Fresh OSX install...

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Lamont_Dennis

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I have (2) 250gig HD's & I'm wanting to do a fresh install of OSX 10.4.2

In an effort to stay organized I would like to make one HD be my System Drive and house all my programs/applications & the other be my Media Drive to house project files, recorded takes, and various media that I'll use for Audio & Video work.

Currently 1 HD is called G5 HD & the other is called Macintosh HD. I notice that they both have applications installed on them.

1) I'm curious if this is a MAC thing to distribute applications over 2 HD's like this or if this can be avoided?

2) Would it be best to wipe the HD's clean before install or just do the install as is and let the installation wipe the HD's clean?

3) How do I know if my HD's are 'RAIDED' together?--I'm thinking they're not since they show up as 2 seperate drives.--
 
It is possible to spread the data on any partition you want. I have divided my 80 gig drive into two parts: System OS X, the other one's called Maindrive. The first one has only the system, the other one contains all my music, pics, websites, and even applications.

You can do this in the Mac OS X Setup - you can run the Disk Utility and partition the drives in the way you want. Or format them.

I recommend wiping the drive(s) from within the set up, because I find to have almost no problems with a clean install.
 
1) No -- someone would have to change the default install location in order for an application to be installed on a non-system drive. In other words, the applications on the non-system drive were either installed directly there by selecting a custom install location, or they were moved there after being installed on the system drive.

2) I always prefer to start with a clean slate. It's a simple matter of preference, though. I would recommend at least wiping the drive you intend to install OS X on and start fresh.

3) The hard drives will only be in a RAID configuration if you have the drives hooked up to a PCI RAID card that automatically RAIDs the drives, or if you used Disk Utility to make a software RAID out of the drives. If the drives show up separately on the desktop, then they are not in a RAID configuration.
 
In response to your wiping the hard disk question, definitely yes. And not just an 'Erase', make sure you choose the option to Write zeros to the disk — the equivalent of a full format.
 
Veljo said:
In response to your wiping the hard disk question, definitely yes. And not just an 'Erase', make sure you choose the option to Write zeros to the disk — the equivalent of a full format.
Click to expand...
Whoa... That's exactly what I'd like to do!

-- So can I do this just by using my Power Mac G5 Software Install and Restore CD's?

(I would also like to clean out my 2nd HD so that it's ready for files but NOT install anything yet.)
-- Should I select my 2nd HD and have it Write zeros to the disk without installing anything?
-- Or should I just DELETE everything that's on it?
 
You should have a disc that says Mac OS X Install on it. This is separate from the restore discs.

Insert the DVD into your Mac, restart the Mac and hold down the C key. Your Mac will start up off the DVD. Once it starts up and a menubar appears, choose Disk Utility from under one of the menus. Select the disk you wish to full format from the left, click on the Erase tab on the right and there should be a button somewhere that says Security options or Options. Click that, then there should be a checkbox in there that says Write zeros to disk. Check it, click OK, then when you click Erase it will do a full format.

When the format is done (it will take a while) choose Quit from the Disk Utility menu and install OS X as you normally would.
 
OK, so I... used my OSX 10.3.3 Disks to Write Zeros to the Disk.

I partitioned one of my HDs as System & Overflow and kept the other as 1 big partition.

(It took 1 1/2 hours each to re-format my 250GB HD's.)

1HD 1Partition -> System contains my Applications
1HD 2Partition -> Overflow contains 'organized' folders forProject Files, Downloaded Software, etc...
2HD 1Partition -> 1 big partition will be my Working MEDIA Drive for Loops, Project Source Files, Rendering, etc...

I then did the upgrade to OSX 10.4.2 & Installed my Applications in the correct place. Since I'm new to the MAC platform I just had to set things up in a more logical way than it was when it arrived.

I ran Disk Utility and Verified/Repaired Disk Permissions. I then ran Software Update and updated all my installed software. I ran Disk Utility and Verified/Repaired Disk Permissions again.

So Far - So Good... but like I say... I'm new to Mac... so you know you'll be seeing a lot of me here.

I definitely THANK YOU guys for your help. I couldn't have done it without you.

--- Now I'm on to figure out how to setup 2x 250GB HD's for a PC & MAC Compatible 1394 RAID 0 case.
 
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