Split-personality PowerBook

[mactyro]

I replaced the OE Hard Disk in my trusty 3400 with a Hitachi 4GB HDD (model DK227A-41). After formatting and partitioning (with FWB Hard Disk ToolKit) I set about installing MacOS 9 and started to have problems - the installation would not complete.
After a further couple of unsuccessful attempts, I did a low-level formatting, zapped the PRAM and started over. This time I did a 'bare bones' OS 9 installation and it went OK.
Then the problems really kicked-in as I couldn't boot from the new Hard Disk. Norton Disk Doctor revealed a host of difficulties, starting with the appearance of 'duplicate' partitions. The three partitions sitting on the desktop appeared in the Disk Doctor window as six partitions - Disk First Aid produced the same strange result!
Having re-formatted twice more and checked the integrity of the new Hard Disk with Norton and with Disk Warrior, I still finish up after a system installation only able to boot up from a CD.
Can you please advise where I've gone wrong and how to correct it?
Thanks.

[kelly]

Hello mactyro. A belated Welcome to the Forum.  

Any particular reason you used FWB Hard Disk ToolKit?

Is it the latest version?

Why not use Apple's Drive Setup?

http://home.earthlink.net/~richardinsd/Sup...zeyour3400.html

http://new.lowendmac.com/pb2/3400.shtml

[Mayo]

Kelly, in my experience once you have used HDT you cannot revert to Apple's drivers; at least that is the case with my 7300 running OS 9.1.  In my case I have two Quantum drives.

I would check and make sure that the drive is supported by the HDT drivers you are using.

This may be a long-shot, but I have come across replacement drives that are not bootable.  If I remember correctly, they were IBM drives.

But considering the problems our Scottish friend is having it could be a defective drive (hwne in doubt, blame it on the hardware...)

Why they would make a drive that is not bootable is beyond my comprehension, so I will leave that to others to ponder...

Mayo
Friend Of Single-Malts...    
 
 [ 02-04-2003, 02:47 PM: Message edited by: Mayo ]

[kelly]

You can't reformat to use Apple's Drive Setup?  

FWIW. It's listed here as Non-Machine Specific Device .

http://www.harddrives4less.com/hit4gb12uatn1.html

http://www.harddrives4less.com/productarchive.html

I found no record of anyone using that exact Drive.

http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/sear...h.drivedb.lasso

[Mayo]

You cannot reformat in order to use DriveSetUp; I know, I tried.  I recall reading something about this years ago...HDT somehow renders the drive incapable of accepting the Apple formatting and/or drivers.

Could this be by design?  Nah...

[mactyro]

Thanks for the welcome, Kelly, and thanks for your interest - I had the 'supersizing' article by my side as I ventured into the guts of my 3400.
Recently I had a problem partitioning a new external drive for my 7600 with Drive Setup and bought HDT-Personal Edition to get round the difficulty. I was impressed by its features, and I guess I wanted VFM, so used it again at the first opportunity.
Now I'm going to check out those <harddrives4less> links you provided.

[mactyro]

Hey, Mayo, thanks for your contribution - any Friend of Single-Malts has to be a guy worth paying attention to!
I was aware of something to do with the drivers and so ensured that I unchecked the replace the drivers option in the installation set-up.
My purchase of HDT was online and bang up-to-date, but maybe I've made a wrong assumption about compatibility - time to go check then!
BTW my particular favourite single malt is Talisker, from the Isle of Skye.

[Mayo]

Hi Mac, can you clarify your last comment regarding the drivers?  Did you use HDT to reformat the drive but told it to retain the Apple Drivers?  Or perhaps the drive came formatted with another third party driver?

If this is the case, my gut tells me that leaving the original driver intact is the possible source of your problems.

Slightly off-topic, but since it can be a balm for those of us experiencing technical woes... my fav single malt (so far...) is The Macallan 18 year old 1980.  My favorite for having the best cost-to-pleasure ratio is The Balvenie Doublewood 12 year old.

A wee dram is a wee bit pricey on this side of the Atlantic...

I have had the pleasure of a 10 year old Talisker and it is indeed a fine scotch.  Robert Louis Stevenson thought so too, so we are in fine company!

