Need advice - have to upgrade from OS 9.2.1 to OS X 10.3 - help!!!

[SusanA]

Well the header says it all.  I have an old iMac G3 at 9.2.1 and need to upgrade to OSX 10.3 (Panther).  The Mac Group guys basically said to just back up my hard drive, then install Panther (custom-install) and then load back the stuff from my old system.  I have a 6 Gig hard drive and have no idea how much of it is being used up.  I really can't afford a jump drive right now and anyway I understand they're only good for about 1 Gig.  Currently when I insert the Panther disk (which, btw, is grey - doesn't have the X on it, is it bootlegged? GOt if off MegaMacs.com) I'm just told that the disk is unreadable and the machine kindly offers to initialize it for me.

In other words I really don't know what the hell I'm doing and am afraid I'lll just crash my computer.  Can anyone help me out? Please?

[Macantosh]

First, if you have a 6GB hard drive, you don't have a big enough hard drive to install MacOS X.  It may fit, but you wouldn't have enough hard drive space left for it to run optimally.  You'd probably need a 20GB hard drive. Second, if you don't mind me asking, is why do you want to upgrade?  You shouldn't upgrade if you aren't planning to replace all your applications with MacOS X applications.  If you're going to use mostly OS 9 applications, it's a wasted upgrade.  From what you're saying you seem to be low on money and I can't see how this gonna work without some money being spent.  How much RAM do you have on the iMac?  You may need to upgrade that too.  You might get away with just a hard drive and RAM upgrade of the iMac.

You should back up the hard drive before you do this upgrade, as Mac Group says.

[ben schmidt]

Susan,
I can't explain why a bona-fide OS X install disc wouldn't have some labelling on it as to its authenticity. But as far as it not being readable on your older Mac, my guess would be that the OS X disk is a DVD data disk. These typically have a capacity of 4-5 GB, or about 8x-10x the capacity of a CD data disk.  And your older Mac may have a CD-drive that pre-dates DVD data disks, and hence may not know how to read them. This was not uncommon when OS X first came out in 2000/2001, and so when Apple switched to shipping its software on single DVD data disk instead of multiple CD data disks, it offered a "Media Exchange Program". I couldn't find an Apple webpage for Panther, but for Tiger:

       http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade

...it says "Tiger ships on a DVD, but if your Mac doesn't have a built-in DVD-ROM player, you'll need CD media. When you buy Mac OS X Tiger, you qualify to purchase Tiger CDs for only $9.95."  Of course there are ways around installing OSX from a DVD data disk onto a computer that can't read DVD data disks. For starters, bring your OS X disk to a Mugoo meeting, or have a friend with a new Mac try reading your OS X install disk to confirm that it is in fact readable (in a newer Mac which will have a DVD data disk-capable drive as standard equipment). Once you know your OS X disk is good, then we can proceed. But before that, I agree with Macantosh's suggestion above that it would be helpful to share your motivation to upgrade your older Mac running OS 9 to OS X 10.3. It can be done (I run Tiger on a G3 ibook), but as you're finding out it'll be a bit more work on an older Mac.

best,
...ben

[z-mac]

In other words I really don't know what the hell I'm doing and am afraid I'lll just crash my computer.  Can anyone help me out? Please?

First, you need a bootable installation disc. You can't get this project off the ground without one.

Second, start the computer and look in the Finder to see how much space you have used. The Finder tells you this.

For back-up: Plug an external USB hard drive into the iMac; copy your files. Or burn your stuff onto compact discs, if  you have a CD writer.

Don't spend a large some on an external USB 2.0 hard disk. You can make one yourself for $30-$70 in used parts, depending on the size of the hard disk. You probably don't need anything more than a 20GB disk.

As benschmidt said, you can get OS X onto a 6GB disk but you'll have little space left. Even a 10-12GB hard disk would help. A quick check suggests that the biggest hard disk that you can install in your computer is 120GB. (Twenty times the size of your current disk.)

[Repeater04]

Susan, ....that grey Panther disk  could be a CD, but, most likely it is one of those machine specific  disks
that will really only work in that type of machine.Should have all the info written on the disk itself.

