So, I’m planning on buying the tibook—2nd week in August is the target date. I thought that my machine would now be preinstalled with OSX, but it seems that the company I am buying them from does not have it that way. I have to mail away to Apple to get the free CDs. I guess that’s ok—obviously it depends on how new the machines are to determine whether or not the software is preinstalled—the machines I would get shipped on May 29.

My question becomes, then ... how hard is it really to install OSX. I hear about partitioning and I hear about this and that. Keep in mind, that, to start, I am only going to have a 10gb HD (can’t believe I am saying only to that!) ..... in the future I want a peerless portable hard drive to store other things on, but here’s what I want to know.

1. Can I run 9.1 and X with a 10gb HD and still have room for some stuff? I also have a desktop with a 30gb HD, so most of the files I have will reside here and be transferred as needed in an attempt to evenly divide space.

2. How hard is it to install OSX?
3. Do you recommend partition or no partition?
4. Does the installation walk you through partitioning? Never done it.

5. Apple is offering the disk with 10.03 on it. It may be 10.04 by the time I get it since they are offering that version via download. Is 10.03 or 10.04 easier to install from the getgo than .. say.. 10.0 was?

Those are my basic questions right now, although I’m sure I have a million more. Can you all give me some advice? I know macs, but I don’t know a thing about OSX other than I love the way it looks!

Thanks a lot.

Scottk

1. Can I run 9.1 and X with a 10gb HD and still have room for some stuff? I also have a desktop with a 30gb HD, so most of the files I have will reside here and be transferred as needed in an attempt to evenly divide space.

I think you should be fine with 9.1 on a 10GB HD.  My iMac has only a 13GB drive and I have X and 9.1 on separate partitions.  The question is:  what do you want to use as your main OS (X or 9)?

2. How hard is it to install OSX?

The installation process is pretty smooth, but any partitioning you wish to do must be done in advance.  Also, if you want the classic environment, you must have a copy of OS 9 installed before you install X on top of it.

3. Do you recommend partition or no partition?

If you have big applications that you can only use in Mac OS 9 (such as Photoshop or others), it may be smarter to partition the drive to leave a clean, untouched Mac OS 9 system folder.  I would suggest making that partition small enough for the system and the apps you wish to run in it.  I would save all documents to your user folder on Mac OS X in order to keep everything in the same place (and make it easier when these apps go to X).  If you don’t have a need for OS 9 except through the Classic environment, I’d use one partition with X on top of 9.

4. Does the installation walk you through partitioning? Never done it.

No.  All partitioning must be done through drive setup in Mac OS 9 before you install Mac OS X.

5. Apple is offering the disk with 10.03 on it. It may be 10.04 by the time I get it since they are offering that version via download. Is 10.03 or 10.04 easier to install from the getgo than .. say.. 10.0 was?

I would say that you’ll be happier with 10.0.3 than those of us who started with 10.0.0.  There is a large difference in performance, but the install process should be the same.  The downloadable updates are a breeze as well, so you shouldn’t have a problem.

Good luck!

Brad

Thanks for the quick reply, Brad! A few questions:

When you say partitioning has to be done in advance. When I buy my tibook, it will have 9.1 preinstalled. To partition, does this mean I have to reinstall the 9.1 when I install X? thus losing everything the computer came with? Or am I missing something?

And if I choose not to partition, then I can just install X when I get it and leave 9.1 uninstalled, right?

About classic ... do all 9.1 apps work in classic? Like AIM, IE5, outlook Xpress, itunes, imovie, Acrobat reader, adobe photodeluxe, DVD player, palm desktop, quicktime, realplayer? Or do only some work? If only some work, then I will still want to use 9.1. Sounds like partitioning is my best bet, huh? But having to reinstall everything—isn’t that hassle considering it comes ready out of the box?

Thanks a lot, Brad.

Scott

Scott,

When you say partitioning has to be done in advance. When I buy my tibook, it will have 9.1 preinstalled. To partition, does this mean I have to reinstall the 9.1 when I install X? thus losing everything the computer came with? Or am I missing something?

Unfortunately, to partition requires a complete initialization of the drive, losing all data.  However, once you partition, you can run the TiBook restore CD on the 9.1 partition (making sure you don’t select “erase destination disk”) and you will have the factory software install on your 9.1 partition.  You can then install Mac OS X on the other partition.

And if I choose not to partition, then I can just install X when I get it and leave 9.1 uninstalled, right?

Yes, you can.  And even in that situation you can reboot back and forth between the two OSes in addition to using the Classic environment.

