How do you get rid of OS9 on a G4 that has OSX as well?

[kwebbotaurus]

I inherited a Mac G4 which has both OSX & OS9 systems on it, I only use OSX, so want to get rid of OS9 to free up some hard drive space.

Do I just drag OS9 to the waste basket?

 

[muzzi]

That should work, or there are a couple of apps you could you that are mentioned in the thread below.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=483688

Muzzi

 

[MrSossidge]

There will be a folder on the machine somewhere called 'System Folder'.
It should have a folder icon with a 9 on it as opposed to System with an X on it.

Drag it into the waste bin and delete it.

I'd be tempted to back it up onto a CD first though as you never know, it might come in usefull if you have a mchine that will still run it.

In the System Preferences the will be a control panel for Classic. Just check that first to make sure it doesn't load on startup.

 

[kwebbotaurus]

Dragging it to the waste basket and deleting didn't work, as it reappears each time I restart.

Any ideas?

 

[raigraphixs]

Dragging it to the waste basket and deleting didn't work, as it reappears each time I restart.

Any ideas?

is the folder empty?, if you thrashed the files, which would of taken sometime to empty. If your in OSX mode you should be able to delete os9 folder for good.

 

[kwebbotaurus]

OS9 appears as a hard drive on the desktop rather than as a folder in the system folder. Putting it in the trash is almost like ejecting a disc rather than deleting it.

 

[terryxpress]

The operating system on your G4 must be as old as the machine, that it still includes Classic. The new OS comes out in November, which would replace both Classic and your OS with just the new OS. However, just how much hard disc space you will recover...I doubt it will help if you're so short you're having to delete individual programs. So even finding a way to delete Classic may well not solve your problem. If you don't want the full expense of the new OS, then with the new OS coming out, Amazon sellers will probably be selling OS 10.4 dirt cheap, so you get to update your OS somewhat and get rid of Classic when you install it.
The second possibility costs even more money: buy an external storage disc. How big you need will depend on what you are saving - video eats up 4 to 5 GBs a pop. And I can't remember whether the G4 has Firewire - essential for quick reading and saving.

 

[jont]

OS9 appears as a hard drive on the desktop rather than as a folder in the system folder. Putting it in the trash is almost like ejecting a disc rather than deleting it.

So it sounds like there the hard drive has been partitioned into two and OS9 installed on one partition and OSX on the other ...

If the OS9 drive is now empty then you can just change the name of the drive to 'Data' or something else and use the space ...

You won't be able to delete the partition and claim back the disk space without reformatting the whole drive and doing a new installation of OSX from the master cd/dvd ...

Jon

 

[SamRadford]

You won't be able to delete the partition and claim back the disk space without ...

Actually you can - but only if you buy something like "Drive Genius" by "Prosoft".

But bear in mind that the G4 tower* has three Hard Drive bays so it may be an actual drive and not a partition.

*I'm assuming the OP is referring to a tower and not an iMac or iBook or something else with a G4 processor!

 

[kwebbotaurus]

Actually you can - but only if you buy something like "Drive Genius" by "Prosoft".

But bear in mind that the G4 tower* has three Hard Drive bays so it may be an actual drive and not a partition.

*I'm assuming the OP is referring to a tower and not an iMac or iBook or something else with a G4 processor!

It's a tower, but there's only one drive inside, so I guess it's partitioned.

Any reccomendations for an external hard drive and also a DVD-RW?

 

[jont]

Yes you're right Sam but was trying to keep things simple (I have DG and its a really handy bit of software) ...

kweb - you'll need a HD with firewire as the G4 towers don't have usb2.0 ... you should be able to replace the existing cd drive with a dvd drive for about £25 - Apple generally used Pioneer drives so have a hunt for them ... I got my one from here : http://svp.co.uk/index.php?ref=buyers ... enter code 'theteamatsvp' and get another 10% off ...

If you can post the model no of your G4 (should be M/******) then can better advise on memory, etc

Jon

 

[kwebbotaurus]

kweb - you'll need a HD with firewire as the G4 towers don't have usb2.0 ... you should be able to replace the existing cd drive with a dvd drive for about £25 - Apple generally used Pioneer drives so have a hunt for them ... I got my one from here : http://svp.co.uk/index.php?ref=buyers ... enter code 'theteamatsvp' and get another 10% off ...

If you can post the model no of your G4 (should be M/******) then can better advise on memory, etc

Jon

Thanks, are the DVD drives easy to install, do I need to order the cables or will the ones from the CD drive be OK?

My model No. is M5183

 

[jont]

The existing cables will be OK - other models shipped with a dvd drive so the ATA flat ribbon cable and power cable should be all you will need to connect ...

Your G4 is a 'sawtooth' model, the max ram you can install is 2gb (crucial link for info: http://crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=2068351BA5CA7304) ... has ATI Rage 128 graphics card in an AGP-type slot ... will run *most* current software but not very quickly ;-)

Hope that's useful ...

Jon

 

[kwebbotaurus]

The existing cables will be OK - other models shipped with a dvd drive so the ATA flat ribbon cable and power cable should be all you will need to connect ...

Your G4 is a 'sawtooth' model, the max ram you can install is 2gb (crucial link for info: http://crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=2068351BA5CA7304) ... has ATI Rage 128 graphics card in an AGP-type slot ... will run *most* current software but not very quickly ;-)

Hope that's useful ...

Jon

Thanks for the info, how about external hard drives any recommendations, don't need loads of storage space.

 

[jont]

You might find it difficult buying one without lots of storage these days !!

could try ebay if you are feeling brave - otherwise look for LaCie, Seagate or Western Digital - but you need one with Firewire 400 to work with your mac ... or you can buy a usb2.0 PCI card and get a USB2 drive but will need to check to see if a usb2 pci card will run on an old mac ...

Jon

 

[SamRadford]

I bought a Seagate 300GB USB2/Firewire 7200RPM from Dabs.com

Since it has both Firewire and USB2 connections, it's about as "futureproof" as anything can be.

You can never have too much storage space. I've already had to buy the 500GB version of this!

Hmm, these products appear to be discontinued!

But if you go to www.dabs.com and type 4HLVWS into the "quicklinx" box, you'll see the latest version.