OS 8.6 Find Hard Drive Size?

speXedy · #1 September 10th, 2007, 09:21 AM

I went to Apple & then About This Mac, but it doesn't say it there. I also double clicked on the HD on the desktop and it says 1.1gb avaible, but that could be the size left. I want to know the whole size. Its a Macintosh Powerbook G3 233 MHz w/ 32mbs of RAM and running OS 8.6.

Could this laptop support OSX Panther?

DeltaMac · #2 September 10th, 2007, 09:56 AM

The Apple System Profiler (under your Apple Menu) will tell you.
Also, you can Get Info on your hard drive (click on the hard drive, and choose Get Info from the file menu, or just press command (Apple)-I

speXedy · #3 September 10th, 2007, 09:58 AM

Thanks for the info, it's 2gbs can it run Panther?

DeltaMac · #4 September 10th, 2007, 10:26 AM

The short answer is - no...

Panther requires 128MB, although it can run on 64MB. Absolutely not with only 32MB, it won't even try. Your iMac is a Bondi-blue model, the first iMac. There's two RAM memory slots on the processor card. Some will be limited to a 256 + 128, or total of 384MB, others can take the maximum of 2x256 or total of 512MB - and you will struggle with finding memory that actually will work in those slots. You need PC-66 SO-DIMMs. PC-100, or PC-133 SO-DIMMs are _supposed_ to work, but you may find that you have to return several pieces that just refuse to be recognized. I think you will get the most success with a pair of 128MB chips.

Sounds like someone has replaced the original hard drive with something smaller! All those first iMacs came with a 4GB hard drive. Even that 4GB is not very much space for OS X in any version. 2GB hard drive would be a challenge! (or a big headache!) A custom install, to be sure, and removing all excess language support files will help.

speXedy · #5 September 10th, 2007, 10:32 AM

It's not an iMac it's a PowerBook

**Giaguara** · #6 September 10th, 2007, 10:45 AM

Still ... 233 MHz is very slow for anything after 9.x
Even if you were able to add more memory.
Even for 9.2 I'd suggest more RAM, minimum 64 MB, 128 or 256 way better.

DeltaMac · #7 September 10th, 2007, 11:21 AM

Sorry, I completely missed the PowerBook reference.
Still much the same answer, except that Panther (OS X 10.3.x) is not supported. Maximum is 10.2.8. - and 32MB RAM just isn't enough!, And, the 2GB hard drive isn't a good choice for working with OS X.
If you get those upgraded, then Panther _is_ possible through XPostFacto
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/11168

Qion · #8 September 10th, 2007, 12:48 PM

I put 128MB RAM in the same PowerBook you have and it ran Panther alright through XPostFacto. I used a legacy PCMCIA wireless card to connect to the internet, and it was okay for simple browsing/chatting/sending email. I never used it for serious work, however; I don't think that's plausible. The biggest issue I had using the PowerBook was filling the hard drive within 30 minutes of browsing. With iChat, Safari, and Mail.app running, I had something like 250MB scratch disk (a ridiculously low amount).