About classic ... do all 9.1 apps work in classic? Like AIM, IE5, outlook Xpress, itunes, imovie, Acrobat reader, adobe photodeluxe, DVD player, palm desktop, quicktime, realplayer? Or do only some work? If only some work, then I will still want to use 9.1. Sounds like partitioning is my best bet, huh? But having to reinstall everything—isn’t that hassle considering it comes ready out of the box?

All of the applications you mentioned, except RealPlayer and DVD Player, I am sure will work in Classic or have Mac OS X versions.  Outlook Express works fine in the Classic mode, as well as AIM and IE5.  QuickTime is a native Mac OS X application, as well as iMovie and iTunes (you’ll have to download the latter two).  IE5.1 is available for X, but I would suggest OmniWeb 4.0 (a much better browser in my opinion).  IE5 Classic should still run.  DVD support is rumored for MWNY or when the 10.1 update comes out in August, so I wouldn’t be too worried about that.  Palm Desktop I believe works, but someone else could confirm that for me.  As for RealPlayer, I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know.  There currently is not a Mac OS X version.  Finally, PhotoDeluxe should run in classic mode without many problems, especially if you have at least 192MB of RAM.  I have heard that Photoshop runs fine with that much, so my guess is that PhotoDeluxe should as well.

Remember, either way you set it up you will be able to reboot into Mac OS 9 if the need arises.

Brad

Brad: That was very helpful. Thank you.

So, just to summarize. What is the benefit of partitioning vs. not partitioning? From your replies, I’d rather not do it, not saying I won’t, but I’d rather not.

thanks again.

Scott

Brad,
I can confirm that Palm Desktop works just fine for me, and I can hotsync it with my Handspring Visor.

_________________
David Nelson
Mac Observer Forum Mod

“ERROR 2393: HAXORS HAEV STOELN YUOR MEGAHURTZ!!!” - Jeff K.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David Nelson on 2001-07-04 15:26 ]</font>

Well Scott, there is only one real advantage to partitioning in this case—having a copy of Mac OS 9.1 that is untouched by Mac OS X makes me feel much better about stability if I really need to do something in 9.1.  I’ve also heard that some configurations using one partition for both OSes have run into some strange problems, myself included.  Just make sure when you partition you size them based on your needs!  When I did it I didn’t realize how much I still needed OS 9.1 (because of my lack of RAM) for some 9.1-only apps.  Now my 9.1 partition is full and I don’t have an easy way of backing up without bugging someone for their firewire CD-R over weekends!

Brad

RealPlayer works for me in Classic as a stand alone app, but not from within IE.

Partitioning (again): Scott, get a bigger drive than the 10GB if at all possible.  That is an upgradeable option.  If the vendor you are considering doesn’t offer it, find one that does.

On my Pismo, I have a 12GB drive that has a 3GB Classic partition and a 9GB X partition.  Keeping Classic on a separate partition keeps it cleaner and helps make file management easier.  I think that having both OSs on one partition is just messy because both OSs handle file management differently.

If I have to boot into Classic, having that OS on its own partition makes it easier to deal with.  I strongly recommend this.

Thanks, everyone for the answers. But I am still confused. Ok, let me try to talk myself through it.

1. Two partitions. One for OS9 and one for OSX. Is that part right? Bryan, when you say one for classic and one for X, do you mean OS9 as the classic partition?

2. What is the best way to determine how much room to give each?

3. Do I always split the amount so the total is equal to my HD capacity Meaning, if I have 10gb space, does it always have to be 2 and 8 or 3 and 7 and 4 and 6? Assume I use 9.1 a lot. What would be my best config in your opinions?

4. For me I think money wise and otherwise that the best HD option for me is to get what the computer comes with and then use a removeable hard drive like one of those new peerless drives. That way I can transfer between my desktop and laptop hassle free. I agree with you Bryan, but getting a bigger drive in the machine internally costs so much more and getting the external is so much more fair in this case. Don’t you agree?

Thanks again, all. I enjoy reading these replies immensly.

Scott

P.S. We should have a word of the day. Today’s word is immensly!

1. Two partitions. One for OS9 and one for OSX. Is that part right? Bryan, when you say one for classic and one for X, do you mean OS9 as the classic partition?

Yes, I believe he does (but he’ll have to confirm for sure).  That’s the way I have it set up on my iMac.