[SusanA]

First, if you have a 6GB hard drive, you don't have a big enough hard drive to install MacOS X.  It may fit, but you wouldn't have enough hard drive space left for it to run optimally.  You'd probably need a 20GB hard drive. Second, if you don't mind me asking, is why do you want to upgrade?  You shouldn't upgrade if you aren't planning to replace all your applications with MacOS X applications.  If you're going to use mostly OS 9 applications, it's a wasted upgrade.  From what you're saying you seem to be low on money and I can't see how this gonna work without some money being spent.  How much RAM do you have on the iMac?  You may need to upgrade that too.  You might get away with just a hard drive and RAM upgrade of the iMac.

You should back up the hard drive before you do this upgrade, as Mac Group says.

Hi Macantosh,

Actually I didn't want to upgrade but am basically being forced to do so.  I belong to www.dpchallenge.com (user name Hotshot7, if anyone interested) and after much shooting with a now-obsolete Samsung, just got a new camera, Canon A700, for my birthday. 

But I can't use it on my Mac as I need at least OS 10.2 in order to use the Canon.  So what I'm doing, in a very cumbersome fashion, is shooting with the Canon, then dowloading the pics onto a PC (!), then loading them onto my old Samsung, by which means they finally end up on my Mac so I can Photoshop them.

Oh, so a 6Gig drive not big enough?  Hmm...something else the Mac Group guys forgot to tell me :(  How much does a 20 G cost to purchase and install?  However I did fork out for a 256 RAM upgrade so I at least now have 300 some RAM to play with. 

And all this for the want of a horseshoe nail.  Or in my case, for the want of being able to take good pics and download them easily for Photoshopping.

[ben schmidt]

SusanA writes:
> Actually I didn't want to upgrade but am basically being forced to do so.  I belong to www.dpchallenge.com
> (user name Hotshot7, if anyone interested) and after much shooting with a now-obsolete Samsung, just got
> a new camera, Canon A700, for my birthday. 
>
> But I can't use it on my Mac as I need at least OS 10.2 in order to use the Canon.  So what I'm doing, in a very
> cumbersome fashion,  is shooting with the Canon, then dowloading the pics onto a PC (!), then loading them
> onto my old Samsung, by which means they finally end up on my Mac so I can Photoshop them.

Hi Susan,
If all you want to do is get the digital images from your new Canon A700 into your Mac so you can photoshop them, why not just pop the SD storage card out of your Canon, drop it into a $20 SD-card reader (from Staples, FutureShop, or TheSource), and insert that into your Mac's USB port? I'm no longer familiar with the limitations of a Mac running OS 9,  but surely it can at least read an USB card reader. No nead for the herculean effort of retrofitting OS X onto a vintage mac. What am I missing?
best,
...ben

[Macantosh]

I agree with Ben.  Get a USB SD card reader.  It would be a less costly solution and you won't have to go through the trouble of learning a new OS. MacOS X is different from MacOS 9 and will require some learning and exploring. MacOS X is a great OS, but if you can avoid the cost and learning it may be better for you for now.

By the way, I recommended a 20GB hard drive, because MacOS X 10.3 (Panther) takes about 1.5GB (that's what Apple says, but it sounds low) of HD space, you'll want MacOS 9 on the HD as well which will take another 0.5GB, then there are your applications and you want a couple of GBs for data and for MacOS X to store cache, virtual memory, and temporary files.

[Repeater04]

I agree with everyone else. Get a card reader and your problem is solved. One of my computers also runs 9.2.2, and I use a Sandisk 12 in 1 card reader to read my Canon files.

[SusanA]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies and suggestion re an SD card reader.  Sounds like the best option!

Susan

[ben schmidt]

Hi Susan,
Hope all works out well for you. Since your Canon uses SD memory cards, you can use a smaller SD-card reader rather than a larger, multi-format card reader. Here's the one I use. It's barely larger than a regular USB memory stick, and when I'm not using it to xfer photos from my digital camera to my laptop, I keep a spare SD memory card in it, and use it as a USB memory stick, aka thumb drive.


$19.99 http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=&webid=621170&affixedcode=WW

...ben

[Mattyboy]

Like some others have said, grey discs are model specific, and were meant to be shipped with that model when it was purchased. Black discs with the X on them are universal. People sell the grey ones on ebay all the time, and for a lot less money. Usually you get something called a "Universal Install Disc" when you buy from these sellers, and this disc is typically home-made. That should give you an idea about what you have purchased. These sellers claim that the license is valid and all that, but who knows?