Can I install Tiger on external drive with OS9 on internal?

I bought and plan to install OS X 10.4.3, but will continue to use OS 9.2.2 about 95% of the time because I can't afford to update all 3rd-party software at this time, so I want to start up in 9.2.2 usually. Can I install 10.4.3 on a partition of my external HD with firewire and leave 9.2.2 on my internal HD, then pick a start-up OS by a key combination or such? How should I do it, and what problems might I encounter? To partition my external HD should I use OS 9.2.2, the original 9.0 CD, or the new 10.4.3 DVD?
I have a Power Mac G4 (AGB Graphics) with an internal 10 GB HD and an almost-empty external 120 GB firewire HD (Iomega). Thanks.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Yes you can do that, though I'm not too sure that Iomega's firmware is up to date to do it. Be sure that any data you have on the Iomega is backed up elsewhere before attempting it. Some Firewire drives without up to date firmware from the manufacturer may become invisible and unusable after a software update on Mac OS X 10.3 or later. Also an AGP PowerMac needs its firmware updated while booted from Mac OS 9 before installing Mac OS X 10.2 or later:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117
That said, if after testing you find it does work, you can switch booting between both drives using the Option key booting as described in the Startup Manager article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178
Leave OS 9.2.2 on your internal, and 10.4 on your external. That will be a lot easier than partitioning. Some information I wrote for others which can help you on your migration to Mac OS X is provided in this link below:
http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html
If you really want to partition, be aware that only third party software is available to partition without erasing the entire drive, and you'll want to make sure additional partitions that will boot Mac OS 9 have Mac OS 9 drivers installed as my link above states. Whatever you do, be sure you have at least two copies of your data at all times:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
Disclaimer: Reference to links I make to my Macmaps.com website are a for your information only type reference. I do not get any profit from this page, and it is open to the public.

Similar Messages

Can you install Tiger onto a drive with data?

Hello,
I would like to ask if you can install Tiger onto a hard drive that already has data files on it. I have a 250 GIG hard drive and it already has 10 GIGs of data on it. Can I install Tiger on this drive or might it corrupt my files?
Its a long story but here is a quick summary of why I am attempting to do this:
I have a 350 MHz Blue and white G3 (rev 1) with two hard drives: the original 12 GIG ATA drive and a 250 GIG SATA drive (internal) connected with a 1S2 Seritek SATA controller.
My 250 GIG drive has two partitions but only one is available to Tiger. You see, by accident I originally formatted my 250 GIG drive with an extremely small partion (32 Megs). I meant to type "30 GIGs" and by accident I typed "30 Megs". Oops That was supposed to be my OSX 10.4 volume. Its too late now - its too small. So I only have two choices for a place for TIger: my 12 GIG drive or the other partition of my 250 GIG drive. I am reluctant to choose my 12 GIG drive because it already has an older OS on it (OS 8.6).
I was concerned about installing TIger on the data partition of the 250 GIG drive because that is where all my valuable data files are - 10 Gigs of data. I don't want to risk scrambling this data in any way.
Is it safe to install Tiger onto this partition with my data files? Or is the possibility it might do something to my data.
Its only a temporary install so that I could burn my 10 GIGs of data files to DVD for backup and then I will start all over again and erase the entire hard drive and reinstall from scratch onto the 250 GIG drive once my data files are safely backed up. (I will not partition the 250 GIG drive i nthe final install - it will be one big partition.)
One other question:
When you format a disk in Tiger are there options to "low level format" or "zero all data" or will just a straight "erase" do the job sufficiently? I bought my 250 GIG Hitachi SATA drive new and so I am not sure if it worth the time to re-erase it with "zero all data" (if that is an option in the Tiger Disk Utility). What is the best formatting option to prepare this drive in the most beneficial for Tiger?
Thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks scb and Jeff,
Jeff, you have me thinking now. I think I will be safe and try another idea. I have a 4 GIG internal SCSI drive I could use to backup my data in 4 GIG sections at a time via my Adaptec 2430 SCSI card. I could then move this hard drive over to my other G3 onto its 40 GIG hard drive. This would be done three times to take off all my data and essentially provide a backup before I install Tiger. Good idea. You are right. It is better to play it safe.
By the way 8.6 can handle HFS+. And yes, I should eventually buy an external drive solution - probably an enclosure. I saw one called "coolmax" [1]. It could hold a SATA drive and it had USB, firewire and also an external SATA port.
And also Jef thanks for the info about formatting drives. I am glad to hear it is not important to zero all data if you don't have to. I am not concerned about havig anything to hide and so yes, I will just click "format" - that should be fine. Zero all data takes such a long time and I would rather avoid using it if I don't need this feature. Thanks for the advice.
Thanks for the new safer direction.
[1] Coolmax (CD-311-SATA Combo)
Coolmax Aluminum USB 2.0 External Case/Enclosure for 3.5" SATA/IDE Hard Drives, USB2.0, IEEE1394a, Serial ATA triple interface input CD-311-SATA Combo
http://www.iocombo.com/product/showproduct.php?productid=0EGD&PHPSESSID=3c41735b f27252cf17a17350cb603e0e
$69.95
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/35enclosure.html
$53.99 at directron

Can I install Tiger on external drive, inside a folder?

