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[MigMac]

I've acquired an external FW Drive: LaCie, 250 Go ...for future use with real vintage hardware

apparently the drive has been formatted to NTFS windows so I intend to reformat and create 4 partitions. I want one or two of those to be bootable (some Rescue Disk +/_ another customized OS9). What's the best way to partition that drive?

1) disk utility with Sonoma
2) disk utility with OSX Tiger
3) disk setup with MacOS9

on top of partitioning, do I have to do anything special. I read that Tiger's Disk Utility installs an OS9 driver !!! I don't remember doing anything special back in the days (roughly 25 years ago) but maybe FW drives at the time were set to be used by OS9 directly, 'plug and play' 

[ssp3]

Before making plans in creating multi partition bootable drive, verify that your LaCie can boot off of a single OS9 partition at all. 

[aBc]

As mentioned by ssp3 (above) - establish that first.

Then, initialize the entire drive first with OS 9’s Drive Setup 1.9.2.
Then also with DS 1.9.2…  three(?) partition it.

Then… with Tiger, reformat only the 2nd partition.

Sonoma’s Disk Utility?

I suppose (no Sonoma running here)…
then reformat the 3rd partition for Sonoma.

Of course if you intend on having (2) OS 9 based partitions
- reserve partitions one and two for OS 9 etc.

*Firewire drives formatted with anything other than Drive Setup 1.9.2
under OS 9, won’t always be recognized / mounted by OS 9. AND Drive
Setup 1.9.2 will only format erase the entire disk so it must be used first.
Then you may reformat subsequent partitions afterwards, accordingly.

Clear as vintage mud?

It’s a sequential thing.

[MigMac]

thanks for your answers guys

I guess my original post was confusing, not clear enough

I intend to use that LaCie FW drive with a Powerbook G3, I was wondering which tool was the best to format and partition that drive.
I think I'll format/partition it with Disk Setup within MacOS9

[IIO]

OS9 or 10.4 are fine, in OS9 the above mentioned 1.9 tool can have benefits over older ones (like making partitions and supprting bigger disks).

from 10.5 on OS drivers must be added via terminal.

sonoma??? lives in a different dimension and can´t even do the filesystem, not to speak of HFS.

since it is a job of minutes, do not hesitate to try out multiple methods. as you know, you can just copy existing OS9 install onto the new drive.

i personally prefer 10.4.

[MigMac]

absolute weirdness...

I have an old Iomega drive with a double option for connection: FW 400 or USB (2.0)

I haven't used it for years (occasionally on Windows 7 and MacOSX, which version I don't remember)
So I plugged it to my Powerbook, started from OS 9.2.1, the "initialize" window came up, I did it: MacOSExtended => fine, it mounted

Ok I then decided to partition it: the process failed, the disk was unmounted
I restarted and surprise, surprise the disk was there on the desktop but with a lock: write protected !!!!

Kay, I started with Tiger, using Disk Utility I managed to partition it. Restarted with OS9, dang, both locked !! They're usable with Tiger (read and write)

Now, the funniest part comes with this: I plugged the Iomega drive via USB. Window "can't be read, initialize blah blah popped up again" and you know what: disk mounted on the OS9 desktop, read and write

What follows is even greater in terms of weirdness: USB 1.1 on a G3 is not a feast so I reconnected the Iomega drive via the firewire port, relaunched OS9 and dang: read only, write protected !!

Leaves me speechless. But I think my dreams of having bootable partitions on an external FW drive are rather uncertain. Mother Puss Bucket !

[aBc]

What version of Drive Setup is present on OS 9.2.1?
If it isn’t Drive Setup 1.9.2…  get a copy and try that.


However once the drive has been formatted via Tiger’s Disk Utility
even DS 1.9.2 might not even recognize it. And if that’s the case…

Initialize the drive again under Tiger as MS-DOS - then try DS 1.9.2.
(On your PowerBook, you might then be able to reformat & partition.)

If still no-go… try FWB’s Hard Disk Toolkit on your PowerBook to
initialize and format the FW drive. Not best, but might work for you.

Honestly, PowerBooks and even the B&W G3’s aren’t the optimum
platforms for Firewire formatting and partitioning. The later G4’s are.
Especially for use with OS 9.2.2. (And backwards compatible w/ G3.)

If you’ve still no success, I’ll simulate your situation here on Monday
and attempt to provide a specific tested and workable solution.

[MigMac]

Initialize the drive again under Tiger as MS-DOS - then try DS 1.9.2.

I did that. DS 1.9.2 read the disk could be initialized but the process failed 

try FWB’s Hard Disk Toolkit on your PowerBook to
initialize and format the FW drive.

I installed FWB's HardTool Kit 4.5. It read the drive as write protected, no option available format, delete or whatever.

looks like this is a hopeless situation with this LPHD120-C Iomega drive. I hope I'll have more luck with the LaCie FW drive I'm about to receive.

[aBc]

Is it possible to change Ownership and Permissions from “write protected” (under Tiger)… by selecting the FW drive mounted on the desktop, then Command + I (for get info) and then changing from Write Protected there?

[MigMac]

it is "read and write" on Tiger. I think that the issue is with OS9 which sees the disk (formatted by Unix) as some CD-Rom

[aBc]

Very odd indeed. And yes, hopefully much better results with the LaCie.

