- 2000.10.23
Q: Can you offer any advice in upgrading my Umax SuperMac S900 to Mac
OS 9 from 7.6.1? Umax is not supporting anything above 8.0. My
hard drive driver is FWB Hard Disk Toolkit, so I am unable to
install Mac OS 9.
A: First, make sure that you have as much RAM as you can afford,
since your S900 (or J700) has 8 RAM slots. Use 168-pin DIMM chips -
just tell your reseller which Mac you have, and he will find the
right chips. Mac OS 9 uses more RAM than any previous version
of the Mac OS. It won't hurt to give your computer some breathing
space. OS 9 requires a minimum of 32 MB physical memory with
Virtual Memory set to 40 MB; you will need more to run your
software.
Before you install, find out which software updates are
necessary for Mac OS 9 compatibility. You should visit the
company sites related to your software and check out Version Tracker for details
about updates.
Back up all your data and make sure that you leave nothing out.
You need a solid backup in order to make everything work since the
next step erases all the data on your hard drive.
Next boot up from something other than your hard drive and
initialize your hard drive with Apple's Drive Setup, which is
present on the Mac OS 9 CD-ROM. Make sure to configure your
disk the way you like, since this is the only time to create
partitions.
This will insure that Apple drivers control your hard disk
(necessary for use with Mac OS 9), and it will also create new
directories, refreshing your disk like never before.
Now you can install Mac OS 9. I highly recommend that you
follow the tight instructions
offered by Umax to get everything to work. Go to the link I
just mentioned and make sure to use their advice wisely. The page
was intended for Mac OS 8.5 but some tips still apply for Mac
OS 9. After doing that, your Mac should be running Mac
OS 9 just fine. Now you can restore everything from backup.
Further Reading
- Moving to Mac OS 9, Dan Knight,
Mac Musings, 9/28/00, which also covers installing OS 9 on a
SuperMac S900.