Wanting to upgrade Sawtooth 400 with new hard drive and more memory

Question

Have been reading a lot of posts today on the above upgrades. Am quickly getting confused on all of the info, especially on the hard drive upgrades...
Purchased my Sawtooth back in Dec. 2006 on eBay. Should have been using it all of this time, but my budget wouldn't allow me to put more memory (it's got 256MB now) and a new hard drive in it. Tired of seeing it in the way just sitting there!
The G4 has OS X 10.3 on it. Would like to upgrade to Tiger. Is there a firmware update that needs to be done before upgrading to Tiger? I know that 256MB of memory really isn't enough for Tiger. I thought about getting at least a 512MB stick to make the total memory 768MB (wish I could afford to max the memory). Others have said that OWC and Crucial have good quality memory.
The System Profile shows that it has 10 GB and 60GB hard drives. Imagine the 10GB one is the original. The 60GB was probably added on later. Don't know how old the 60GB is. That's one reason I'd like to replace it to at least a 120GB drive, so I can start fresh without worrying about the 60GB dying. (Do understand that any drive can die; new or old...) Have read about the 128GB size limit on my G4. Don't think I'd use most of the 120GB, so I'd like to stay with that size. Budget won't allow to install a PCI card to allow larger drives anyway. Should I remove the 10GB one as I don't think I'd be using it at all?
I installed a Seagate 120GB Barracuda Ultra ATA/100, 7200RPM, 8MB Cache, 3.5" drive (new, got it on eBay for $40!) in my iMac G3 400. Would like to find the same kind of drive for the G4, if it would work. If the same drive would work in the G4, does anyone know where I could purchase one? Will look on eBay etc. in the meantime.
Thanks for any advice and/or suggestions.

Answer 1

Got the Seagate HD installed, PRAM battery replaced and missing PCI cover replaced. Sure wished that I had the extra memory to install now, but I haven't had the chance to order it yet. I know it's easy to do, but I'm going to have to move the Mac to the table and it's heavy for me to lift (bad back).
Anyway, I started to install OS 9 on the Seagate and have hit a stumbling block! Didn't have this problem when I replaced the HD in my iMac, but it was only a 120GB drive (it needed the firmware updated).
I've looked at other posts on installing OS 9 and even on Apple's support documents and can't find what I exactly need to do! Am getting more confused about it the more I try to find the right answers... Hope one of you can help me some more.
I was able to boot the Mac up from the CD (it's the white one with the orange "9" on it). I clicked on the "Mac OS Install" icon, click on "Continue" (on the "Install Mac OS 9) dialog box, and then it says: A valid destination volume can't be found. To continue the installation process, mount a valid volume for software installation." The destination disk options is grayed out. I then clicked on the "Utilities" icon, and then the "Drive Setup" icon. It shows a list of drives and I clicked on the <not initialized> Type ATA, Bus 2, ID 0, LUN 0 and clicked on the "Initialize" button. Then it says: New Partitioning: 1 Mac OS, Initialization Options: None. If you click on Custome Setup, it says that the Partioning Scheme is "Current Volume," 131072MB (131GB?), under Volume Info Type it says Mac OS Standard. The "OK" button is grayed out. If you click on "1 Partition" on "Partitioning Scheme," then the Volume Info Type says "Mac OS Extended, with Size showing 131071MB. The "OK" button is not grayed out. I didn't go any farther with the OS 9 installation, as I don't know what the heck I'm doing! Don't want to mess something up. Do you or anyone who has helped me with this posting, know the steps I should take next? The Seagate Owner's Manual says if you have a system that can't read the entire 160GB, to just partition the drive for 137GB for now if you don't want to add a PCI controller card etc. For now, all I want to do is use the 128 or 131GB (according to what it says) of the 160GB drive without using a different card or software to recognize all of the 160GB. Do I just do one partition or two... and what else? I'm completely lost...
Sorry for the long post, but had to write down the steps I took, so someone could tell me what to do next.
I don't think you have to worry about PRAM settings; they pretty much take care of themselves - and regenerate when they have to. The time to think about PRAM is when you introduce new hardware and catch your Mac expecting same old, same old, and it isn't.
It was kind of hard to get the old PRAM battery out of its holder. I pryed the right side retainer tab just a bit with a screwdriver to get it out. Noticed that one part of the retainer at the base was cracked! Hope I didn't do that! Put some super glue on the crack (was on the outside only from what I could see). Cleaned off the battery contacts with a pencil eraser and dry Q-tip before installing the new battery. It seems to stay in place even though with the side retainer cracked. If the side retainer would break off the next time the battery would need replacing, would the battery contacts hold it ok? Or would the whole logic board have to be replaced? I put a SAFT 3.6v LS14250 battery in it. The old one was a SAFT LS14250C. Hope the "C" at the end doesn't mean anything.