You are using Tiger to format with your PowerBook and not via some “shell” on your Macbook Air?

I had to ask.

Anyway, just formatted a USB 3.0 (utter blasphemy!) stick as MacOS Extended (with OS 9 driver checked) on a G3 iBook running Tiger. Then rebooted into OS 9 on the same machine (different partition) and Drive Setup 2.1 and 1.9.2 reports the stick as “not supported” but I can still write and read it. There’s no mention of it being write protected.

May try the same route all over again here with a FW drive, later.

Do wonder about the version / dates of your FW extensions too?

[MigMac]

Hello

thanks for your time and help

I've just tried to start it all over following your screenshots

Regarding permissions in Tiger (on the G3 not via the Macbook Air), I see one potential issue, I could set everything the way you did except for owner: I don't have/see the everyone option  I have admin, system, nobody and lots of choices (which I have no idea what they imply) but not "everyone"

I restarted the G3 on two MacOS9 systems, the drive was still locked

The FW Management Extension (Gestion Firewire) is 2.8.4. Disk Setup is 1.9.2

NB: I reconnected the disk via USB ==> read and write. The problem is that USB 1.1 is hardly an option for storage, not mentioning a bootable partition 

[aBc]

Maybe an “upgrade” to OS 9.2.2 would provide a newer version of the Firewire Enabler to 2.8.7 (as shown in the attached image from my Extensions Manager)? It could be as simple as that… if your PowerBook will accept OS 9.2.2? You’re still running OS 9.2.1… right?

And yes, USB 1.1 completely sucks. I was only using USB as a sort of formatting test between Tiger and OS 9.2.2 - before dragging out various FW drives and a PowerBook here.

Which specific PowerBook are you working with?

And I do wonder if you could simply drag the 2.8.7 Firewire files from our Universal Installer download, without having to update completely to OS 9.2.2?

[MigMac]

Which specific PowerBook are you working with?

And I do wonder if you could simply drag the 2.8.7 Firewire files from our Universal Installer download, without having to update completely to OS 9.2.2?

I've recently acquired a Pismo 400Mhz. I wanted to make a "Pismo Bliss" post but this FW issue is bothering me

I'll make a back up of the system, fetch the extension, replace it and see what happens

[MigMac]

just tried, added the extensions, rebooted... launched Disk Setup, read "disk can be initialized" but it failed again...

otherwise, it looks like the system has accepted the extensions, however I have the old French FW extensions (2.8.4) and the English ones (2.8.7) on the same set. Hope it won't be a source of instability.

I didn't do the install on that partition, it came as it is with the Pismo and it was full of German, French and English stuff (a lot of tinkering from the previous owner). I did a lot of cleaning.

Techtool Pro (3.0.6) hasn't found any possible conflict/trouble so far...

[MigMac]

I've also replaced the FW extensions on another volume which has a much cleaner install/config. Same results: the initialization failed.

Looks like it's a lost cause. Maybe that Iomega drive got altered/corrupted via successive formattings (Windows, OSX...). I'll use it with my Macbook Air as a spare USB drive

I just pray things will be fine with the LaCie external drive. It's been formatted on Windows so when I receive it I'll start right away via OS9 only.

[aBc]

Couldn’t find any tech specs for the Iomega LPHD120-C anywhere, especially regarding the chipset used in the device. However I do have an older Iomega Firewire (only) drive and it does work. BUT that brings up some other things to possibly be considered?

(1). Have you tested function with all Firewire ports on the PowerBook and with the drive itself? That older Iomega FW drive here does have one bad FW port and it has two (thankfully). And I also have more than one Mac here that only have one (out of two, normally) functioning FW ports. So it could be a bad FW port on the Pismo or on the drive itself?

(2). And the firewire cable itself could be faulty. If you’ve more than one cable to test with, that could help eliminate this possibility.

(3). I usually opt for the “nuclear option” on machines that are new-to-me… with fresh & clean HD wipes and fresh OS re-installs. One never knows what previous owners might have installed or removed from such machines beforehand. *Of course… backing up and saving anything that one might wish to retain from the previous owner’s installations.

And yes, it would be great to have another FW drive to compare (how long before the LaCie arrives?). But if the LacCie exhibits the same or similar behavior, you might be back to the three possibilities noted above.

[MigMac]

I've plugged the FW drive to the second FW port on the Pismo: same results

The Iomega drive has only one port.

Is there a specific tool to check ports such as FWs or USBs? I don't see anything like that in TechTool Pro.

I should receive the LaCie FW drive and a couple of cables during the week, middle of the week I think. I'll post here whether it's success or failure

Regarding the install, I think I'll perform clean installs when I upgrade to a SSD in the future. For the moment everything runs rather smoothly bar a few oddities with a couple of apps (currently solving issues one by one), the machine is quite responsive ...so far so good except for that FW drive.

[aBc]

Other than having a known working FW drive and cable to test function, you might try… Apple Hardware Test v1.2.3 for PowerBook G3 Firewire (pismo), PowerBook G4s up to 1GHz. And I don’t know if it will report on the Firewire ports but it might be worth a try.

And it’s possibly available from Macintosh Garden http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/apple-hardware-test-cds  (Download #5). [693-4420-A.dmg: PowerBook 1.2.3]

*Also, via the Hotline server?

[MigMac]

Ok shall I burn a CD or can it be launched via a USB key?