Member Avatar for huzzlar

Hi,

We are running on a eMAC G4 1Ghz OS v10.2.8.

From the Diskwarrior website under Mac OS X Compatibility it states the program PlusOptimizer , "will optimize Mac OS X Extended disks while running under Mac OS 9.x." You can check for yourself here:

However, underneath that paragraph, it states, "PlusOptimizer cannot optimize any disks shared with Mac OS X while running under Classic. PlusOptimizer will not optimize UFS disks."

Does "Classic" mean booting up in OS 9? If so, then how can I use PlusOptimizer to optimize my harddrive that contains both OS X and OS 9?

Thanks,
Tony

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by kc0arf

Dani AI

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A few practical points to clear up what Alsoft means and how to proceed on your eMac (10.2.8).

Alsoft’s warning is about exclusive disk access: when PlusOptimizer runs inside the Classic environment it is an OS 9 process while OS X is still running and may have the same volumes mounted. PlusOptimizer needs exclusive access to rearrange files at the volume level, so anything OS X has mounted or a filesystem OS 9 can’t manipulate (UFS or other OS X‑only filesystems) will be skipped or protected. was on the right track — the safe way to optimize an OS X volume is to run PlusOptimizer from an environment where OS X is not running against that volume.

A safe, minimal workflow

  • In OS X, confirm the target volume format (open Disk Utility in /Applications/Utilities and check the volume’s Format). If the volume is UFS or another non‑HFS format, PlusOptimizer won’t touch it.
  • Make a full backup of the volume (do not skip this).
  • Boot the machine from a native OS 9 boot source (an OS 9 partition or a separate OS 9 external drive), or use any method that leaves OS X offline so the target volume is not mounted by OS X.
  • Run PlusOptimizer from that native OS 9 boot and optimize the HFS/HFS+ volumes you want.

Troubleshooting and cautions

  • If PlusOptimizer refuses or reports the volume is “shared,” it means OS X still has the volume open. Reboot from a media where OS X isn’t active and try again.
  • Never try to optimize your startup volume while it’s the running system; boot from another disk first.
  • If maintaining OS X volumes is the goal, also consider OS X tools (Disk Utility, DiskWarrior) for directory repairs rather than defragmentation; they handle Mac OS X specific concerns better.

This approach applies to your eMac scenario; , if you cannot create or boot an OS 9 environment, the only safe options are to run PlusOptimizer on volumes OS X does not mount or use OS X tools instead.

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

"Classic" to me, implies that you are running OS X, and are running a OS 9 program in the Classic environment. Let's say I was running a good game called RISK! that was written for OS 9, and I booted into OS X. When I run RISK!, it loads up the Classic environment, and I go to war.

When loading up OS 9 by itself (just as you would have done in 1998), it is not called Classic. You are running pure OS 9.

What you are going to want to do is boot into OS 9, either by having a OS 9 partition on your hard drive, or by telling the System Preferences --> Startup Disk to boot up your "classic" folder. You will not be able to just boot the OS 9 CD-ROM, because you are going to need to access your PlusOptimizer software, and you cannot eject a CD-ROM if it has the live system on it. If you have a CD-ROM Burner, you might find it easiest to burn a startup OS 9 CD-ROM with the Optimizer program on it.

OF course, you did make your backups already, right?

Christian

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