My G4 started making a really loud noise the other day, I thought i was the fans doing it. After opening the thing I determined it is the hard drive, it just starts sounding like this loud sort of mettalic grinding sound, no clicking or anything. After I restarted now, it's gone. If it's not one noise, it's another. :mad:

Doesn't sound too good. Looks like the beginning of hd failure. Had one go like that. Strange noises coming and going inconsistently. Ususally they make consistent sounds but erratic ones are no good. How old is your G4? Is it stock hd or upgrade?

It's an IBM 80 gig stock in a dual 1 gig MDD. The G4 is just over a year old. I guess it might be time to get one of those WD 8 meg cache guys. I can't really afford to wait and watch this this HD go south.

Yes like now :eek: That drive is toast :( :eek:

Thanks David. I need to go get a WD tomorrow. I need to work across the holidays because I'm busy as hell. Can I use something like carbon copy cloner to "ghost" this? I'm used to doing it on PC with Norton ghost. Is it the same type of process?

Can I just copy my "home" directory and after a new install just drop that over it?
The good news is I keep all my work files on firewire. But it'd be a drag to have to re set up everything from scratch.
One nice thing about OS X compared to windows. If this was windows I'd be welcoming the opportunity to wipe after a one year install. I wouldn't dream of preserving a one year old install.

[ December 23, 2003, 06:07 PM: Message edited by: groovetube ]

I would recommend backing up your home directory and installing Panther from scratch, prevents any problem from being carried over to your new drive.

If you don't want to go this route then Carbon Copy Cloner is the best way to do it.

H

Cool, thanks. Just to be sure, I select everything in the "home" directory (with desktop, library, documents, public blah blah) and copy it over to the firewire drive, wipe and install Jag (that's what I have) and just drop the home directory over the one I create (under the same name of course) and it should be all the same as before? I guess I could copy the applications folder as well? Sorry, never done this on a mac before.( If so, why cant you do this on windows?)

I agree with Hankman. use CC and dump it on your firewire and use that as your start-up until you can replace the drive. BACK-UP everything before it is totally gone. Then install a fresh copy of Panther in the new drive. After that you can still use your firewire as a last resource with a system folder on it for emergencies and diagnosis. Good luck

Sorry, I'm a little confused here. Maybe I'm still thinking in PC". I have no idea how to use CC. Does this take a snapshot of your whole drive?

Anyways, I've copied the "home" to my firewire drive. The current drive is working fine, I suspect it will continue to work for a bit, but now I'm all backed up. I'm getting a new drive in the morning. So. Can I just use the software restore install discs that came with my G4 and lay down Jaguar, create the same user, and afterwards, simply drop the "home' I saved onto the new one? I assume I'll have to re install the applications before hand.

You will need CCC. Get it here. (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13260)

Just draging and droping is not going to get all of the files. CCC will take everything you need to the new drive.

I am guessing this is what Norton Ghost did for you on the PC.

Carbon Copy Cloner and Norton Ghost essentially the same things for their own specific OS.

I can't say "exact same" because of the difference in OSs