Internal Disks = GUID. External = APM. Why?

Hi again. I noticed that my internal drive on my iMac 2.00GHz / 20" / June 2006 Core Duo is on GUID partition type. Of course it's HFS+ formatted.
I have also an external Western Digital My Book Pro Firewire 250GB which I also formatted as HFS+, but System Profiler reports that it's on Apple Partition Map type.
The question: why is that? I thought that GUID is best for Intel Macs. Should I convert the external to GUID? And if yes, how?
Thanks a lot!

You should format your external for GUID as this is recommended for 10.4 and above and allows it to be used as a start up disk for Intel Macs.
This will erase everything on your drive so be sure to back it up first.
To do this go into *Disk Utility* pick the drive you want to partition and pick how many partitions you wnat. Then choose Mac OS Extended (journaled). Under the partition window you will see a button marked Options. Click it and then choose the GUID option. Now you will be able to pick apply.

Similar Messages

I have Lion on an external hard-drive and I want to install it on the internal disk

I have Lion on an external hard-drive and I want to install it on the internal disk. How can I proceed?

I recently completed a clean install of Lion on an internal SSD. After wiping it clean, I used a thumb drive with SL on it to boot and then another thumb drive with Lion on it. It worked just fine. The only thing to be aware of is that if you use the thumb to install Lion from... it will not install a recovery partition and you'll have to use the thumb in the future.
That's what I wanted anyway so it's working out just fine. Good luck.
I should add... I used the SL thumb to actually boot from and used Disk Utlities to wipe the internal SSD. It does work and there are Apple posts that can guide you through the thumb drive process. I used copycat to create both the SL boot and Lion.

Best Practice??? Change from internal boot disk to external disk

I have a mini running 10.5.6 server and it currently boots off it's internal disk. I was hoping to get some feedback/input from others on a good process to convert the system from it's internal boot disk to an external boot disk (firewire).
I wanted minimum downtime during the conversion and I of course, want a complete snapshot on the new boot disk. Lastly, I do not have a local keyboard and console on the system although I could connect one if it seemed to be much easier that way.
In general, I am thinking of the following:
1) Boot into the Leopard Server CD.
2) Use diskutility to Restore from the internal boot disk to the new external boot disk.
3) Choose the new boot disk as the startup disk.
4) Reboot onto new disk.
Is diskutility the best bet?? Meaning will it work this way if the drives are different sizes??
Should I try to clone the disk from the internal boot disk (assuming I shutoff services first) using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner?? But I believe they do not copy over all logfiles, etc..
Or does anyone have a quick overview of a methodology which they have done in the past or just are suggesting might be a better process than the ones I described??
In Summary:
1) From the CD, clone using diskutil and change boot disk
2) From the running OS, clone using SuperDuper or CCC and than reboot onto new disk
3) Something else??
Thank you in advance.

For cloning the machine you have the approach fine. Disk Utility is fine and booting from the CD is the best method. Simply use the restore method.
But why on earth would you want to boot from an external Firewire drive? First, there is the issue of speed. You have a mini, let's assume it is a one generation back Intel. It has an internal SATA drive on a 1.5 Gbps connection. You want to move that to a 400 Mbps Firewire bus? Next, beyond the speed issues, you have a persistence issue. You are taking the boot volume and moving into to a transitory bus. One of Firewire's greatest strengths is easy connection/disconnection. Persistence is not a strong point.
Next, if your plan is to move the boot volume to some form of a Firewire RAID, then you are even penalizing yourself more. The mini has one FireWire port. If you are using two devices and creating a mirror RAID, then you need to daisy chain. Talk about points of failure, asynchronous startup time, bus blocking, etc. Not wise.
Plus, I can not count how many external firewire devices have burnt up in the effort to have small footprints. Lacie and the "let's put a drive in a metal case with no fan" approach = melted drive. Western Digital and Lacie with the "let's make a completely un-reusable external power brick that either breaks in a small breeze or falls out when the heavy guy walks by the server" approach.
If you are looking at a Firewire RAID enclosure, then you are missing the objective of speed as you are limited by the 400 bus. It is nice to say that you have a four drive SATA 2 RAID case running a RAID 5, but you are defeating the purpose of why you bought the raid. The RAID 5 can provide an exponential increase in I/O performance. But that goes out the window because of the slow bus.
If your argument is that "this is a server and my bottleneck is Ethernet," that too does not hold up. You are likely running on a gigabyte network.
For system details check out http://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/Macmini_0602 /Articles/architecture.html.
Take this with a grain of salt. You caught me on a grumpy day as yesterday I dealt with a melted external firewire drive.
My advice is buy real server class hardware. What is you objective? Drive redundancy? Capacity? A mini is a great dev server. Not a production server. This is your data. Presumably the data that makes your business function. Don't trust it to a single platter. And don't trust it to a consumer level, disposable system. I am not trying to malign the mini. It is a fine machine for its role. Its role however is not to be a production file server. Now as a web server, we are talking a different situation.
Ok, I am rambling. Hope this helps in some way.

