Here's my scenario... can't afford to, can't afford not to.
I've been working without a net for way too long and it's
catching up to me. My only backup has been zips and they
have proven inadequate and too costly.
It seems that any technical knowledge I once had has either
become out-dated or has been forgotten:(

Problems that have been occurring:
Not enough memory messages, not enough disk space messages,
programs quitting, not a lot of freezing surprisingly. And, in
high-res in Photoshop or Illustrator with raster images....
crawling-apply-a-brush-stroke-and-go-to-lunch SLOWWWWW.

I know it was a lack of space and/or virtual memory that
prevented a program from being able to print to file. There
was enough space for the file, but I don't think the print monitor
(or whatever) had the space/memory to finish the job. When I
made enough space on my system partition I was able to output
low-res for distiller finally, but still can't output high-res (this
was a large graphics file).
Working with virtual memory on doesn't seem to help, and
sometimes seems to hurt. I allocated more memory to Photoshop
and Illustrator to help speed them up, but this only served to
reduce my scratch disk space and I still got "not enough memory"
errors.


I have a G4 Yikes, 350 MHz, 832MB ram, w/10GB Quantum
hard drive. I am WAY over partitioned (5).

First, should I replace the original or add a second hard drive?
My concern is the age of the original (1999), plus the heat of 2
internal drives. Of course, to replace it I will first have to be
able to copy everything, either to the new hard drive, or an
external. For some reason this is a frightening prospect for me.
I have an irrational fear of losing everything in transit.

My thoughts are to reconfigure with my system software and
fonts on the one main internal hard drive/partition. I want a lot
of stretching room for the system software. (Not sure if I'll be
getting OS 10, but definitely need OS 9. Not all my current apps
will work with 10.) Does OS 9 handle virtual memory on it's
own or do you still have to allocate memory to apps? Then I need
a drive/partition for my apps, and 40GB-60GB minimum
hard drive/partition for scratch disk space. My Firewire interface
is unused, so  Firewire external seems the way to go. Can it also
be used for scratch disk space when needed?
Then I was thinking an external for my actual files and for backup.
With OS 9 I can get a CD burner and actually run a backup app as
well:)

Does this sound like the optimum way to reconfigure for a graphics
computer? Really stupid questions: external drives aren't handled
as if  you were on a server, correct? Are they bootable if used
for backing up OS system?

And my budget is nil, so I have to make good decisions and go a
step at a time. I'm thinking start with the internal drive, yes?
Or, if I can use and external for scratch disk space then it would
provide both that and backup? I just don't know anymore:(
I'm told that buffer is important, so I'm leaning toward 8mb
buffer but not sure if it will mean that much for my particular
system. The internals I'm looking at are:
80GB Hitachi/IBM DeskStar 7K250 ATA/6 7200RPM 8.5ms 2MB Buffer. 1yr Hitachi
Warranty + 2 additional years OWC Warranty.
120GB Hitachi/IBM DeskStar 180GXP ATA/6 7200RPM 8.5ms 8MB Buffer. 3yr
Hitachi Warranty. (IBM07N9549) (for the 8MB buffer)
80GB Western Digital Caviar 7200rpm 8.9ms 8MB 'JUMBO' Cache UltraDMA 100.
3yr Western Digital Warranty. (WDGWD800JB)
120GB Western Digital Caviar 'Special Edition' 8MB Cache 7200rpm 8.9ms
UltraDMA 100. 3yr Western Digital Warranty. (WDGWD1200JBSE)