Hi
I know I can install Tiger (iMac G5 version) on an external HD - I've already done it. However, I'd now like to install onto a different eHD where there is a lot more space.
Can I set up a folder (e.g. called "My Tiger") and install into that? And will it find & boot from it if I hold down the Option key when I switch on my iMac? Or must an install be done into the root directory only?
If you're wondering why I need this - Photoshop won't run in Leopard on the iMac, but it will run from an eHD running Tiger.

Does that mean I could have Tiger installed into a separate partition on my INTERNAL drive?
Yes.
And would it mean I could access all my files and run software from the main Leopard partition (obviously, not Mail or system utilities)?
Yes, except for software which requires system components; this typically consists of software which came with an installer.
(56123)

How can I install Tiger on external drive

I have a maxtor external drive and I am trying to install tiger onto it but it is not installing properly. I have a imac g5 and I have the drive connected to it. It allows me to perform the install but then when I use it as the boot disk it goes through all the process and it goes to unix with panic...something about hanging here.
Thanks
imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi Harrison,
is this a firewire drive? Be aware that you cannot boot from a USB drive: Don't start up from an external USB device.
Also make sure your drive's firmware is up to date.

Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup my Mac Mini (256gbSSD + 2tbHDD)?

Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup what I have on my Mac Mini?
My Mac Mini has one 256 SSD and one 2tb HDD. I want to use Time Machine to do a backup of everything.
Would an external 2tb My Passport Drive by Western Digital work for the backup?
It seems like it would not work because the total storage on the Mac Mini is 2304 gigabytes (SSD + HDD).
And the external Western Digital drive is only 2048 in gigabytes versus 2304 gigabytes the Mac Mini has.

No. A Time Machine backup drive should have at least twice the capacity of the drive it backs up. You would need at least a 4 TB backup drive for Time Machine.
Might I suggest as an alternative that you not use Time Machine but a third-party backup utility that simply overwrites older files with new ones such that the backup drive can be the same capacity as the drive backed up.
Suggested Backup Software
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Others may be found at MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

Can I boot from an external drive with a "Virtual CD"

I just purchased a Hitachi LifeStudio external hard drive for use as my Time Machine backup. When I plugged it in to my MacBook running 10.6.4, I realized that it had one of those "Virtual CDs" that contained the manufacturers crapware, similar to Western Digital's MyWare or whatever its called. It shows up in disk utility as an actual separate disk and not just another partition that can be wiped.
I reformatted the drive using GUID and and created 3 HFS+ Journaled partitions. One was going to be for the 10.6 installer, one for the 10.6 boot, and one for my time machine backup. I restored a 10.6 install dvd disk image I created using disk utility to the 10.6 installer partition (with erase destination checked) then option booted my mac and the partitions did not show up. The only thing I could see was my internal hard drive.
I have done this many times before and it has always worked so Im trying to figure out what Im doing wrong. The only thing I can think of is that the "Virtual CD" that Hitachi put on this external drive is stopping the Mac from seeing the bootable partitions I created. I even went into system preferences>startup disk and blessed the 10.6 install partition. That didn't work either, the computer just booted to my internal drive.
So my questions are. Is it because of this "Virtual CD" that I can't boot from my external drive? If so, is there a way around it? I already searched their web site and emailed their tech support asking for a firmware update to remove the virtual cd.
Thanks in advance.

Yes, it's a known issue. You've already referred to the issue with WD systems. WD has a long list of products that are either not compatible with Macs or won't boot a Mac.
There are practically no problems with bare drives, but once installed in an enclosure there is no guarantee that the package will function as a bootable device. This is especially the case if the manufacturer uses some sort of "virtual" scheme intended for using the device as a sort of one button backup device.
External drives don't have to specifically say anything about being Mac bootable or compatible. It's up to the consumer to verify compatibility and usability.

I am new to LR and before I install it I want to know if it can be installed on an external drive which would allow me to us it on both a desktop and laptop (both Macs) as needed.

My thinking is that if both the program and the library are on the same external drive it's easy for me to use the desktop when at home, and use the laptop when away from home. All I need to do is take the external drive with me. Is this possible? Are there any watch outs or downsides to doing this?
MTIA

You can store the images and the LR catalog on an external drive, yes. But you would need to have the LR application installed on both the laptop and desktop machine and just move the drive with the images and catalog back and forth. That's pretty common...

