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Reader Reports 
Kimeldorf's First Aid
A Troubleshooting Guide For Os X Running On An Imac 800 (Flat Panel)
Part 6 of a 6 Part Series
By Martin Kimeldorf - Kimeldorf@attbi.com
With contributions from Andy Muir, Pat Gallagher
Introduction
These notes were compiled after one month of working with my Imac, navigating OS X
and troubleshooting the complexities of MS office, Adobe Distiller and other third party
software. I ended up having to restore my hard drive twice. I researched first aid
methods consulting books, articles, with input from authors and experts online.
These are personal notes and should be taken as suggestions only, rather than as
expert advice. I am not a computer expert, just an author and teacher. Use my
first aid notes at your own risk, nothing is guaranteed. In fact, I have found
out that well-intentioned advice about a cure can sometimes be worse than the
original disease. Back up all critical files before trying anything in this
document!!
NOTES ON PARTITIONING AND RESTORING
Many people feel it is best to partition and place OS 9 on a smaller portion (say 6 to 10
Gigs) with the lion's share for OS X.
Eventually; most everything you will run will be on OS X. Until that day, it is helpful to
isolate the 2 systems. This way, if one system and its application goes south, the other
is still in tact. You only have to restore perhaps half the programs. Isolating OS systems
also helps to analyze which OS is causing the problems.
Here are some things to consider
1) You will have to boot in OS 9 and use Disk Utility to erase the entire hard drive,
perhaps choose Drive Set-up Options zero
Then re-start from OS X Don't install, instead choose Utilities under
File Erase Partition (This in effect erases twice)
Use Hardware Disk to check hardrive etc.
Use the OS Utilities to set up the two partitions, say 10 Gigs for OS 9 and 20 or more
Gigs for OS X.
2) The Two OS's (9 and X) can be installed in any order if on different partitions. But if
they are installed on same partition, you should install X first, and then you have to
select "Clean Install" option when installing OS 9). You don't HAVE to install partion
software in any certain order technically.
3) You must then add various software using your CDs.
4) If a partition later goes bad, boot from the CD with the OTHER OS and use the Disk
Utility to erase prior to re-installing. You cannot boot from the CD with the same OS
because it will erase whatever volume (partition) is not active, hence the entire drive is
erased. (booting from CD with same OS will not erase a partition/volume, instead it
erases the entire hard drive)
If you like to just use the restore disks that is a good alternative. However, they will
erase the entire disk...making it pointless to partition the drive.
Finally, now that Retrospect 5 is out, that is the simplest way to back-up, archive and
restore....making the single partition even more attractive.
--Make a pristine or virgin copy to re-use when using retrospect, then just update docs
folde
No more clean installs
In the olden days you did a clean install, just re-installing the system software and
leaving everything else intact. You can't clean install in OS X very easily. Suppose you
have an OS X disk version 10.1.2 and your software gets updated to 10.1.3. You can't
take out the 10.1.2 disk and reinstall it over the higher level OS (10.1.3). You have to
erase the entire volume, reinstall 10.1.2 and then again upgrade to 10.1.3.
OTHER SOURCES FOR HELP
Consult books by Dave Pogue, Gene Steinberg, or Bob Levitus for more background
and details of problem solving. For example in Mac OS X The Missing Manual by Dave
Pogue the problems are discussed on pages 553 to 555+
Can't empty trash
Wrong program opens
Can't move or rename application
Application won't open
Program icon turns into folders
I hope you enjoyed this series. See You Next Time
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