Does run Mac OS X from external disk will damage Win7 installed at internal disk?

Hi,
When I buy a Mac Mini Server 2011, I replace the Mac OS X Lion bootable disk with a SSD and install Win7 64, the other internal disk is also used by windows.
Now I need write some code in Mac OS using XCode, I assembling the Mac OS X Lion bootable disk with a USB disk shell and plug in Mac Mini's USB port, when I power on the machine and press the ALT key, the firmware show the Max OS disk, but I stoped.
I want to know if I boot into Mac OS, will it damage the Win7 disk? Can I apply OS patch or upgrade firmware?
Thanks in advance!

Does run Mac OS X from external disk will damage Win7 installed at internal disk?
Of course not. Why would it?

External USB hard disks recognized as internal disks by Win7 x64

Hello,
When I connect any of 3 different My Passport external disks to my laptop, they are shown as internal disks.
I can still disconnect them using usb icon in system tray.
It seems to me windows started to behave this way when I connected usb disk while it was still starting.
Is there a way to make the system show external disks as such again?
Robert M. Glaz

Hi,
In fact, this is controlled by the device itself. An RMB set to zero indicates that the device is not a removable media device. An RMB of one indicates that the device is a removable media device. Drivers obtain this information by using the StorageDeviceProperty
request. Yes, this information is stored in storage device descriptor.
STORAGE_DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/ff566971(VS.85).aspx
If you have any feedback on our support, please click
here
Alex Zhao
TechNet Community Support

How come free space on internal disk is decreasing when I am exporting videos to imovie library on external disk

Hi,
I am moving all the videos I have in my iphoto library on my computer to the imovie library (version 9.0.9 ) I have on an external disk to free some space on the internal disk.
Afterwards, I am deleting them from the iphoto library BUT I noticed that the free space on the internal disk does not increase. Movies are decreasing but the space is going to back ups. I am doing this process as I want to have more space on the internal disk. Do I do something wrong or is this the normal process ?
Also, I have Imovie (new version - which I am not using, at least not for the moment) and the old version (created when I updated) on my internal disk and a copy I made befor the update on an external disk.
Is it safe to delete the old version on the internal disk ?
Thanks for helping me out !

Hi,
On my mac I have iphoto and two versions of imovie - application that was created last october (2.9 gb -- so far I did not use this app) and 9.0.9 imovie folder (1,197,747,040 bytes - 1.22 GB on disk) .
On the external disk, I made a copy of 9.0.9 version some while ago (to be eaxct, before the new version was installed last october).
This what I do:
- import the video into imovie on my internet disk via "file, import, photos, iphoto library and select..."
- then I delete the videos from the iphoto event, emtpy trash in iphoto and empty trash on my dock
I photo version I am using is 9.5.
What do you mean with your third question ?
I back up on a 2nd external disk (used only for back up) with time machine.
When I check the space available (on this mac, more info, storage...) I noticed backups take up 7,6 GB. Before I started the above mentioned process of importing videos in imovie on the external disk the backups showed 0. What did I do wrong ?
Thanks for helping me out.
Brigitte

Move rented movie from external disk to internal disk

While at home, my iTunes library is located on an external USB drive. I've rented a movie while the disk was attached and of course it was downloaded to the external disk. But now I'd like to leave the house and watch that movie on the road. Is it possible to move the file somewhere on my internal disk and how would I let iTunes know of the new location? This seems to be a situation that many laptop users would find themselves in at some point... any solution/ideas?
Message was edited by: sthmtc

I understand that it is because I rented. I just thought I would be able to transfer. I never intended to watch the movie on the laptop. I just wanted to rent it from there.
There are lots of possibilities for transferring rented material from Computer to iPod to AppleTV and back.... Just not from computer to computers.
I won't make an impulse "rental" on my laptop ever again. Too bad, since I use it more than the iMac.

