Mike wrote:
> How can you tell which disk driver(s) is/are being used for your > hard drive(s) ? The drivers supplied with new drives are for PCs so > us older Mac users must rely on Apple or other third party. Mt. Everything (freeware available at http://www.download.com and other places) will scan each bus and list data about each device. Select a device and click the "Info" button and part of the information displayed will include the name of the driver used. SCSI Probe works well, but I like M.E. better. (personal choice) > > How do we know what version of Drive Update to use? Does a new drive > need the newest driver available or are we better off sticking with a > version more suited to our OS, for instance, if you still use 8.6? You can use the Apple drive formatting software that came with your OS for any Apple supported drives, or the third party drive formatting programs for non-Apple supported drives. Formatting removes all old formatting and data and replaces it with your new data, so it doesn't matter what was on the drive. The older OS will read formating done with newer software as long as the formatting type is supported. (I.E. HFS is readable by any OS, but HFS+ was not readable by some of the older OS versions. I believe the cutoff was somewhere back in the OS 7 range, about the7.5.5/7.6.1 era.) > > Are they stored on ROM or in some secret HD location? When you use > Drive Update or other app to install a new driver, jus' where do it > go? Other hardware drivers can be seen in extensions so they are a > more tangible known quantity. (Makes me feel warm and fuzzy and in > control of my PPC.) > The data is stored on the hard drive in a Master Directory and some associated files. These use a small amount of actual hard drive space, which is unavailable for any other storage. Once proper formatting is done, the driver can be updated at any time. > > If you are experiencing HD problems (not mounting or booting > correctly, etc.), how can you tell if it is driver related? I would > guess they can get corrupted just like the rest of your data? Seems > to me you need a good driver to get your drive to mount correctly but > you cannot update or replace (reload?) a driver UNLESS your drive is > mounted. Am I wrong about this apparent catch 22? Mt. Everything (see above) has a generic driver built in which allows the drive to be mounted in an emergency, but the formatting software will usually allow installation of a temporary driver to mount the drive also. The formatting can then be accomplished, which includes a new driver. Note that an updated driver can be mounted without destroying the drive's data, but a complete format (needed if a drive Master Directory and back up directories are all corrupted) will wipe the drive clean. I only use a complete format on a newly acquired drive or one that is completely shot as a last resort before throwing it away. David Allen -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
