I wanna fix my iMac's HD.....

[Dopeyman]

I wanna defrag and fix the errors on my startup disk... How do I do this? I "thought" I read somewhere that I can startup from a firewire external.... mmkay... I bought an external firewire/usb case and put in an extra WD 45gig drive that I had...... I insert my OSX install disk, blah, blah, blah.. the computer restarts....

but when it came down to install the OS, my firewire drive had a big red "!" and I couldn't install....... Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Does it have to be a firewire ONLY box, not both?

 

[beatsme]

I wanna defrag and fix the errors on my startup disk... How do I do this? I "thought" I read somewhere that I can startup from a firewire external.... mmkay... I bought an external firewire/usb case and put in an extra WD 45gig drive that I had...... I insert my OSX install disk, blah, blah, blah.. the computer restarts....

but when it came down to install the OS, my firewire drive had a big red "!" and I couldn't install....... Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Does it have to be a firewire ONLY box, not both?

start up your computer from the install disc, and run the disk utility that's included on there.

 

[Hockeypuck]

Yes, the big red "!" means your disk is not formatted correctly, it's probably still formatted as FAT32 or something

Run disk utility and erase it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), just make sure you have the right disk selected or you'll end up erasing your computer's internal drive!

 

[Dopeyman]

start up your computer from the install disc, and run the disk utility that's included on there.

I tried this method..... It worked.... I fixed the errors on my startup drive.. Thanks!!!

BUT!! now I wanna defrag.. I know that X does it's own defrag, but I've been doing alot of downloading/deleting/moving, that I wanna take the time and do it....

My external was always erased using the Mac OS Extended (Journaled), but I still get the big red "!" on the drive... Any other guesses why I can't install it??

 

[xappeal]

"but when it came down to install the OS, my firewire drive had a big red "!" and I couldn't install....... Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Does it have to be a firewire ONLY box, not both?"

There are firewire external drives out there that are not able to be booted from. The way I understand it is there are two types, OS X will only boot from one of those. If your drive has usb as well it is less likely to be bootable from my experience.

It's very hit and miss.

 

[Hockeypuck]

"but when it came down to install the OS, my firewire drive had a big red "!" and I couldn't install....... Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Does it have to be a firewire ONLY box, not both?"

There are firewire external drives out there that are not able to be booted from. The way I understand it is there are two types, OS X will only boot from one of those. If your drive has usb as well it is less likely to be bootable from my experience.

It's very hit and miss.

That's very strange. Where I work we have several different drive enclosures that are USB/Firewire and we boot off of them all the time.

You might need the power adapter plugged into the wall for the 3.5" drives though.

 

[beatsme]

I tried this method..... It worked.... I fixed the errors on my startup drive.. Thanks!!!

BUT!! now I wanna defrag.. I know that X does it's own defrag, but I've been doing alot of downloading/deleting/moving, that I wanna take the time and do it....

http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php

this utility will do it...

EDIT: There is some discussion as to whether a UNIX drive (which is what your Mac drive is, basically) even needs to be defragmented. Here's a link which will explain it.

 

[vansouza]

Guid

I wanna defrag and fix the errors on my startup disk... How do I do this? I "thought" I read somewhere that I can startup from a firewire external.... mmkay... I bought an external firewire/usb case and put in an extra WD 45gig drive that I had...... I insert my OSX install disk, blah, blah, blah.. the computer restarts....

but when it came down to install the OS, my firewire drive had a big red "!" and I couldn't install....... Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Does it have to be a firewire ONLY box, not both?

In order to put the Mac OS on an external FireWire drive, the drive needs to be formatted with the GUID option. It is part of the disk utilities program.. sorry that is all I got... good luck...

 

[deebster]

Don't waste your time (and money, if you buy iDefrag) defragging.

Use CarbonCopyCloner (donationware) or Superduper! (shareware) to clone the internal HD to the external.

Boot from the external to make sure all is well, then clone it back on to the internal, making sure you fully erase the internal and copy all files back to it (ie, do not use the 'Smart Update' facility).

And that's it. You will then have a fully defragged internal HD, without all the fuss of using a defragging app.

 

[generik]

Why bother defragging? What's next... you will run anti spyware apps on your Mac and have Norton scheduled to run full virus scans on your system every 15 minutes?

 

[Dopeyman]

In order to put the Mac OS on an external FireWire drive, the drive needs to be formatted with the GUID option. It is part of the disk utilities program.. sorry that is all I got... good luck...

This worked.... I now have an external booting drive... Thanks!!

 

[Dopeyman]

Why bother defragging? What's next... you will run anti spyware apps on your Mac and have Norton scheduled to run full virus scans on your system every 15 minutes?

Like I mentioned before, I was doing alot of downloading and deleting of files.. So I just wanted to defrag.. My Mac felt like it was running a bit sluggish..

But thank you for your virus suggestion anyway..