Can't install Leopard on external drive

After speaking with someone at the Genius Bar last week, we determined that the problem I'm having with my eMac is probably due to the 4-5 year old internal hard drive finally getting ready to give up the ghost. ;-(
I asked if it would make sense to buy an new external drive, load Leopard on that, and boot off that while I save for a new Mac. He suggested that would work. (While the speed might not be ideal over a USB connection, I'm not too concerned with that. As long as the kids can do their homework, and I have a place to store photos it's fine.)
I just got my new external HD, got it partitioned into 3, and am trying to load 10.5.3 on it from my CD so I can make it the boot drive. The problem is that - while all 3 partitions show up on the "list" of places to install, the internal HD is the only one that will let me install on it. The 3 partitions all say that I can't install on them.
Any idea why I can't install on the external, and more importantly, can I work around it somehow before my internal drive dies for good?
Thanks,
Tim

Hi JDB38;
There is no such thing as an Intel G5. It is either one or the other but never both. An Intel tower is a Mac Pro. A G5 is a tower with a PowerPC processor in it. So which do you have?
Allan

Installing Leopard on external drive / then making it internal

Hi There-
Please tell me if you think this scenario will work. I'm running out of room on my mac mini's hard drive, so I bought a new drive along with Leopard. I want to install leopard on the new drive in an external firewire cage and set everything up. Then when I'm satisfied, I can crack the mini open, pull out the internal drive with a working tiger install, put the external drive in (with leopard) and just let it boot.
Is it that easy?

Yes that will work.

How do i install tiger on external drive?

ola, i have 2 dead 17" flatscreen (swivelhead) ppc imacs, i'm desperately want to resurrect one of them, having replaced the power supply (no thanks to apple and foxconn?) and it also has a faulty logic board (no thanks to apple?).... someone in cape town south africa, apparently can do component level repairs...... i have to ready the imac with an up to date 10.4 (tiger) OS from my mac pro running snow leopard.....
how do i-
1. install 10.4 onto an external drive and if possible
2. update leopard on the external drive before i put it back into the faulty imac?
thx
francois

Installing Tiger on a drive means restarting the master computer (MacPro) using the Tiger install disk. Since MacPro uses the Intel chip, I don't believe you will be able to restart that computer with the Tiger disk. If you can attach an external drive (using firewire) to a PowerPC computer, I suggest you use the Tiger install disk on the external drive to install 10.4. I would then attach it to the "dead" iMac (using firewire) and try and restart the computer while holding down the option key. Click on the external drive and see if the computer starts up. If it does, you probably have a corrupted operating system on your iMac. At this point you can try either to run DiskWarrior on the iMac or just use the Tiger install disk to replace the old system in the iMac (or reformat the drive and start fresh). Hope this helps.
JDB

Can't install OSX on external drive...

Hi ----------------------------
A couple of days ago I purchased a Seagate 300gig Firewire/USB drive. I partioned it with Disk Utility and proceeded to install OS 10.4 from the install DVD. No dice. It wouldn't let me get past the window where you indicated a disk/volume on which to install. Phoned Seagate support. They said I couldn't install a system on an external drive. That sounded strange to me as I have a ACOM 60gig external on which I had no problem installing OS 10.2.8.
Anyhow, I then turned to Carbon Copy Cloner and proceeded to try that. after clicking "Make Bootable" on the CCC preference page, I then proceeded to try to make a clone of my system. I failed twice, but the third time was a charm. When I fired up the Startup Disk in System Preferences, there was an icon for my new drive partition staring me right in the face. I choose it as the new startup disk, clicked on it, and my computer started it restart routine.
But, a flashing icon appeared on the screen, alternating between a question mark and a folder icon, and then the computer restarted up in its original disk/volume.
Hey, what gives? What am I doing wrong? I thought when I saw the new system icon in the Startup Disk window, that I was home free. If I'm unable to get a start up system on my new drive, it will become (just like the birdie in Monty Python) and "ex-new drive." It will go right back to Comp USA.
Can anyone help me out here? If so, TIA
Phil (Da Kid)
G4 867 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