2. What is the best way to determine how much room to give each?

This is a tough one, but I would suggest doing a little addition to determine just how much space you’ll need.  For example, take the size of the 9.1 install with all factory installed software, then add to it the applications that you HAVE to run in Mac OS 9 (either through Classic or when booted into 9.1), and then leave enough space for files created with these applications.  (NOTE: if you use Outlook Express and don’t delete e-mails, the user files can be pretty large).  Account for all these things and look at your total.  If your total is approx. 2GB, I’d suggest a 3GB 9.1 partition.  Then give X the rest of the drive.  I do have to agree with Bryan, though, a larger internal drive would be best (try to find one with the 20GB HD).

3. Do I always split the amount so the total is equal to my HD capacity Meaning, if I have 10gb space, does it always have to be 2 and 8 or 3 and 7 and 4 and 6? Assume I use 9.1 a lot. What would be my best config in your opinions?

Or 2.5 and 7.5…  Yes, the two partitions must total up to your HD capacity.  Use the procedure I mentioned above to give you a rough idea.  Others may have better ideas.  In your case I would personally use anywhere from 2 to 3 GB for 9.1 and 7 to 8 GB for OS X.  If you use 9.1 a lot, expecially for heavy work (in terms of file sizes and apps), I’d look towards the 3 or 4 range.  The only problem is, if you these sizes turn out not to work best for you, you have to re-initialize and re-partition.  For you, though, I think this will work good.

4. For me I think money wise and otherwise that the best HD option for me is to get what the computer comes with and then use a removeable hard drive like one of those new peerless drives. That way I can transfer between my desktop and laptop hassle free. I agree with you Bryan, but getting a bigger drive in the machine internally costs so much more and getting the external is so much more fair in this case. Don’t you agree?

The external drive is definately a must for most users for saving larger files and for easy transfer of them from one machine to the other.  With this set up you can partition your internal drive like we mentioned above, and then it will house the OSes and the applications.  You can save your files on the external for easy transfer.  If you were thinking of installing X on your external device, I’m not sure that X is bootable on firewire devices yet, but I may be wrong.

Hope this clears some things up.

Good Luck!
Brad

Brad: It sure does clear some things up. thank you.

Just to clarify to what you last wrote .... I was not planning on installing an OS on the external. I would use this for files, etc. That’s one reason I like the peerless drive. The cartridges are each 10gb or 20 gb and they are swappable, so you can save them and put in the files you need for that time. Amazing actually. that way, I could always be upgrading the size of the harddrive rather than paying more to get an internal one that’s 10gb more. But it’s all about money.

Thanks again, Brad.

Scott personally on the 10gb TiBook I prefer to not partition at all since you really only need one good clean install of 9.1 to do it all with there is no since wasting the space. Partitioning is great if you really need 9.1 a lot and spend most of your time there. It keeps things from writing over your setup however if you spend more time in X then one partition is probably your better choice.

ok.  So I have read all this.  My question is:  So what if I make two partitions…..one for 9 say 10GB and then one for X say 20GB.  When I’m in X will classic be accessed from the OS 9 partition? Will everything I make in classic be stored in the OS 9 partition?  Or will it be that you have OS 9 on one partion but then OS 9 is also installed on the OS X partion for the classic?  Will it give me an option to boot into each partition at startup?  Thanks

On thte TiBook OSX is absolutely gorgeous Scott, you are gonna love it. I would probably partition first time i installed it though since you dont have that many X apps yet.

But would you still recommend that if you knew that the company that I am ordering it from installs it for me but not as a partition? Would you redo their installation with a partition or just take it out of the box and go?

Folks I need your MAC minds here!  I’m new to computers(11/2yrs),self taught.  So i have experinced frusration like you can’t imagine while learning.

My problem is with installations too.  First off my computer is 400MHz
IMAC DV SE Graphite, with 256MB of ram.  It came pre-installed with OS9 on it.  I had up to OS9.0.4,but couldn’t upgrade over the Net anymore, Apple said since i used the ‘Language Kit’?!  So i went out and bought OSX.  I installed the 9.1 CD,...no problem!  Installed OSX,..no problemo!  This past Sat.  I got the 10.1 upgrade, went to install it,...forgot damn password!   So I reinstalled OSX CD went to the part to change password, changed it.  Then I put 10.1 CD back in, CD asked for password,...i gave password.  Nothing after that, no window saying password was incorrect, nothing.  When to “Force Quit”, window came up asking me if i was sure i wanted to do that because disk was in process.  I think it was just spinning!?  Anyway install start button was greyed out too! WHY????

My question is this.  I never partitioned anything with the installs of both 9.1 & OSX.  Do I need to uninstall 9.1 & OSX and start again?  If i do,...how do I do it?  Or can i just drop the 9.1 on top of everything again and then OSX after that, and so on so forth?

Last but not least.  Is there any software that anyone knows of that retrieves passwords from harddrives?