For externals I'm looking at:
120GB Mercury Elite Pro 7200RPM FireWire 800+USB 2.0/1.1 Oxford922 Storage
Solution with *Jumbo 8MB Data Buffer*. FW400, FW800, & USB Cables; Dantz
Retrospect Express and Intech Speed Tools Included. 2yr Warranty.
(OWCME8FW7120GBJ)
120GB OWC Mercury Elite 7200RPM Combo FireWire Oxford 911 + USB 2.0/1.1
Solution. **Jumbo 8MB Cache Version** FireWire Cable, USB Cable, Dantz
Retrospect Express & Intech SpeedTools included! 2yr Warranty.
(OWCME2FW7120GBJ)
80GB OWC Neptune 7200RPM FireWire Solution w/2MB Buffer. Includes FireWire
Cable, Intech SpeedTools utility, & Dantz Retrospect Express. New with 1yr
Warranty. (OWCNPFW7080GB)
200GB OWC Neptune 7200RPM FireWire Solution w/Large *8MB Buffer*. Includes
FireWire Cable, Intech SpeedTools utility, & Dantz Retrospect Express. New
with 1yr Warranty. (OWCNPFW7200GB)
I will keep the following from a differnet post in mind as well:
> But there's a gotcha here.  FireWire drives are usually IDE drives
> attached to an IDE-FireWire bridge board.  That bridge board must
> support LBA-48 mode in order to support drives larger than 128G.

I may have to start with the smallest and cheapest alternative to cure
my ills. Which way should I go for a temporary solution?... replacement,
addition or external? If keeping the original it has to be reformatted
without these darn partitions.

Please help me straighten out my brain on this. I've been in panic
mode since I lost a major opportunity through not being able to meet a
deadline and not being able to even save files. I bit off more that my
present system could chew and I've paid dearly for it.

Thanks,
inez

Wow, long post!

I have a suggestion for you. Why 5 partitions on a 10 gig drive? The problem
with that is you have only 2GB of room for your virtual memory to add more
RAM, and then on top of that you are asking that same 2GB to be your scratch
disk for Photoshop. No wonder there's a strain on your computer!

The best thing is to create more space on your hard drive. Archive to cds,
they are about $.25 each if you buy them bulk. Just get good ones.

The next step up would be to repartition your hard drive (but you have to
back up all your files first, because they will be wiped and lost forever
after this process is complete) into two drives of 5GB each or just leave it
at one 10GB drive for ease of use and more Virtual Memory and Scratch Disk
space. 

The more expensive option, but the best of both worlds is to get a 120GB
External Fire wire Hard Drive and back up your files there as well as using
it for your scratch disk. That frees up your system resources and space and
also doesn't add any "heat" to the inside of  your computer. However, if you
just installed another hard drive in your current computer, and there's
room, then it was meant to be there and probably won't overheat your
computer. 

In short, the less you can store on your "system" hard drive the better your
computer's performance will be. And you won't have to use virtual memory at
all, which is MUCH slower than actual RAM, and you have quite a bit of RAM
at 856. 


Kind Regards, 
Nathaniel
-- 
flikWORLD Design
reply to: nat at flikworld(dot)com
 

in article BC04CBF9.EBE6%inezhsmithspammenot@earthlink.net, iehsmith at
inezhsmithspammenot@earthlink.net wrote on 12/16/03 12:50 PM:

