New member here needing a ton of help with a few G4's

[organicCPU]

Congratulations that you managed to put life back to one of your PPC beasts... Maybe you'll find it fun to experiment a little more with that machine...

The fan of a G4 usually is quite loud. Especially yours has the nickname PowerMac G4 "wind-tunnel" model. I was searching for a more silent fan for a G4 myself, but ended up that it isn't worth the hassle. Sometimes there is lots of dust sticking in the fan and you can get it a little more silent by removing the dust.
Did you already install the 'Power Mac G4 Firmware Update 4.4.8' that will improve the fan control of your model?

Don't expect the speed of a recent Mac with SSD, but installing Tiger 10.4.11 should make it much faster. Even though it's a dual core model, but 877 Mhz is the official minimum requirement for 10.5. Another advantage of Tiger would be, that you can install Classic Mac OS 9 in parallel. If you ever want to see a G4 fly, get a native Mac OS 9 installed and booted.

In my opinion 10.5 especially needs much graphics power to run really smooth. A graphics card like GeForce4 Ti or ATI Radeon 9000 Pro with 64 MB of VRAM or more should be sufficient while one with 32 MB like the GeForce4 MX likely won't.

Your 40 GB drive can be replaced by a larger and faster drive at your ATA/100 connectors, too. Be aware that Mac OS 9 usually can't address partitions larger than around 190 GB.

 

[arkieboy72472]

Thanks! I think the noise is actually caused by a fan going out though. It sounds much different now than it did when I started the project. It has always been loud, but not this loud. I am uncertain where exactly the noise is coming from.

I was not aware of the firmware update, but I DID let it do its updates once I installed everything.

I would LOVE to see OS 10.4 or perhaps OS 9 on it, but I am uncertain how to go about doing this. Do I need to burn a CD, A DVD, or use a USB drive?

As for a hard drive, I was thinking if I ever come across a 120GB or 160GB IDE drive I would swap it.

Does OS 9 have anything like tenfourfox that allows for basic internet usage?

 

[Cox Orange]

OS 9 browser = Classila by the same developers

firmware update doesn't come with the automatic updates you are offered by the system, you have to search it on apple's homepage or elsewhere the internet.

HDD = those 40GB HDDs are among the slowest that ever existed It should work though. Maybe your Mac gets too hot and this causes slow down (see what I write about the CPU). The newer and bigger the HDD it will be faster. You can also use a SATA HDD with an adapter, it has to have a Manhattan or Marvell chipset though, the other China ones only cause headache and you will be asking yourself, what the error is.

Running too hot could be the reason why it is now louder than before. The fans may run at full speed constantly now. Fans also run at full speed, when you pulled a hardware component and didn't seat it properly back again.
Other causes for heat/fan issues = thermal compound has dried out or CPU (or less so Mainboard) is defective.

First clean everything from dust, including the Power supply.

There is also a wide variety of choices for fans and precautions that have to be looked at, as well as some simpler mods (one including just a vent and a newly positioned fan). I don't know if I have had the time to include them in my cooling mod thread here in this forum, but you should find the links somewhere. Also there is a lot to read, if you want to and you see it as part of the fun of tinkering. Otherwise I would go straight to the cart box vent mod, presented in this forum here. This quick and very effective mod can be found when you click on @jbarley 's Link that I collected here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ing-mods-sort-of-a-faq.2019506/#post-24019090 (additionally all links in post #7 regarding the MDD's cooling as well as software tricks are a nice read, if you don't mind. Also mind the note in my to-do-list were I mention OS9 lives forum)

Then there are conversion or construction guides for the power supply to make it more efficient and quieter (apple's stock PSUs are not very effiecient, they change a lot of the electricity into heat instead of power). See where it says "part1, part2, part3" http://aquamac.proboards.com/thread/1174?page=1#8403 The wiring schemes can be found at japamacs site and atxg4.com - But this is a quite drastic change and I would recommend it only, if you can build a new case for the ATX PSU and use this while you keep the original MDD PSU, they cost a lot on EBay.

In my opinion 10.5 especially needs much graphics power to run really smooth. A graphics card like GeForce4 Ti or ATI Radeon 9000 Pro with 64 MB of VRAM or more should be sufficient while one with 32 MB like the GeForce4 MX likely won't.

