Redoing
- Thread starter Cree
- Start date
On the Mac OS installer CD into the CD-ROM drive and reboot. Hold the C key down until you see the happy Mac. At that point, the computer has seen your C key down and will boot from the CD.
Once booted, look in the Utilities folder for the application called Drive Setup. Double click on it. That's the utility that will let you reformat the drive (I recommend HFS+). Once you've done that you can install the system software.
Once booted, look in the Utilities folder for the application called Drive Setup. Double click on it. That's the utility that will let you reformat the drive (I recommend HFS+). Once you've done that you can install the system software.
DeltaMac
Tech
The Performa 630CD is not a PowerMac, it is an old 68040 processor, which limits a lot of what you can do, for example, no OS X or OS 9, this will runnothing newer than OS 8.1..... Did you get any CDs with this Mac? If not, you're limited even more. Will the system boot? Why do you want to format it?
wow a Performa, haven't heard that in a while. Things have really changed. Remember the original G3, in the beige box? I remember the 4 in mini mac, lol, i could never get a app to run on it due to lack of memory. My high school had a old one i would mess with way back in 93 or so. It had Photoshop 2 on it, no layers, mostly line tools and selections to make edits to images. I'm getting old 
I dont have any discs. Any way to fdisk it or somehow redo it without those discs. Hey Im mac stupid so please help.
*edit*
It will boot, The previous owner has alot of stuff that i dont want and i just want a mac to have around and toy around with to see if i want to buy a good mac.
*edit*
It will boot, The previous owner has alot of stuff that i dont want and i just want a mac to have around and toy around with to see if i want to buy a good mac.
monktus
Registered
You can't reformat the boot disk when you're running a system from it if you see what I mean. Also, there's no point you reformatting if you don't have a CD to install a system with! Unless you can get a hold of a system CD (8 is the best you could run as DeltaMac said) then you'd just be as well deleting the stuff you don't want.
And the 630 is very old (about 1994), eqivilent to maybe a 486? This was just before Pentiums/PowerPC arrived. So while os8 is pretty solid, you won't get a very good idea of what Macs are like now.
And the 630 is very old (about 1994), eqivilent to maybe a 486? This was just before Pentiums/PowerPC arrived. So while os8 is pretty solid, you won't get a very good idea of what Macs are like now.
Arden
Where mah "any" keys at?
Hey, the Performa can more now than a 486 could do 5 years ago. Remember, Apple builds their computers to last, not to become obsolete when a new architecture or OS is released.
While it's true you won't get a "true Mac experience" from using a Performa (you can't run the latest games or powerful applications), you can still go online, use a word processor, and other basic stuff like that. Look through what is on the computer and see if there's anything you want to keep. (My dad bought me a used iMac from a friend of his, and I didn't delete anything off it except the old account. I kept all the programs that were on it, including Virtual PC 3.) Reformatting a drive is for extreme measures only, and you shouldn't do it unless there's actually something wrong with your computer. If all you want to do is get rid of old data, all you need to do is drag it to and empty the Trash.
Stick with the system you have, delete whatever you don't need and keep what you like, and come back to us when you run into a problem. We'll be here for you.
While it's true you won't get a "true Mac experience" from using a Performa (you can't run the latest games or powerful applications), you can still go online, use a word processor, and other basic stuff like that. Look through what is on the computer and see if there's anything you want to keep. (My dad bought me a used iMac from a friend of his, and I didn't delete anything off it except the old account. I kept all the programs that were on it, including Virtual PC 3.) Reformatting a drive is for extreme measures only, and you shouldn't do it unless there's actually something wrong with your computer. If all you want to do is get rid of old data, all you need to do is drag it to and empty the Trash.
Stick with the system you have, delete whatever you don't need and keep what you like, and come back to us when you run into a problem. We'll be here for you.
monktus
Registered
You would use Apple Drive Setup to reformat the drive. My point was that you can't do this while you're running a system on the drive you want to erase. If you want to reformat it you'll need to have another system running on a CD or another HD or whatever and boot up with that one. Its just the same as with Windows - if you just had one HD running a system with no CD backup you probably wouldn't be able to reformat the drive, and even if you could then you'd be left with no OS to install.
Rhino_G3
Registered
It's been a long time since I've used a dos/windows version of fdisk but I didn't think you could delete the current active boot partition. That's strange.
Unless you find an OS 8 or below CD you'll be SOL, even if you were able to format the drive.
You'll have the hardware with no OS... just like a PC with only a BIOS, no DOS, no nada. A hunk of metal with some pretty, flickering lights.
If you're wanting to clean the machine out, just stay away from the folder called "system" on the HD. That is the equivalent of the "windows" folder on a PC. Once you get more familiar with the Mac you can then start pearing down anything within there.
Unless you find an OS 8 or below CD you'll be SOL, even if you were able to format the drive.
You'll have the hardware with no OS... just like a PC with only a BIOS, no DOS, no nada. A hunk of metal with some pretty, flickering lights.
If you're wanting to clean the machine out, just stay away from the folder called "system" on the HD. That is the equivalent of the "windows" folder on a PC. Once you get more familiar with the Mac you can then start pearing down anything within there.