> Here's my scenario... can't afford to, can't afford not to.
> I've been working without a net for way too long and it's
> catching up to me. My only backup has been zips and they
> have proven inadequate and too costly.
> It seems that any technical knowledge I once had has either
> become out-dated or has been forgotten:(
> 
> Problems that have been occurring:
> Not enough memory messages, not enough disk space messages,
> programs quitting, not a lot of freezing surprisingly. And, in
> high-res in Photoshop or Illustrator with raster images....
> crawling-apply-a-brush-stroke-and-go-to-lunch SLOWWWWW.
> 
> I know it was a lack of space and/or virtual memory that
> prevented a program from being able to print to file. There
> was enough space for the file, but I don't think the print monitor
> (or whatever) had the space/memory to finish the job. When I
> made enough space on my system partition I was able to output
> low-res for distiller finally, but still can't output high-res (this
> was a large graphics file).
> Working with virtual memory on doesn't seem to help, and
> sometimes seems to hurt. I allocated more memory to Photoshop
> and Illustrator to help speed them up, but this only served to
> reduce my scratch disk space and I still got "not enough memory"
> errors.
> 
> 
> I have a G4 Yikes, 350 MHz, 832MB ram, w/10GB Quantum
> hard drive. I am WAY over partitioned (5).
> 
> First, should I replace the original or add a second hard drive?
> My concern is the age of the original (1999), plus the heat of 2
> internal drives. Of course, to replace it I will first have to be
> able to copy everything, either to the new hard drive, or an
> external. For some reason this is a frightening prospect for me.
> I have an irrational fear of losing everything in transit.
> 
> My thoughts are to reconfigure with my system software and
> fonts on the one main internal hard drive/partition. I want a lot
> of stretching room for the system software. (Not sure if I'll be
> getting OS 10, but definitely need OS 9. Not all my current apps
> will work with 10.) Does OS 9 handle virtual memory on it's
> own or do you still have to allocate memory to apps? Then I need
> a drive/partition for my apps, and 40GB-60GB minimum
> hard drive/partition for scratch disk space. My Firewire interface
> is unused, so  Firewire external seems the way to go. Can it also
> be used for scratch disk space when needed?
> Then I was thinking an external for my actual files and for backup.
> With OS 9 I can get a CD burner and actually run a backup app as
> well:)
> 
> Does this sound like the optimum way to reconfigure for a graphics
> computer? Really stupid questions: external drives aren't handled
> as if  you were on a server, correct? Are they bootable if used
> for backing up OS system?
> 
> And my budget is nil, so I have to make good decisions and go a
> step at a time. I'm thinking start with the internal drive, yes?
> Or, if I can use and external for scratch disk space then it would
> provide both that and backup? I just don't know anymore:(
> I'm told that buffer is important, so I'm leaning toward 8mb
> buffer but not sure if it will mean that much for my particular
> system. The internals I'm looking at are:
> 80GB Hitachi/IBM DeskStar 7K250 ATA/6 7200RPM 8.5ms 2MB Buffer. 1yr Hitachi
> Warranty + 2 additional years OWC Warranty.
> 120GB Hitachi/IBM DeskStar 180GXP ATA/6 7200RPM 8.5ms 8MB Buffer. 3yr
> Hitachi Warranty. (IBM07N9549) (for the 8MB buffer)
> 80GB Western Digital Caviar 7200rpm 8.9ms 8MB 'JUMBO' Cache UltraDMA 100.
> 3yr Western Digital Warranty. (WDGWD800JB)
> 120GB Western Digital Caviar 'Special Edition' 8MB Cache 7200rpm 8.9ms
> UltraDMA 100. 3yr Western Digital Warranty. (WDGWD1200JBSE)
> 
> For externals I'm looking at:
> 120GB Mercury Elite Pro 7200RPM FireWire 800+USB 2.0/1.1 Oxford922 Storage
> Solution with *Jumbo 8MB Data Buffer*. FW400, FW800, & USB Cables; Dantz
> Retrospect Express and Intech Speed Tools Included. 2yr Warranty.
> (OWCME8FW7120GBJ)
> 120GB OWC Mercury Elite 7200RPM Combo FireWire Oxford 911 + USB 2.0/1.1
> Solution. **Jumbo 8MB Cache Version** FireWire Cable, USB Cable, Dantz
> Retrospect Express & Intech SpeedTools included! 2yr Warranty.
> (OWCME2FW7120GBJ)
> 80GB OWC Neptune 7200RPM FireWire Solution w/2MB Buffer. Includes FireWire
> Cable, Intech SpeedTools utility, & Dantz Retrospect Express. New with 1yr
> Warranty. (OWCNPFW7080GB)
> 200GB OWC Neptune 7200RPM FireWire Solution w/Large *8MB Buffer*. Includes
> FireWire Cable, Intech SpeedTools utility, & Dantz Retrospect Express. New
> with 1yr Warranty. (OWCNPFW7200GB)
> I will keep the following from a differnet post in mind as well:
>> But there's a gotcha here.  FireWire drives are usually IDE drives
>> attached to an IDE-FireWire bridge board.  That bridge board must
>> support LBA-48 mode in order to support drives larger than 128G.
> 
> I may have to start with the smallest and cheapest alternative to cure
> my ills. Which way should I go for a temporary solution?... replacement,
> addition or external? If keeping the original it has to be reformatted
> without these darn partitions.
> 
> Please help me straighten out my brain on this. I've been in panic
> mode since I lost a major opportunity through not being able to meet a
> deadline and not being able to even save files. I bit off more that my
> present system could chew and I've paid dearly for it.
> 
> Thanks,
> inez
> 
> 

> From: Nathaniel Flick <nat@flikworld.com>
> Wow, long post!
> 
> I have a suggestion for you. Why 5 partitions on a 10 gig drive? The problem
> with that is you have only 2GB of room for your virtual memory to add more
> RAM, and then on top of that you are asking that same 2GB to be your scratch
> disk for Photoshop. No wonder there's a strain on your computer!
This I realize. Back in 12/1999 it didn't seem like a bad idea at the time:)
Of course, two weeks after I got the G4 the discontinued the Yikes. I am
forever out of sync.

