Old iMac and IDE disks

Comments

• Reply 1 of 4

  voxapps Posts: 236member

  August 8, 2006 7:46PM

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by Blues
  
  
  I decided to resurrect my old iMac. The trouble is it refuses to recognize IDE disks. It worked fine with a WD 20 GB disk until I needed that disk elsewhere. Now I have a 12 GB WD and a couple of Seagate disks - none of these seems to be compatible. Is there a special procedure for installing hard disks? Something I'm not aware of? I'd appreciate all tips, hints and ideas.
  

  
  

  
  
  If you're trying to run OS X, you need to partition the drive so that OS X resides entirely within the first 8 GB. If you're running an earlier version of Mac OS, there are several firmware updates that must be completed prior to installing the OS or Bad Things(tm) will happen.
  
  
  
  Check this for an overview.
• Reply 2 of 4

  blues Posts: 40member

  August 8, 2006 8:03PM

  Thanks for reply. Unfortunately, I cannot partition the disk(s) because they are not recognized. When the OS X install reaches the point where I need to choose where to install there's nothing to choose from. No disk whatsoever. I've got jumpers right. I've tried also other jumper settings. I'm getting real good in disassembling/assembling iMac's. I already can do it in dark in less than 3 minutes. But being olympic champ in changing HDD jumpers isn't my goal. I'd like to get the damn thing working.
• Reply 3 of 4

  guartho Posts: 1,208member

  August 8, 2006 11:37PM

  Just to make sure, have you used the OSX disk utility from the install CD? As I recall, once you've booted from the install CD, you should be able to access it from the Apple menu.
• Reply 4 of 4

  blues Posts: 40member

  August 9, 2006 7:16AM

  That was it! Being a Mac newbie I didn't know about this utility.
  
  Thanks alot!