He has the 9000 Pro, if it is still what is stated on the sticker. @ OP go and click on the apple in the left corner and then on "about this mac" and then "more info" and then "Displays/graphics", there you will see what is installed.

 

[1042686]

Cool powermac and Im glad you got it working. I agree that an era correct keyboard, mouse and acryclic apple lcd would look mighty fine - very sharp . If you choose to keep it, installing a $10.00 usb2 pci card really helps with speed. usb1 is like molasses lol

A cheap $5 usb bt dongle gives me blue tooth on my quicksilver power mac. Also, if you want a bit more zip & you're up for it, MDD dual 1Ghz cpu daughter cards are all over ebay for $25-35.00 - dual 1.25ghz a bit more. As already mentioned for leopard 10.5.8, core image enabled gpus are another good boost if your box doesnt already have one. Anyhow, I hope you choose to keep it. Old ppc powermacs are fun (addictive) projects to build up. Also, Eyoungren has a stickied thread for some TFF tweaks that help greatly with browser speed & performance making for a very usable 15 year old daily driver.

As far as tiger vs leopard, I vote 10.5.8. Best of luck to you.

 

[Cox Orange]

installing a $10.00 usb2 pci card really helps with speed. usb1 is like molasses lol

he should get one with a NEC chipset then. They work the best. When buying, mind they don't have to be advertised as "Mac" cards, PC-cards work as well.

If he wants SATA ports, every card with a Silicon Image SIL3124 (and SIL3132) chip will work. PCI-X is preferred (max. 65MB/s throughput) over PCI (35MB/s throuput). Drivers need to be installed from here http://www.drivers-download.com/en/downloadlist.php?id=72 - No flashing needed. Drives will only work as storage, no boot capability. For Boot capability you will need to flash a Mac firmware by Seritek/Firmtek/Sonnet to them (not the system firmware!). Cards can sometimes be found for 10,-USD.
[doublepost=1494622998][/doublepost]

Did you already install the 'Power Mac G4 Firmware Update 4.4.8' that will improve the fan control of your model?

I was not aware of the firmware update, but I DID let it do its updates once I installed everything.

The old apple knowledge base article and download has gone. Here is an alternative source https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10773/apple-g4-firmware-updater-x
But you might want to first click on the apple (left corner), "about this Mac" -> "more info", if your's already has 4.4.8

 

[1042686]

he should get one with a NEC chipset then. They work the best. When buying, mind they don't have to be advertised as "Mac" cards, PC-cards work as well.

My own experience has been no problems with both NEC & VIA chip set usb2.0 pci cards. I currently have a via card in my quick silver and a NEC in my pmg5 both rock-solid and well under $10 bucks shipped, so a cheap and worth-while upgrade. I also wanted to clarify that the bluetooth dongle that worked for me in both my MDD and QS running 10.5.8 was specifically the soundbot bt4.0 unit. It's not like any old bt dongle works.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SoundBot-SB...920571?hash=item1ea860943b:g:HHAAAOSwrklVHHoJ

Another cheap and worth while addition to a powermac IMO. I also wanted to add that for the MDDs that are not FW800, apple's airport extreme card doesnt work. I just (this after noon in fact) tested out a Dynex dx-ebdtc pci wireless G card and it does in fact work in my MDD. It's almost plug n play in that leopard did have a preexisting driver which worked fine but I had to manually add my 5G networks to my preferred list in syspref in order to use my network.

Good luck

 

[Cox Orange]

My own experience has been no problems with both NEC & VIA chip set usb2.0 pci cards. I currently have a via card in my quick silver and a NEC in my pmg5 both rock-solid

Good to know. I only tested a NEC, because others stated issues with the VIA

 

[eyoungren]

I also wanted to clarify that the bluetooth dongle that worked for me in both my MDD and QS running 10.5.8 was specifically the soundbot bt4.0 unit. It's not like any old bt dongle works.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SoundBot-SB...920571?hash=item1ea860943b:g:HHAAAOSwrklVHHoJ

Does this dongle work as native for you?