> The best thing is to create more space on your hard drive. Archive to cds,
> they are about $.25 each if you buy them bulk. Just get good ones.
If I had a CD burner that would be a great idea to start with. And since
I'm still running OS8.6 the CD bruning software has passed me buy, so
I want to de-partition my original HD and upgrade ot OS 9.1 at the same
time. Also, in consideration of another post:
>>snip<<
>> While a separate partition on the application drive is good - it means
>> that the data space will not be cluttered with other, immovable files
>> that will force large working files to be fragmented - it really should
>> be on a separate drive. If you work with large PS files, throw a 40-60GB
>> drive into your system, format it and keep it empty, and point PS to it
>> as the primary scratch drive.
>>snip<<
I would like to dedicate a hard drive specifically as a scratch disk instead
of just a partition.

> The next step up would be to repartition your hard drive (but you have to
> back up all your files first, because they will be wiped and lost forever
> after this process is complete) into two drives of 5GB each or just leave it
> at one 10GB drive for ease of use and more Virtual Memory and Scratch Disk
> space. 
I'm hoping I can copy everything over to my added hard drive, remove all
partitions for the original, the move everything back as folders. Reformat
the new drive and leave it empty as a scratch disk.
I REALLY don't want to have to reinstall all my programs, extensions,
plugins, etc. all over again.

> The more expensive option, but the best of both worlds is to get a 120GB
> External Fire wire Hard Drive and back up your files there as well as using
> it for your scratch disk. That frees up your system resources and space and
> also doesn't add any "heat" to the inside of  your computer. However, if you
> just installed another hard drive in your current computer, and there's
> room, then it was meant to be there and probably won't overheat your
> computer. 
After I get the added internal drive, then I do wan to add an external
firewire for my files and backup. Then I can just keep my system software,
fonts and apps on the original 10GB drive and leave it alone. I am glad that
everyone seems to feel that adding a hard drive isn't going to really cause
a heat issue.

> In short, the less you can store on your "system" hard drive the better your
> computer's performance will be. And you won't have to use virtual memory at
> all, which is MUCH slower than actual RAM, and you have quite a bit of RAM
> at 856. 
832mb, and I will be removing a 64mb and replacing it with a 256mb to
max out at 1GB ram.

Then I have to decide between A SmartDrive and external CD burner for
a real backup and more permanent storage. Guess that may be a choice
between speed and versatility, I don't know.
My mouse is going to go any day now to so I'm looking for an optical,
and my drawing slate has never worked with this G4 so I need to
repalce that, then there's just that little thing of upgrading all my
apps and moving inot OS 10;\ Somebody shoot me!

Thanks Nathaniel,
inez

No problem, inez. 

As for a new mouse, I just got a Logitech with two mouse buttons and a
scroll wheel for $19.99 and it works great! It even has software for OS 9
and X when you upgrade to either one. You can still use it, minus the button
functionality with apple's standard "mouse" extension.


Kind Regards, 
Nathaniel
-- 
flikWORLD Design
reply to: nat at flikworld(dot)com


in article BC06227B.EDC4%inezhsmithspammenot@earthlink.net, iehsmith at
inezhsmithspammenot@earthlink.net wrote on 12/17/03 1:11 PM:

