# Installing MacOS on the second partition of a G4 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024 "2003-04-29T22:48:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Basandre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@Basandre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Basandre)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/1 "2003-04-29T22:48:49Z")
I am trying to install MacOS 9.0 on the second partition of my G4 computer. Currently, that partition has Linux installed on it, so if I try booting from the install CD, it can’t see the partition. The primary partition on the computer has 9.1 and 10.1 installed on it. Does anyone have any ideas about how I could do this? Google has been no help, and neither has Apple’s support page. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/2 "2003-04-29T23:34:29Z")
If you run the “Disk Setup” utility on the OS9 boot CD, you should be able to see the second partition and reformat it for HFS. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/3 "2003-04-30T00:14:37Z")
Or HFS+ (I think Drive Setup might call this “Mac OS Extended”) if the partition’s \> 2 GB. ---
**Author:** ![Basandre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@Basandre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Basandre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/4 "2003-04-30T02:31:04Z")
Ok, I tried that and Disk Setup could see the partition, but it said it was “not supported”. I also tried the Disk Setup utility from OS 10, it couldn’t even see the partition, although it did report the size of the whole drive correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Basandre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@Basandre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Basandre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/5 "2003-04-30T15:16:06Z")
bump bump… can anybody help me with this? ---
**Author:** ![Parrothead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/59ef9b/32.png) [@Parrothead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parrothead)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/6 "2003-04-30T15:41:44Z")
While I am a Mac guy, I am making this up as I go, but here are a few suggestions… You **are** going to have to reformat the partition that Linux is on. MacOS9 does not understand the format of that second partition, but it **should** be able to reformat it. Once you reformat as HFS+, the MacOSX install CD should see that partition, and be able to install to it. Alternately, you may be able to destroy that partition completely using Apple disk Utility (or whatever they call it now) and the OSX installer will format it for you. OSX will offer a couple of formats for your disk… if you want to share files with OS9 (and I assume you do) select HFS+, none of the others will work. I know this is vague, but I hope it helps. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/7 "2003-04-30T16:04:22Z")
Drive setup just isn’t sophisticated enough to do what you want, you may be forced to reformat the entire drive. ---
**Author:** ![Geoduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c37758/32.png) [@Geoduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geoduck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/8 "2003-05-01T04:16:35Z")
Have you checked out the Hard Drive Speed Tools product? Their drivers seem more sophisticated than Apple’s. Also FWB. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/installing-macos-on-the-second-partition-of-a-g4/172024/9 "2003-05-01T14:53:54Z")
Also choose HFS+ (instead of UFS) if you plan on running many Carbon applications. A lot of them still refuse to work with non-HFS+ volumes. Heck, even _Classic_ requires an HFS+ volume. You could boot from your Linux CD to reformat the Linux partition, probably.