Meaning does it treat your Mac as if it had a BT card installed (icon in menubar, etc)?

Just curious.

I'm using the Belkin F8T013. Was using it in my QS before as well. It seems there is some sort of interference which makes my stock Airport card in my Quad jumpy so I just continued to use my Belkin.



Belkin also makes the F8T012, which my son has used in the past (gave his TiBook native BT). The difference between the two products is range. 10 meters for the F8T012 and 100 meters for the F8T013.

eBay has these (F8T013) for the same price as the one in the link you posted. The F8T012 goes for $7.99.

 

[1042686]

Good to know. I only tested a NEC, because others stated issues with the VIA

Yanno its really weird because iirc Pasquale here on the board ordered a NEC for his MDD and was having problems with his. My anecdotal experience being what it is, I simply could have lucked out. I can with certainty tell you that both are working great for me however. Ive used the NEC in both my QS and PMg5 however the via card has only been in my QS. I'll try and pull it out of my QS this week end and stick it in my MDD to see if I get any weird issues.

Does this dongle work as native for you?

Meaning does it treat your Mac as if it had a BT card installed (icon in menubar, etc)? Just curious. I'm using the Belkin F8T013. Was using it in my QS before as well. It seems there is some sort of interference which makes my stock Airport card in my Quad jumpy so I just continued to use my Belkin.

View attachment 699533

Belkin also makes the F8T012, which my son has used in the past (gave his TiBook native BT). The difference between the two products is range. 10 meters for the F8T012 and 100 meters for the F8T013. eBay has these (F8T013) for the same price as the one in the link you posted. The F8T012 goes for $7.99.

So I do absolutely get an icon etc. It does have one weird behavior with my QS specifically (not my MDD). when I boot up my QS, it finds my mighty mouse but then fails to connect, finds it again and then connects without problem - this process taking about 25-30 seconds. From there, everything bluetooth works great ie peripherals, file transfers etc. Again, this is specific to my QS only, the MDD connects right up without issue.

 

[eyoungren]

So I do absolutely get an icon etc. It does have one weird behavior with my QS specifically (not my MDD). when I boot up my QS, it finds my mighty mouse but then fails to connect, finds it again and then connects without problem - this process taking about 25-30 seconds. From there, everything bluetooth works great ie peripherals, file transfers etc. Again, this is specific to my QS only, the MDD connects right up without issue.

Strange behavior with the QS…

I was asking because I like to keep my options open in case I have to replace things like this. Nice to know there's another product out there that will function the same way if the one I currently have fails.

Thanks!

 

[organicCPU]

I was not aware of the firmware update, but I DID let it do its updates once I installed everything.

The old apple knowledge base article and download has gone. Here is an alternative source https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10773/apple-g4-firmware-updater-x

Why not download the Power Mac G4 Firmware Update 4.4.8 directly from Apple?
Here the link for the installation on Mac OS 9:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1175?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
And here the link for the Mac OS X installer:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1179?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I would LOVE to see OS 10.4 or perhaps OS 9 on it, but I am uncertain how to go about doing this. Do I need to burn a CD, A DVD, or use a USB drive?

That's the problem if a used Mac comes without the original installer media. There is a specific version of installer Bundle for your M8787LL/A. That should consist of Mac OS 9.2.2 AND Mac OS X 10.2, 10.2.1 or 10.2.6 (Jaguar) AND the diagnostic tool Apple Hardware Test (AHT) version 1.2.6 or 1.2.7. As https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht1835 pointed out:

These computers are supported by the version of Mac OS included with the computer when it was purchased; retail copies of Mac OS with the same (or earlier) version number may not include the system software components necessary to start up these models. These computers are also supported by all subsequent versions of Mac OS.

With the original installer discs, you'd get a proper working Mac OS 9 for sure. They're hard to find for purchase, even harder if you need a special language version. 10.4. Tiger is not easy to find for purchase, but any full install retail version would fit and can be updated with the combo update to 10.4.11 available at https://support.apple.com/kb/DL170?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US . I don't want to encourage you to download old Operating Systems for Mac, but if you look a bit around where you downloaded 10.5. you're also able to find Tiger as well as a probably specific Mac OS 9.2.2 for your MDD G4 that you can burn with one fitting version of burn app http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/English/home.html . The drawback is, that it probably won't include AHT in case you'll ever need it.