Move iTunes library from external disk to internal disk

Hello,
I am currently using a Mac Mini with an external disk to store my iTunes library as well as all the media files, apps, etc. The library is managed (consolidated) by iTunes and is also organized by iTunes.
I am about to buy the new Macbook Pro and with a 1 TB drive, I wanted to move the iTunes stuff (library, media, playlists, play counts, ratings, everything) to the internal drive of the new MBP.
My questions are:
Can I do this migration (from external disk to internal disk of new Mac) as part of the Migration Assistant?
In case I can't do the above, what is the best way to do this after the new Mac has been set up?
How do I ensure that play counts, playlists, ratings, album art are preserved as I have spent considerable time setting those up?
I have 3-4 IOS devices syncing to this library. How do I ensure that when I sync them to the new computer/library, they will continue to work?
Thanks in advance.

Hi,
1. See if this support answers your query http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889 and http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
3. Make sure complete intune folder is copied over. The Itunes Library.itl file contains all meta data.
4. Maybe someone else can make a definitive comment on this. I used migration assistant and was able to sync my ipad and ipod classic without doing anything special. I presume that it worked because both were syncing to the same library albeit on a different computer.
Jim

WD External - Guid or APM??

I have a new Macbook Pro with an Intel CPU. I purchased a "Ready for Time Machine" Western Digital External HD from the Apple store.
Reading around on these forums made me question something. I have read countless times that when formatting a HD to use with Time Machine it should be GUID for intel Machines and APM for Non-Intel Machines.
I just plugged mine in and started to use it, as it was "Time Machine Ready". However, upon checking the drive properties I see it is Formatted as APM and HFS+ (Journaled). Should I bother re-formatting it as GUID or should I just leave it alone.
I should mention that I am having absolutely no problems so far (that I can tell), its been only 2 days but I worry for the future. This only became a concern for me after reading that formatting a drive to use with TM should be formatted with GUID on an Intel Macbook Pro.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thanks for your time,
Jazzy

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
An Intel Mac can use either GUID or APM for most purposes, including Time Machine backups.
If you want to use a partition on the drive for a copy of OSX, so you can "boot" from it, then you should use GUID. As I understand it, you can put a "clone" on it and it will run, but you cannot install OSX directly from your Leopard Install disc. Also, some WD drives aren't bootable anyway.

Clone internal disk(ufsdump) which has metadevice on external disk(sol 5.6)

