OS X on 2nd IDE HD

[jb]

OK, I've read lots of posts and a little in some of the downloadable .pdf documentation that OS X cannot be installed on a 2nd IDE HD. I don't want to seem dumb about this (though I probably am) but I thought that with IDE HDs there is basically no difference between a Master and Slave drive. I mean, there are no device IDs like there are with SCSI, so why does it matter or how does OS X know the difference?

I guess it won't be any real hassle to just install OS X onto my Master 20GB Quantum HD. I wanted to just make a partition on my second 40GB Maxtor HD because it has less stuff on it and if something happened it wouldn't be too big of a deal. I'm worried about something happening to all of my files that are on the Master Quantum HD. If I just set up a partition on the Master HD, do I have any reason to worry about something happening to my Mac OS 9 partition and files if something should by chance go wrong with the OS X partition?

I'm sorry that I am so paranoid about this, I just want to do all I can to protect my files and computer. Yes, I know that I am putting things at risk by even using OS X, I know it is a beta and there are going to be bugs and crashes. Thanks for the help!

 

[pmb]

OS X works fine on some slave ATA disks. It depends on the disk and the CPU you own.

But the easiest way to deal with this is to switch the master and slave settings of your two disks. Mac OS 9 will run fine on a slave disk.

-pmb

 

[rhino]

I've got a 450 MHz g3 with an two 20 gig WD hard drives and OS X works flawlessly on the slave drive.

 

[asterizk]

Originally posted by pmb
But the easiest way to deal with this is to switch the master and slave settings of your two disks. Mac OS 9 will run fine on a slave disk.
-pmb

Hey pmb,

I've got a G3-All-In-One, and my second harddrive (a Maxtor 19GB IDE) is mounted in the bay where a Zip drive would have otherwise gone.

How do I know if it's the master or the slave drive? Do I need to open up my machine to change these settings?

Thanks for your help
Krishen

 

[asterizk]

I wrote:
How do I know if it's the master or the slave drive? Do I need to open up my machine to change these settings?
[/B]

I ended up just copying my system folder(!) to my second harddrive and putting OS X on my primary drive. It all just works. Now that's flexibility I'd like to see under OS X!

Krishen