats been installed in the past? - and can I use it, and if so, what for?
many thanks
iMac   Mac OS X (10.4)  

Hello Swiss Kate,
I believe what you have is a hard drive that has been partitioned. This means it has been formatted as though it was 2 HD's. Sometimes what people do is use one portion for 9 and the other for X..... You have many options for using the 2nd section of the HD. Perhaps you use it for job storage or pixs etc. I would think about installing the OS 9 on the second (smaller) partition. That way you may be able to boot up if there is a problem with X.. Until you get used to the mac I think I would just use it for storage of important data you enter. HTH.......mGb.......Jim

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