By the way, I've found a nice Mouse and Keyboard here, probably not as cheap as on ebay:
http://www.welovemacs.com/m8733gar.html
http://www.welovemacs.com/m8691llbr.html

And maybe you'll also like that manual:
https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/0/MA811/en_US/PowerMacG4DualSU.pdf
...that was a time, when there were such great in detail manuals available...

He has the 9000 Pro, if it is still what is stated on the sticker.

Sorry, I didn't read exactly! The Radeon should be able to give at least fluid graphics on 10.5. As the drive is slow like you stated, maybe spotlight indexing hasn't finished yet and is additionally slowing everything a bit down.

As for a hard drive, I was thinking if I ever come across a 120GB or 160GB IDE drive I would swap it.

I do have two 320 GB drives in a G4 QS. One is partitioned and booting 10.4, 10.5 and Mac OS 9 without any problems. There was some additional system tweak needed to get Mac OS 9 recognize the correct space of the other large drive, but that was all. The partition Mac OS 9 is getting installed on should probably not be more than 190 GB, the total drive size shouldn't really matter much at an ATA/100 controller the limit is beyond recent available capacities.

 

[AmazingHenry]

Glad you got it working. As others suggested, install an SSD if you're looking for more speed.

Another thing you may be interested in is 10.4 Tiger. It will run much faster, especially on a G4 like yours. You can use TenFourFox and it works really well.

 

[Cox Orange]

Why not download the Power Mac G4 Firmware Update 4.4.8 directly from Apple?
Here the link for the installation on Mac OS 9:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1175?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
And here the link for the Mac OS X installer:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1179?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Oh, thank you. I didn't find it.

 

[pochopsp]

Yanno its really weird because iirc Pasquale here on the board ordered a NEC for his MDD and was having problems with his.

................................

So I do absolutely get an icon etc. It does have one weird behavior with my QS specifically (not my MDD). when I boot up my QS, it finds my mighty mouse but then fails to connect, finds it again and then connects without problem - this process taking about 25-30 seconds. From there, everything bluetooth works great ie peripherals, file transfers etc. Again, this is specific to my QS only, the MDD connects right up without issue.

Yeah I can confirm it. Funny that I paid 10€ (almost 12$), it is from a European brand with boxes and warranty, on the box it's stated to be working on Mac OS X10.3+, but on my MDD it causes the system to freeze both on Linux and OS X. I guess these old macs are a bit selective xD

As regards Bluetooth I've tried every BT usb dongle I found in my house and they all work as native Bluetooth. It seems to be less selective than it is with PCI USB cards.

 

[arkieboy72472]

UPDATE:

I managed to find a 120GB hard drive to go with the 40GB one. Even though the main tray is gone, The tray under the DVD is there. I put those 2 drive in there. Though it boots to 10.5.4, I am going to download, burn, and try to install 10.4 tonight. I tried installing lubuntu for the PPC, but the optical drive wouldn't read it. I have a bad feeling the optical drive may not be working...it opens and closes, but it doesn't seem to want to read anything. I don't have another IDE CD/DVD optical drive to swap it with. I don't have a spare USB to try and boot from either.

I found out that my fan under the optical drive was going out so I found a spare replacement I had laying around. So, while it has a few parts missing and it needs a new battery and possibly a new optical drive, it boots ok.

The Power Mac G4 3,6 has 2GB of RAM and that dual 800mhz processor. I have it listed on craigslist and facebook (local pickup) and I hope it makes someone very happy. Had I been able to load linux on it, I probably would have donated it. Once I get it in what I feel is a better state, I will let loose of it and move on to another project.

 

[bunnspecial]

For Airport Extreme, there is a Motorola PCI card that I have used extensively. I don't recall the p/n offhand, but I usually don't have much trouble finding one on Ebay for $10 or so when I need one.