Dear IT Experts,
I just help my friend. we planned to clone an internal disk of SUN Ultra 1 which is run using Solaris 2.6 (old).
Actually, this system has one external disk which has created before using metadevice.
The external disk (*/dev/md/dsk/d100 --> concatenation*) is used to save application data and connected to ultra 1 using SCSI device.
Here is the vfstab content:
+#device     device     mount     FS     fsck     mount     mount+
+#to mount     to fsck     point     type     pass     at boot     options+
+#+
+#/dev/dsk/c1d0s2 /dev/rdsk/c1d0s2 /usr     ufs     1     yes     -+
fd     -     /dev/fd     fd     -     no     -
+/proc     -     /proc     proc     -     no     -+
swap     -     /tmp     tmpfs     -     yes     -
+/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s1     -     -     swap     -     no     -+
+/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0     /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s0     /     ufs     1     no     -+
+/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s6     /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s6     /usr     ufs     1     no     -+
+/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s4     /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s4     /var     ufs     1     no     -+
+/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s7     /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s7     /export/home     ufs     2     yes     -+
+/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s5     /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s5     /opt     ufs     2     yes     -+
+/dev/md/dsk/d100     /dev/md/rdsk/d100     /export/home/oak     ufs     2     yes     +-
Running command "metastat" and "metadb -i" will give output :
+# metastat+
d100: Concat/Stripe    Size: 53031888 blocks    Stripe 0: (interlace: 64 blocks)        Device              Start Block Dbase        c0t2d0s7                   0     No        c0t3d0s7                   0     No        c0t4d0s7                   0     No
+#+
+# metadb -i+
flags           first blk       block count
a m pc luo        16              1034            /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3
a    pc luo        1050            1034            /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3
a    pc luo        2084            1034            /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3
Running command "format" will give output :
Current partition table (original):
Total disk cylinders available: 2733 2 (reserved cylinders)+
Part      Tag    Flag     Cylinders        Size            Blocks
+0 root wm 0 - 134 100.20MB (135/0/0) 205200+
+1 swap wu 135 - 307 128.40MB (173/0/0) 262960+
+2 backup wm 0 - 2732 1.98GB (2733/0/0) 4154160+
+3 unassigned wm 308 - 310 2.23MB (3/0/0) 4560+
+4 var wm 311 - 580 200.39MB (270/0/0) 410400+
+5 unassigned wm 581 - 985 300.59MB (405/0/0) 615600+
+6 usr wm 986 - 2333 1000.47MB (1348/0/0) 2048960+
+7 home wm 2334 - 2732 296.13MB (399/0/0) 606480+
We try to clone disk using "ufsdump" command. The backup disk (cot1d0) capacity is like the capacity of original disk (c0t0d0) --> 2.1GB.
Here is all the command that we have run:
+# mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0 /clone-root+
+# cd /clone-root+
+# ufsdump 0cf - /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s0|ufsrestore -rf -+
+# mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s3 /clone-s3+
+# cd ../clone-s3+
+# ufsdump 0cf - /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s3|ufsrestore -rf - --> this command gave output "it is not ufsdump format"+
# mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s4 /clone-var
# cd ../clone-var
# ufsdump 0cf - /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s4|ufsrestore -rf -
+# mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s5 /clone-opt+
+# cd ../clone-opt+
+# ufsdump 0cf - /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s5|ufsrestore -rf -+
+# mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s6 /clone-usr+
+# cd ../clone-usr+
+# ufsdump 0cf - /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s6|ufsrestore -rf -+
+# mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s7 /clone-export+
+# cd ../clone-export+
+# ufsdump 0cf - /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s7|ufsrestore -rf+ -
All dumping process were successfully done EXCEPT at /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s3. It said that this partition is not in ufsdump format. I think because this partition is used as metadevice database.
All dumping process were successfully done EXCEPT at /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s3. It said that this partition is not in ufsdump format. I think because this partition is used as metadevice database.
Afte install bootblk to c0t1d0s0, we tried to boot system using clone disk result (c0t1d0). We unplugged the original disk, and put the clone disk into target 0 slot (c0t0d0).
While booting, it said that the meta database was broken and need to be repaired. we delete the metadb and re-create again --> # metadb -a -c3 -f /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3.
then REBOOT.
But, after it, system won`t boot. the said that
*"/dev/md/rdsk/d100" = no such device or address*
*/dev/md/rdsk/d100 /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s5 /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s7 = can`t check file system*
please run fsck manually"
we have run command "fsck". but the problem still there. System can`t boot. :-(
But, while we put the original disk back, the system can run normally.
Is there any steps that we are missing? Kindly need your help, please....we stuck. No idea...please response
Thank you for any help and suggestion
regarads,
ferianto

Sorry to hear.
Other possibilities...
Data Rescue...
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
(Has a Free Demo to see if it could or not, but you'll need another drive to recover to).
rccharles on file recovery...
"Stellar Phoenix Macintosh - Mac data recovery software, recovers data from damaged, deleted, or corrupted volumes and even from initialized disks."
They have a trial version, so I guess you can see if your data can be recovered...
http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-data-recovery.htm
FileSalvage is an extremely powerful Macintosh application for exploring and recovering deleted files from a drive or volume. FileSalvage is designed to restore files that have:
    * been accidentally deleted.
    * become unreadable due to media faults.
    * been stored on a drive before it was re-initialized/formatted.
http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id= 1

