9.2.2 install/move problem with G4 QS 2002

Question

I have a G4 QS 2002 with two 500GB HD's. One is partitioned into six unequal partitions, Leopard, Tiger, Panther, System 8.6 - 9.2.2, Yellow Dog, and Scratch. The Leopard has a bootable System 9.2.2 and as soon I have 10.5 in my hands AND my problem is solved, will have the Leopard OS installed. The other HD has one very small emergency partition that was created by the installation of TechTool Pro with 10.3.9 and one "large" partition.
My problem is: 10.5 doesn't support/have the "Classic Environment" and I don't want to risk screwing up having a bootable 9.2.2 OS by the 10.5 installation, so I'd like to have the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition be able to boot 9.2.2 instead but I haven't been able to achieve that yet.
What I've tried is:
1. Booted into 9.2.2 and attempted to do a copy but when booted into 9.2.2, it doesn't "see" the target partition because I don't let it reformat the partitions that it doesn't recognize such as the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition when I boot into 9.2.2, so that partition and a few others are not mounted when I boot into 9.2.2 (I might let it reformat it if I can be sure which of the partitions it wants to reformat is which).
2. I created an image of the 9.2.2 bootable partition with Tiger's Disk Utility and tried to restore it with the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition as the target. It didn't want to do that. I booted with the Tiger install DVD and restored the bootable 9.2.2 image to the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition (selected the "Erase target" option). I restarted the Mac and I notice that the restored system folder is not graphically "blessed". I can choose the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition as the startup disk but it won't boot and instead the Mac eventually boots another OS. If I restart and hold down the option key, I can see that there are two bootable volumes labeled "Leopard", the original one and the restored one which in the Finder and Disk Utility is labeled "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" but it won't boot with the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition that way either.
3. I put the special version of the QS 2002 specific System 9 install CD into the DVD drawer, restart, and held down the "C" key, but the Mac eventually booted another OS. I booted into 9.2.2 and tried to launch the install SW but it couldn't see the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition (see #1 above) and neither could any of the System 9 disk utilities with the CD. I boot Tiger, launch "Classic Environment" and try to run the installer but after a few screens it complains regardless if I let it do a clean install or update the restored 9.2.2 from the Leopard partition.
The options I think I have at this time are:
1. Boot into 9.2.2 and let it reformat the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition if I can determine which partition it is and try the various steps again hoping that one will work.
2. Install 10.5 into the Leopard partition and hope that it doesn't screwup the ability to boot 9.2.2 afterwards.
3. Install 10.5 into the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition, which is half the size of the Leopard/Tiger/Panther partitions, and live with the smaller size (or try a partition utility like iPartition, DiskStudio, or hope that the DU with 10.5 can resize partitions without really deleting them first).
4. Do what I did originally, locate my System 9 install CD, see if I can still boot with it and install a generic System 9 into the "System 8.6 - 9.2.2" partition and update the SW with the QS 2002 specific System 9 install CD so it is bootable.
5. Try a cloning utility like CCC, SuperDuper, etc. and hope it works better than creating an image and restoring it (isn't that how Apple intends for us to do backups and recoveries?).
6. Back up everything even though making images doesn't seem to be foolproof, repartition the HD and reinstall/restore (I don't like this since I don't seem to have the image/restore process working to my liking and this would take a very long time (maybe 10.6 will be shipping by the time I'm done but I doubt if it Apple will support G4's with 10.6)).
OR somebody tells me what I'm doing wrong or why my efforts don't work or what is the process that achieves my end state.
TIA.

Answer 1

Hi, barubin -
If a volume (volume = an unpartitioned drive, or a partition of a partitioned one) does not mount when the machine is booted to OS 9, this usually means the drive or the volume does not have OS 9 drivers installed. This usually results when the drive was last formatted using OSX's Disk Utility to initialize the drive, and the option to install OS 9 drivers was not selected.
Article #106849 - Disk Is Available in Mac OS X But Not in Mac OS 9
If a volume does not mount when the machine is booted to OS 9, then OS 9 can not be installed on it using an OS 9 Install CD (since it is not available to, can not be 'seen' by, the installer app); and it can not be used as an OS 9 boot volume (if OS 9 can not mount the volume, then OS 9 on it can not mount itself).
The above article suggests one possibile way to recover from that without re-initializing the drive - boot the machine to OS 9, run Drive Setup. Select the drive in question (Drive Setup can not do this for a single partition of a partitioned drive), then choose Update Driver from the Functions menu. Note that this is a non-destructive function - no data will be lost from the drive whether or not it works. If it does work, the drive, and its partitions, will then be mounted on the desktop.
Unfortunately that recovery method rarely works, and it then becomes necessary to redo the partition or the drive.
This can be done using OS 9's Drive Setup, but only on a whole-drive basis - Drive Setup can not re-initialize a single partition of a partitioned drive.
It can also be done using OSX's Disk Utility; Disk Utility may be able to redo a single partition of a drive (I don't use OSX so can not test that), but it is probable you would need to redo the entire drive. Be sure to select the option to install OS 9 drivers when using Disk Utility - that option is not always selected by default.
In either case select Mac OS Extended as the format.
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OS 9 has a boot limitation - the volume it is on can not exceed 200GB. 190GB is a safe max volume size to pick for an OS 9 boot volume when partitioning a drive.
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The installation of OSX (any version) on an OS 9 boot volume should have no effect on the OS 9 install or its bootability, provided the install method is a simple installation (no Archive and Erase, etc.).
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It is not necessary to use a cloning utiity to move/copy OS 9 to a different volume or drive, and have it be usable. OS 9 can be installed -
• From an Install disk valid for the machine
• Or by doing a simple Finder copy of it - drag the OS 9 Syatem Folder (and its associated folders, such as Applications (Mac OS 9) and Documents) to the target volume and let go, letting Finder copy it there.
Usually a copied OS 9 System Folder is usable immediately.
Occasionally it will arrive unblessed - it will not display the Mac OS glyph on top of the folder icon. The solution for that is to re-bless it. This can be done one of two ways (best done while booted to OS 9) -
• Open the System Folder, double-click the file System to open it. Close System; close the System Folder.
• Drag the files Finder and System out of the System Folder; close the System Folder. Drop the files Finder and System back into the closed System Folder.