FWIW, the 'zero out' option is a waste of time for problems like this. Please understand that even a one volume partitioning scheme puts more than one partition on the drive. Partition number zero contains information about the scheme & the other partitions. (This is the partition Disk Utility's "Info" button reports info about when you select the drive rather than one of its volumes. That should say it is ApplePartitionScheme for a PPC Mac, or a GUID one for an Intel one; otherwise the drive won't boot the Mac in question no matter what else you do.)
This partition is not affected by an erase with zeros option, which only applies to a mountable volume & only overwrites data on that volume with zeros. Aside from the intended use as a security option, the only other value it has is to pre-mark bad blocks on the drive used for storing that volume's data. But since it doesn't affect the other partitions, since the drive already maps out bad blocks wherever it finds them at write time, & since a misread zero is as bad as a misread one wherever it might occur in the partition info, there is just no way the zeros option is going to correct a boot problem.
So, if you want to do something useful, forget this advice to 'zero the drive' & the "Erase" tab in Disk Utility as a means of formatting the drive. You can only format volumes with that tab. To reformat the entire drive, or to check that its partition scheme is the right one for booting your Mac, use the "Partition" tab & its "Options" button.
FWIW #2: the StartUp Disk system preference doesn't do extensive checks on a startup volume, so it sometimes displays startup volumes that won't actually boot your Mac. If you select one of these, you see exactly what you saw: the flashing icon, followed by a startup from a viable volume, if one is present.
Startup Manager, which is enabled by the Option key restart, does much more extensive checks (which is why it takes so long to complete its scan for startup candidates). If a drive doesn't show up in Startup Manager, you can be sure it won't boot the Mac. The same isn't true of the pref.

Can I install Tiger without DVD drive?

Hello all!
I need your advice and help!
Today I finally added more RAM to my iMac and proceeded to upgrade to OSX. I bought v10.4.3 Tiger at a retail location. Nothing happens after I inserted the installation DVD. Then I realised that I probably do not have a DVD drive! (I did look at the system requirement page and saw a slot loading iMac there ...)
Is there any way I could install Tiger? All your help is much appreciated!
kris

First, have you installed the firmware update required for your model? You must boot directly into OS 9.1 or higher (but not OS X) to install the firmware update.
Secondly, your hard drive must be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for Tiger.
If you open your Apple System Profiler it should tell you if you have a DVD drive. It was an option on your model, especially if you have the DV model.
If you don't have a DVD drive, then there are ways to install Tiger without one. One way is to exchange the DVD for a CD set from Apple. Visit the Apple OS X site to find the form needed for the exchange.
The following KB articles present alternatives for installing Tiger without a DVD:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/6976
http://www.applelinks.com/p5/index.php/more/osx_odyssey_752_how_to_installing_tiger_using_firewire_target_diskmode/
You can also use an external Firewire DVD drive provided it is a bootable drive.

Hi there! How much of Logic can I Install on an external drive ?

I decided to see how far I could take my beloved eMac G4, 1.25Mz, 2G work horse, so I decided to load it up with as much of Logic9 as poss.
Now I'm also using a 320G external HD, so I was wondering how much of the Logic I could install on it to ease matters on my 80G internal?
Many thanks for any pointers.

If you want to, you can install your OS and ALL of logic on an external drive and boot from it.

Can't Install Tiger on External HD

I'm simply wanting to erase and install on 2 FW drives. They're good with Oxford and all. I have Panther, but want to do a fresh install. When I try and install from disk, the computer starts to restart and then freezes. I can never get to a point to even choose the drive. Now that I think of it, this is the first time doing this with Tiger. In panther, there wasn't even a restart, you could pick the drive right away. Any help is appreciated

First, do the FWHDs show up on the Desktop? If so, did you erase and format them? If I understand correctly, your machine is running 10.4.3 and you're trying to install Tiger on the FWHDs that currently have Panther installed on them, but the install disk can't see them, Can you boot with either FWHD?

What can I install on a external drive ?

my MacIntosh HD has a
capacity of 9.54 GB.
Used: 8.7 GB
Available: 860 MB
I cannot change the 8.7 GB ; they are all technical folders (System Folder, Applications, etc.) Only 233MB are personals
I want to install a film scanner too --Nikon supercoolscan 5000 ED-- (it needs 200MB to install, 550 MB to run, not to mention 512 of RAM). I cannot install it elsewhere than on the HD. I see in the manual that the install location is the folder "Applications" on the disc Macintosh HD. There is no other button.
I also have a flatbed scanner (Epson) And I still didn't install my 2 printers. (one is a photo printer, the other for texts, etc)
I cannot put all these on the HD.
I do have a 300GB external drive. What can I put there ?

I should add that, as the previous replies have suggested but not come right out and said, you are already in an "emergency" situation with respect to hard drive space. Instead of adding anything more to your drive, you need to back up everything that isn't already backed up so that if your Mac starts misbehaving badly (as it might at any moment) due to inadequate free space, you won't lose anything important. As soon as you've got a new internal drive in place (your G4 probably has space for a second internal drive), transfer everything from the 10GB drive to it, and use a partition on your 300GB external drive (sized to match the new drive) as a backup for the new one.
The 10GB drive, emptied of its current contents, would make a good scratch drive for Photoshop and any other apps you use that allow you to choose a scratch drive or location for other temporary files.
Regarding your other current thread in this forum, about CD/DVD burning: even if you had a working external CD burner now, you wouldn't be able to burn a CD (let alone a DVD) with as little available HD space as you have.

Can I install Tiger on external drive with OS9 on internal?

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