In fact, I'm using one now in my dual 2.7 G5 because these have notoriously poor WiFi reception using the built-in antenna for the Airport Extreme card(I do have the T plug-in). The room where the computer is set up has terrible WiFi reception(my Aluminum PowerBooks can't see the network), and even back in the day when I was using a Quicksilver in this same spot I used an external Dlink antenna that can be located a couple of feet from the computer, pointed in any direction, and is a foot long.

In any case, I strongly recommend these Motorola cards if you need to connect to a modern network. They are recognized natively in OS X as an Airport Extreme card. There are no drivers needed-just remove the built-in Airport card, put this in a PCI slot, and carry on. As such, in Tiger and Leopard you can connect to any WPA2 network using all current encryption standards.

If you are interested, let me know and I'll look up the p/n.

 

[arkieboy72472]

So, my update didn't work because my drive isn't being recognized.

To get this bad boy back to its old self, I will need a new optical drive (hopefully one that can read DVDs and maybe burn them), a new airport extreme card (I would like one that can connect to modern networks like G and N if possible), a motherboard battery, and then a drive caddy and maybe a few more IDE hard drives. My goal is to put 10.4.11 on it and maybe some basic office programs. That plus TenFourFox allows me to justify either donating it or selling it with a good conscious.

So, yea, I will take you up on that. I also looked into upgrading the CPU to 1 GHZ or more and apparently they still want a stupid amount of money for it.

 

[organicCPU]

I have a bad feeling the optical drive may not be working...it opens and closes, but it doesn't seem to want to read anything. I don't have another IDE CD/DVD optical drive to swap it with.

On the sticker of the 867 Mhz DP is written 'DVD-R/CDRW'. According to the manual I've linked in post#36 (page 15), your optical drive should be a SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW), not a Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW). Like @Cox Orange wrote in post#19, your optical drive can't read or burn all common media. Details of working media are in the mentioned manual on page 103.

Did you ever try to insert a normal Audio CD and read from it to check basic functionality? If that doesn't work, you could try unplug and replug the power connector and more important reattach the IDE connector at the drive and at the motherboard. Sometimes these connector cables are defective, too. Also check, if there has been made some weird jumper setting at your SuperDrive. The proper setting should be master.

The jumper setting could also be important for your 120 GB drive. Maybe you couldn't format it, because of the wrong jumper setting. You can attach a 120 GB drive to an ATA/100 connector (rear hard disk drive carrier) or an ATA/66 (front hard drive carrier) controller. See manual page 18. The last drive at each connector should be master, the other one in the middle position should be slave.

 

[arkieboy72472]

On the sticker of the 867 Mhz DP is written 'DVD-R/CDRW'. According to the manual I've linked in post#36 (page 15), your optical drive should be a SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW), not a Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW). Like @Cox Orange wrote in post#19, your optical drive can't read or burn all common media. Details of working media are in the mentioned manual on page 103.

Did you ever try to insert a normal Audio CD and read from it to check basic functionality? If that doesn't work, you could try unplug and replug the power connector and more important reattach the IDE connector at the drive and at the motherboard. Sometimes these connector cables are defective, too. Also check, if there has been made some weird jumper setting at your SuperDrive. The proper setting should be master.

The jumper setting could also be important for your 120 GB drive. Maybe you couldn't format it, because of the wrong jumper setting. You can attach a 120 GB drive to an ATA/100 connector (rear hard disk drive carrier) or an ATA/66 (front hard drive carrier) controller. See manual page 18. The last drive at each connector should be master, the other one in the middle position should be slave.

The hard drives work fine. I have them in Master/Slave Set-up. You are correct that I have NOT tried a audio CD. However, nowhere in the system is an optical drive listed (when I search for it in "about this mac"). I have also not checked the drive's jumper settings. I will look into that. I have tried the whole plug and unplug thing. I think it probably is just bad.

Just to be certian, ATA 33 is optical and ATA 66 are the hard drives, right?