My wife and I are planning a trip to Scotland someday, and we plan on visiting a couple of distilleries and enjoying a few of the rare scotches not normally available in the states.

   
 
 [ 02-04-2003, 08:34 PM: Message edited by: Mayo ]

[krissel]

Not to change the focus here but am I the only one who didn't know that Hitachi took over the IBM hard drive line?    

 IBM/Hitachi merger

 more

[mactyro]

Sorry for the ambiguity, Mayo. Also, let me confirm that my version of HDT is compatible with the drive.
Having formatted with HDT (making use of the FWB driver) I then unchecked the 'Update Apple Hard Disk Drivers' option in the installation set-up.
I suppose I could try reformatting using Drive Setup - what do you think?
I'm considering your caution that perhaps the drive is defective - would that not be evident in advance of me installing system software? Is there another diagnostic test (other than Norton/Disk Warrior) to establish the integrity of the drive?
Uh-huh, I'm getting near to that stage where I'll be nursing a dram to soothe my fevered brow!

[Mayo]

Thanks for the clarification; it didn't dawn on me that you were referring to the OS installation process.  If you had left the update Apple drivers option checked I believe that you would soon get a window telling you that it isn't possible because the drive is formatted with the FWB HDT drivers.

You can sure try to reformat the drive using Drive SetUp, but when I attempted to do so that option was not available to me.

As far as checking the driver further goes, TechToolPro may be able to diagnose harddrives better than Norton, since TTP is more hardware-focused.  But I don't want to encourage you to spend the $$$ on TTP just to diagnose this one drive.  I'm sure that there are many Mac owners out there who happily live their entire lives without owning a copy of TechToolPro.

The question about whether it is a bootable drive still sticks in my mind, and after Krissel's post about the Hitachi/IBM connection, I would be persuing that trail until I was sure that the drive is indeed bootable.

But I did a search using Google and I didn't come across anything saying that it isn't bootable, and one vendor specifically stated that you can install a new OS on the drive, so one would think...

It just makes sense that a replacement drive for a portable computer would have to be bootable.

If so, then I would start thinking that the drive is defective, because I see no reason why the HDT drivers would be a problem on a supported drive.

Can you contact the drive vendor and tell them your tale of woe?  That might be the quickest way to a solution...or not, depending on the vendor!
 
 [ 02-05-2003, 02:09 PM: Message edited by: Mayo ]

[mactyro]

I'm going to have yet another go at reformatting/installing, if possible using Drive Setup - should that prove unsuccessful then I guess the drive does begin to look like the culprit.

I've taken a tour of the Hitachi site but find no reason to doubt that it's a bootable drive - I tend to think that your google would have thrown up any disgruntled owners out there.

And finally, yes, I could take the line of greatest resistance and approach the vendor - I'll exhaust all other options first (and isn't that exhausting work!?).

Thanks, Mayo, for your continued interest and support.

[mactyro]

Well, the news is that it was possible to re-format using Drive Setup, including the updating of the drivers. Still I can't boot from the drive tho'.

The 'duplicate' partitions are no longer present, but Norton Disk Doctor reported "an unexpected problem" and recommended re-examining the disk - which produced the same error message each time I tried. Disk Warrior identified many problems with the Directory and then reported an error which prevents it from writing the replacement Directory.

Eventually I reached a point where DW was able to write the replacement Directory (recording, for example, that incorrect values in the Volume Information were repaired / number of items in folders had changed / names of folders had changed / file had an ID that was repaired) and NDD was able to fix 'Major Errors' (invalid extents / incorrect free node count / incorrect physical size of the Catalog B-tree / etc.), but still it wouldn't boot - further examination with DW and NDD then produced the re-appearance of problems that had been 'solved' five minutes earlier.

My patience is running out fast.

[kelly]

Are all your connections ok? IDE Cable and such? Jumpered properly?

The drive may just be bad.

[mactyro]

I haven't gone back in to check - to be honest I found the removal/replacement a bit nerve-wracking (I read of someone comparing the same job with performing brain surgery on a cat!), which leaves me reluctant to go again, unless I'm forced to pull a bad drive.