>> From: Nathaniel Flick <nat@flikworld.com>
>> Wow, long post!
>> 
>> I have a suggestion for you. Why 5 partitions on a 10 gig drive? The problem
>> with that is you have only 2GB of room for your virtual memory to add more
>> RAM, and then on top of that you are asking that same 2GB to be your scratch
>> disk for Photoshop. No wonder there's a strain on your computer!
> This I realize. Back in 12/1999 it didn't seem like a bad idea at the time:)
> Of course, two weeks after I got the G4 the discontinued the Yikes. I am
> forever out of sync.
> 
>> The best thing is to create more space on your hard drive. Archive to cds,
>> they are about $.25 each if you buy them bulk. Just get good ones.
> If I had a CD burner that would be a great idea to start with. And since
> I'm still running OS8.6 the CD bruning software has passed me buy, so
> I want to de-partition my original HD and upgrade ot OS 9.1 at the same
> time. Also, in consideration of another post:
>>> snip<<
>>> While a separate partition on the application drive is good - it means
>>> that the data space will not be cluttered with other, immovable files
>>> that will force large working files to be fragmented - it really should
>>> be on a separate drive. If you work with large PS files, throw a 40-60GB
>>> drive into your system, format it and keep it empty, and point PS to it
>>> as the primary scratch drive.
>>> snip<<
> I would like to dedicate a hard drive specifically as a scratch disk instead
> of just a partition.
> 
>> The next step up would be to repartition your hard drive (but you have to
>> back up all your files first, because they will be wiped and lost forever
>> after this process is complete) into two drives of 5GB each or just leave it
>> at one 10GB drive for ease of use and more Virtual Memory and Scratch Disk
>> space. 
> I'm hoping I can copy everything over to my added hard drive, remove all
> partitions for the original, the move everything back as folders. Reformat
> the new drive and leave it empty as a scratch disk.
> I REALLY don't want to have to reinstall all my programs, extensions,
> plugins, etc. all over again.
> 
>> The more expensive option, but the best of both worlds is to get a 120GB
>> External Fire wire Hard Drive and back up your files there as well as using
>> it for your scratch disk. That frees up your system resources and space and
>> also doesn't add any "heat" to the inside of  your computer. However, if you
>> just installed another hard drive in your current computer, and there's
>> room, then it was meant to be there and probably won't overheat your
>> computer. 
> After I get the added internal drive, then I do wan to add an external
> firewire for my files and backup. Then I can just keep my system software,
> fonts and apps on the original 10GB drive and leave it alone. I am glad that
> everyone seems to feel that adding a hard drive isn't going to really cause
> a heat issue.
> 
>> In short, the less you can store on your "system" hard drive the better your
>> computer's performance will be. And you won't have to use virtual memory at
>> all, which is MUCH slower than actual RAM, and you have quite a bit of RAM
>> at 856. 
> 832mb, and I will be removing a 64mb and replacing it with a 256mb to
> max out at 1GB ram.
> 
> Then I have to decide between A SmartDrive and external CD burner for
> a real backup and more permanent storage. Guess that may be a choice
> between speed and versatility, I don't know.
> My mouse is going to go any day now to so I'm looking for an optical,
> and my drawing slate has never worked with this G4 so I need to
> repalce that, then there's just that little thing of upgrading all my
> apps and moving inot OS 10;\ Somebody shoot me!
> 
> Thanks Nathaniel,
> inez
> 

> From: Nathaniel Flick <nat@flikworld.com>

> No problem, inez.
> 
> As for a new mouse, I just got a Logitech with two mouse buttons and a
> scroll wheel for $19.99 and it works great! It even has software for OS 9
> and X when you upgrade to either one. You can still use it, minus the button
> functionality with apple's standard "mouse" extension.
> 
> 
> Kind Regards, 
> Nathaniel

I've been shopping around and I'm considering a Logitech. I think I'd
like scrolling, but working in a house with 7 cats I'm constantly
getting fur out of things, so any exposed moving parts can be a
problem. That's one reason I have to get an optical mouse, aside
from resolution. For that reason I'm taking a very close look at the
Kensington StudioMouse. It has software versions that will cover
from my OS 8.6 to 10. I'm checking though reviews right now in
fact. I figure If I don't like the scroller sensor I just don't have
to use it. But I can't for the life of me find the resolution for it.
I know it's probably good, but there are some opticals out there
that are still at 400dpi.
Anyone has experience with the StudioMouse? Anyone have
recommendations/reviews?

Thanks,
inez

PS_ the StudioMouse is kinda pricey but seems to have gone done
to $40:(