My os x is running in an external disk, how do i go back to using the internal disk

my os x is running on my external disk and I want to reverse and use my internal disk instead. I also cant seem to push through to internet recovery if i remove my external disk and would want to reinstall os x through internet recovery. im only seeing the globe/earth revolving but loading status seems freezing. pls help plssssssss

iwantchange wrote:
my os x is running on my external disk and I want to reverse and use my internal disk instead. I also cant seem to push through to internet recovery if i remove my external disk and would want to reinstall os x through internet recovery. im only seeing the globe/earth revolving but loading status seems freezing. pls help plssssssss
If you installed OS X Mountain Lion (per your signature) to your external drive, you should be able to restart your Mac Mini while pressing/holding the Option/Alt key and selecting the Recovery HD - 10.8.5 in the startup manager. This boots you into the external drive's Recovery System (different than Internet Recovery). From the OS X Utilities Menu, you can use Disk Utility to "clone" both your external Macintosh HD and its Recovery HD to your internal drive.
First, back up your internal drive unless you don't need anything on it.
Restart your Mac Mini into the Recovery System on the external drive using the Option/Alt key and selecting the external drive's Recovery HD.
Select Disk Utility and erase your internal drive's Macintosh HD.
Stay in Disk Utility and select your Macintosh HD on your external drive.
Click the Restore tab. Your external drive's Macintosh HD should be displayed in the Source field.
Click and drag your internal drive's Macintosh HD to the Destination field. Note: This partition needs to be the same size as or greater than the Source.
Click the Restore button. This will block-copy the external drive to your internal drive.
After the restore completes, both your internal and external drive will be labeled the same (e.g. Macintosh HD).
Quit Disk Utility and at the OS X Utilities menu, click on the Apple logo (upper left corner) and select Startup Disk. Select your internal drive and Restart. This will restart your Mac Mini using your internal drive.
Good luck

Can I install Tiger as a boot disk on external drive

I upgraded to Leopard 2 months ago and everything works well except a program called Avid Express Pro. Avid suggests I go back to Tiger, but I like many of the features in Leopard. I'm using a Macbook pro with an intel processor. Is it possible to install Tiger on an external drive and boot from that drive when I want to use Avid, then restart on the internal drive for normal operation? I've tried installing Tiger on an external drive I have, but the installer won't let me select the external. Any help would be appreciated.

Your Intel MacBookPro can install Tiger or Leopard to any external drive that has been formatted with a GUID partition. It can be USB or Firewire. I'm using a miniStack v3 500gb FW800 drive for my MBP. When it arrived from OWC it was APM and Leopard or Tiger would refuse to Install to it. Disk Utility fixed this by repartioning the drive and choosing the GUID option and HFS+.
The GUID partition scheme is probably the problem. Most external drives come formated for DOS (Fat32) or the APM (Apple Partition Map). The Intel macs require GUID for Installing and Updating, but work fine with the APM drives for files.
You Intel Mac can boot from an APM drive, but not install to it. You can use SuperDuper to clone a bootable copy of your OS from your internal GUID drive to an external APM drive and the machine will boot from it, it just can't be updated.
Use Disk Utility to check the Partition Map Scheme on your external drives before you try to use one to install to.

Can't unmount an internal disk that I installed in my tower

Years ago, I added a supplemental internal hard drive (Maxtor) to increase my storage capacity. It continues to work fine. But...
I'd like to be able to do maintenance on it (verify the directory, make any repairs, etc.), and for that, I need to be able to unmount this disk.
Note: there is no eject icon next to the disk's name in my Finder window.
I always get the error message that the volume could not be unmounted, and I've tried to unmount it several ways:
- Used Terminal to try to unmount
- Used Disk Utility to try to verify &/or repair
- Started up with a bootable clone and tried
- Started up with a bootable Disk Warrior CD and tried
- Tried to reformat/erase the disk (couldn't)
I have backed up to this drive, using "erase & copy files" (from a sparse image backup), and that worked, so apparently it didn't need to unmount the disk to do that. But I can't copy my computer over to my laptop (in Target Disk Mode), apparently due to this problem. Sigh.
Disk Utility tells me to be sure all folders, files, etc. are not in use on this disk, and then maybe it will unmount. But I see nothing in use or open.
NOTE: I have Sys 9 installed on that volume. For a while, I thought maybe OS X somehow keeps a file open that's related to OS 9 (like maybe sort of having it "stand by" in case Classic needs to load when I try to open an old file or something). But that doesn't seem to be the case after all, since I've booted from a bootable clone on a different, external drive (meaning my normal boot drive is not loaded), and the problem persists. But wait, maybe the clone I've booted from is somehow activating the OS 9 disk in that way, still. But wait, that can't be it, since I've booted from Disk Warrior CD and the problem persists.
Shouldn't I be able to do maintenance on that additionally installed internal disk? And doesn't it have to unmount for that? But how can I get it to unmount? If there is a directory problem causing this, how can I repair the directory to resolve the unmounting problem, if it won't unmunt to accept the repairs? And why isn't there a way to just erase the disk and start over? I guess it has to be unmounted first, fir ANYthing. But HOW??
Many thanks.
G-4 tower Mac OS X (10.4.7)
450 mHz

