Need Advice: I Want To Add An SSD To My G4 Mirror Door & Install OS 9 On It

[2112st]

Hey folks! This is the first time I'm trying something like this. This will be a second boot up drive that will just have OS9. Reason? I'm recovering files from hard drives that were in beige Macs, and I want to be able to save them to this SSD and perhaps transfer them onto USB sticks.

I want to have the option of being able to boot up OS9 or boot up the other drive which has OSX (the original drive that came with the mirror door).

As you can see, there's already a SCSI card here. What else will I need? I'm looking at getting a 250-gig SSD.

Thanks!

 

[eric]

Is the SSD your using SATA? If so I usually put SATA cards (cheapo $6 ones from Ali Express flashed for mac) - works great - you can sometimes find slightly more expensive old stock on ebay too. key words are sil3112. There's a great thread here with all the details and cavorts https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads...i-power-mac-impossibru-updated-11-22-23.1494/

You can easily dual boot OS9 and OSX on the same drive - only OSX that requires separate partitions for separate versions of the OS. Usually when using such a huge drive on these older machines it's advisable to put the boot partition in the first 128GB only - and the rest can be for data/apps/etc.

If you're going to move those images to something like a BlueSCSI(for use on a real machine) or an emulator - make sure to grab the full byte for byte copy of the drive so it includes the SCSI driver and partition map. If you accidentally just grab the HFS partition a utility like Disk Jockey can convert it for you.

Hopefully that gives you something to start with.

 

[2112st]

Is the SSD your using SATA? If so I usually put SATA cards (cheapo $6 ones from Ali Express flashed for mac) - works great - you can sometimes find slightly more expensive old stock on ebay too. key words are sil3112. There's a great thread here with all the details and cavorts https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads...i-power-mac-impossibru-updated-11-22-23.1494/

You can easily dual boot OS9 and OSX on the same drive - only OSX that requires separate partitions for separate versions of the OS. Usually when using such a huge drive on these older machines it's advisable to put the boot partition in the first 128GB only - and the rest can be for data/apps/etc.

If you're going to move those images to something like a BlueSCSI(for use on a real machine) or an emulator - make sure to grab the full byte for byte copy of the drive so it includes the SCSI driver and partition map. If you accidentally just grab the HFS partition a utility like Disk Jockey can convert it for you.

Hopefully that gives you something to start with.

Thanks for the response!

The original drive that came with this Mac already has OSX and a number of files on it-I don't want to touch that drive. The SSD will likely be a SATA drive, and I will only be using it to back up files from the old SCSI drives I have lying around. That's why I want to install OS9 on it.

 

[Trash80toG4]

AFAIK, the only MDD that can boot into OS9 natively is the FW400 released just for that very purpose. Which version do you have there? If it's FW800 you're stuck with OS9 running in emulation or Classic(?) or whatever you call is. I call it FAUX9

 

[2112st]

AFAIK, the only MDD that can boot into OS9 natively is the FW400 released just for that very purpose. Which version do you have there?

How can I find out?

 

[Patrick]

on the back of the mac, The firewire port is either 400 or 800.

If its 400 it can boot OS9

so look on the back. If its the one that is 800, then it prolly won't boot os 9 native.

(i think there is a way to hack it, but I don't know off the top of my head)

 

[2112st]

on the back of the mac, The firewire port is either 400 or 800.

If its 400 it can boot OS9

View attachment 14408

so look on the back. If its the one that is 800, then it prolly won't boot os 9 native.

(i think there is a way to hack it, but I don't know off the top of my head)

Here ya go.

 

[2112st]

I should have clarified earlier-the internal drive only has OSX.

 

[Patrick]

looks like 400 too me.
it should boot OS 9 fine.

I do remember when Apple removed support for booting OS9 . and it was connected to when they updated to FW800.

 

[2112st]

looks like 400 too me.
it should boot OS 9 fine.

I do remember when Apple removed support for booting OS9 . and it was connected to when they updated to FW800.

I assume that, once I install an SSD, I should be able to install OS9 onto it, yes? I'm thinking about getting a 250 GB SSD. This SSD will only be used to back up data from the old SCSI drives; I plan on putting nothing else there.

 

[Trash80toG4]

LOL! forgot to post my edit.

 

[2112st]

This G4 mirror door is a nice machine-and it's the only classic Mac I plan to hold onto. I just want to use it for data storage.

 

[Patrick]

I assume that, once I install an SSD, I should be able to install OS9 onto it, yes? I'm thinking about getting a 250 GB SSD. This SSD will only be used to back up data from the old SCSI drives; I plan on putting nothing else there.

YES, in theory.

some SSD's don't work in older computers. so .. thats the only sticking point. (that is, if it doesn't work, its prolly a incompatible ssd drive)

..
thats what eric was talking about up there ^ when he mentioned 'sil3112'

So try it. and let us know.

 

[Trash80toG4]

I do remember when Apple removed support for booting OS9 . and it was connected to when they updated to FW800.

Yep, IIRC all the MDD's were FW800 until the content creators pitched a fit because their apps had yet to be up(down)graded to be compatible with OSX. That was one miserable experience for the first couple of releases, took it off my machine and never paid for required upgrades. OS9 versions worked just fine in production thru mid-2004 when I closed up shop. They still work fine, doing all I need for graphics playtime.

Still periodically trying to get my MDD/OS9 Special up and running . . . one day.

 

[Volvo242GT]

Yep, IIRC all the MDD's were FW800 until the content creators pitched a fit because their apps had yet to be up(down)graded to be compatible with OSX. That was one miserable experience for the first couple of releases, took it off my machine and never paid for required upgrades. OS9 versions worked just fine in production thru mid-2004 when I closed up shop. They still work fine, doing all I need for graphics playtime.

Still periodically trying to get my MDD/OS9 Special up and running . . . one day.

Early MDD machines were FW400. Later versions were FW800, until the single 1.25GHz model came out, using the older board.

 

[2112st]

A little info on my G4..

.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Early MDD machines were FW400. Later versions were FW800, until the single 1.25GHz model came out, using the older board.

Learn something new every day:
Three tier first gen MDD released 8/13/02 were FW400, booting into OS9 or OSX
Three tier second gen MDD released 1/28/03 had FW800 and limitation to running Classic under OSX
Last gen (re-gen?) MDD released 6/23/03 with FW400 and booting directly into OS9 again!

Thanks, bud!

Apple Power Mac G4 Specs (All Power Macintosh G4 Technical Specs): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the Apple Power Macintosh G4 series. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, estimated retail prices, and more.

everymac.com