 

[Cox Orange]

Just to be certian, ATA 33 is optical and ATA 66 are the hard drives, right?

everymac.com says:
"optical drive: Both optical drives use a EIDE (ATA-3) bus" and "HDD: Can officially support four 3.5" internal hard drives or SSDs -- two Ultra ATA/100 (ATA-6) and two Ultra ATA/66 (ATA-5) -- drives larger than 128 GB are supported."
source: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_867_dp_mdd.html (you might have to click on the blue text to get further information. Example: you click on "inroduction date:" and you can read "The "Introduction Date" refers to..." and so on)

 

[arkieboy72472]

everymac.com says:
"optical drive: Both optical drives use a EIDE (ATA-3) bus" and "HDD: Can officially support four 3.5" internal hard drives or SSDs -- two Ultra ATA/100 (ATA-6) and two Ultra ATA/66 (ATA-5) -- drives larger than 128 GB are supported."
source: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_867_dp_mdd.html (you might have to click on the blue text to get further information. Example: you click on "inroduction date:" and you can read "The "Introduction Date" refers to..." and so on)

Thanks. I read the manual and things make much more sense. I am fairly certian everything is plugged up properly. I will probably buy a new battery and optical drive here soon.

 

[Cox Orange]

OK, but be sure to get an optical drive that can write +DL as well as -DL! So you won't have to use special media. They can be had for 1,- plus shipping.

 

[organicCPU]

two Ultra ATA/100 (ATA-6) and two Ultra ATA/66 (ATA-5) -- drives larger than 128 GB are supported.

Drives larger than 128 GB are supported, but just at rear hard disk drive carrier ATA/100. AFAIK ATA/66 has 128 limit.

 

[Cox Orange]

I am not sure, you could be right, but according to this the break was in the Quicksilver line http://www.macos9lives.com/mac os 9 lives_003.htm all MDDs seem to be fine.

 

[organicCPU]

I am not sure, you could be right, but according to this the break was in the Quicksilver line http://www.macos9lives.com/mac os 9 lives_003.htm all MDDs seem to be fine.

In your linked article is said the following:

If you intend to use hard drives larger than 128GB (under OS 9), then be aware that you will need a Mac with an IDE controller that is 48-bit LBA compliant.

Compare the ATA features at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#Features_introduced_with_each_ATA_revision

With ATA/100 the 48-bit LBA compliance was introduced. I think that is the first ATA revision capable of more than 128 GiB. Therefore I believe the ATA/66 controller will have a limit of 128 GiB. With these two different ATA versions on board it makes that G4 support drives larger than 128 GiB, what the everymac site states, but IMHO not on both controllers. Nevertheless, the 120 GB should work on both controllers.

The same wikipedia article explained the limitation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#Interface_size_limitations

ATA-6 introduced 48-bit addressing, increasing the limit to 128 PiB (144 PB). As a consequence, any ATA drive of capacity larger than about 137 GB must be an ATA-6 or later drive. Connecting such a drive to a host with an ATA-5 or earlier interface will limit the usable capacity to the maximum of the interface.

EDIT: There are Open Firmware hacks and special drivers to get 48-bit addressing for older ATA versions:
https://nanchatte.wordpress.com/200...dd-lba48-support-on-the-g4-cube-with-leopard/

The hard drives work fine.

If I remember right, if both of your drives are working, you won't obligatory need an optical drive just to install Mac OS X 10.4., since you've got the OS already on disk images.

To install Tiger without an optical drive:
- Boot to Mac OS X 10.5.x, probably on the 40 GB drive
- Move your DMG or ISO file containing Mac OS X 10.4. to the drive running 10.5 and mount it
- Start the installer and choose the other drive as install destination, probably the 120 GB

Hints:
- After installation, set up the Startup Disk in System Preferences to the drive holding Mac OS X 10.4 and reboot
- To boot to Mac OS X 10.5 while Mac OS X 10.4 is running, choose Startup Disk in System Preferences again, set it to Mac OS X 10.5 and reboot

- If you really have Mac OS X 10.5.6 running, download and install the Combo Update to 10.5.8 from https://support.apple.com/kb/DL866

- There is also Mac OS X 10.4.11 Combo Update available https://support.apple.com/kb/DL170

- Before you install Mac OS X 10.4. on the 120 GB drive, think about partitioning that drive into two 60 GB partitions and install Mac OS X 10.5 on one partition and Mac OS X 10.4. on the other partition to get a performance boost for Mac OS X 10.5. compared to the current installation on the 40 GB drive.