Hi, Larry.
You wrote: "I always get the error message that the volume could not be unmounted"This implies that you have either:
a. A file open that is saved on that disk.
b. An application or background process running that was either launched from that disk or is using a file on that disk.
c. A Startup Item or Login Item is either being launched from that disk or using a file on that disk, akin to points (a) and (b). See my "Troubleshooting Startup and Login Items" FAQ.
Try restarting in Safe Mode and after logging in, launch Disk Utility.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

After getting the dreaded gray/blue screen, I tried to run disk repair on the internal disk. I got an error message saying "Disk Utility can't repair this disk and restore your backed-up files. The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely

After getting the dreaded gray/blue screen, I tried to run disk repair on the internal disk. I got an error message saying "Disk Utility can't repair this disk and restore your backed-up files. The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely." What do I do now? This is an iMac and I'm running 10.6.8.

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it. See below for how to clone a drive.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
You may be able to backup your data if you have an erased external drive you can use. Before you do the above but after you have opened Disk Utility you can try to clone your drive:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag
       it to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
      the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Now this will only work if the drive is accessible and can be cloned by Disk Utility. Otherwise, you would need to access your drive from another Mac that you can connect via Firewire - Target Disk Mode.

Can I spin down my internal disk? Open Firmware or terminal commands?

Hello all,
I have not been around here for a while, but I desperately need your help.
Does anyone know how I can spin down my internal disk?
Possibly with the terminal or Open Firmware?
Does anyone know all the Open Firmware commands or
where a list can be found so that I can explore the situation myself?
Here is some more detail of what I want to do and why.
My internal disk crashed a while ago.
(My bag slid off my shoulder and the machine hit the brick sidewalk below right on its' corner:>(
I have since been running off my little pocket-size fire-wire disk.
Today the internal disk finally really bit the dust and the bearings are making quite a noise.
(If I tip the PB while it is running the noise turns into a whine of varying pitch and loudness.
It sounds like my poor PB is crying in pain. LOL)
I want to get the internal disk to spin down until I can afford a new one and I have the time to replace it.
Any ideas?
I know I could open up the case and pull the plug on it,
but maybe there is something better and easier.
Can anyone guide me in any possible terminal commands to eject it or
give some insight into firmware commands that may help?
I know the firmware can spin the disk down. - It does so for power management.
Also, one time when I booted, the disk gave the boot process such a bad error that
the boot process asked me what to do. I told it to eject the disk - then the disk spun down
and the machine booted normally off the FW disk.
So, maybe there is an Open Firmware command I could use to permanently shut the thing off.
I cannot use the Disk Utility to unmount or eject it.
In Disk Utility, sometimes the disk is already unmounted and grayed out.
So therefor the unmount and eject commands are also greyed out.
At other times the disk does not even show up in Disk Utility.
Thanks, Bob

Thanks for the fast response.
Although your suggestion did not do the trick, it jogged my old mind into
finding a solution that does work. Or seems to work for right now.
The 'drutil' is a command for CD-R/RW media, so it could not see or act on my internal hard drive.
Your suggestion to use a disk utility command sent me off to find a command for other devices and
I remembered the 'diskutil' command.
I did a 'diskutil list' and after a good wait for the failed disk to allow completion,
I was given a list that showed what device the internal disk was (/dev/disk2).
I then did a 'diskutil eject /dev/disk2' and after a similar wait, the disk was ejected and it spun down.
It was a pleasant surprise since the drive is not ejectable and since the OsX Disk Utility could not eject it.
There are things (running the disk utility) that do seem to wake up the disk occasionally,
but all I have to do is issue the command again.
Thanks
p.s. Perhaps I was not clear in my original question that
I wanted to spin down my internal ide hard disk - sorry if that was a confusion.
p.p.s. It is also very interesting that I called Apple support and
they could not give me this simple solution.

Internal Disks = GUID. External = APM. Why?

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