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ZOM 77 · Jun 21, 2003, 08:29 AM

this sux
apple posts yet another firmware update that is only usable through os 9!
yet theyve been shoving os x down are throats for over 2 years and telling us 9 is dead!
well if 9 is dead, dont u think its about time to release firmware capable of being installed without os 9.
i havnt had 9 on my machine in over a year.
my digital audio mac is being wronged,
i feel bad for her that i can not give her this hard drive update!

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120230

typoon · Jun 23, 2003, 04:06 PM

If you are not using os 9 you DON'T need this update. That is what I understand from that. update. Would you like some cheese with that whine?

bstieritz · Jun 23, 2003, 04:19 PM

hehe . . . hehe

hrubin1000 · Jun 27, 2003, 08:32 PM

I installed this on my 450 MHZ AGP Sawtooth G4 and both my IBM 27 GB internal master and IBM 45 GB slave drives became invisible and wouldn't mount. Starting from the OS X installer disk caused kernel panics while starting from Diskwarrior 2.1 (OS 9.1) was OK however neither internal drive was seen by Diskwarrior. Disconnecting the slave drive allowed the master to mount satisfactorily. The 45 GB slave drive and it's contents have been transformed into a door stop. Fortunately, I backed up all my data onto an external firewire drive so that all is not lost. DO NOT USE THIS UPDATER!
IBM/Hitachi apparently supplied Apple with the updater and is now aware of the problem and will replace my drive under warranty.

11011001 · Jun 27, 2003, 08:42 PM

Originally posted by hrubin1000:
I installed this on my 450 MHZ AGP Sawtooth G4 and both my IBM 27 GB internal master and IBM 45 GB slave drives became invisible and wouldn't mount. Starting from the OS X installer disk caused kernel panics while starting from Diskwarrior 2.1 (OS 9.1) was OK however neither internal drive was seen by Diskwarrior. Disconnecting the slave drive allowed the master to mount satisfactorily. The 45 GB slave drive and it's contents have been transformed into a door stop. Fortunately, I backed up all my data onto an external firewire drive so that all is not lost. DO NOT USE THIS UPDATER!
IBM/Hitachi apparently supplied Apple with the updater and is now aware of the problem and will replace my drive under warranty.

Man, that is scary..

right now I can't boot off my system drive, I am suffocating in a tiny little 8 gig partition, but this, is unrelated to the update.

superlarry · Jun 29, 2003, 08:02 AM

Originally posted by hrubin1000:
I installed this on my 450 MHZ AGP Sawtooth G4 and both my IBM 27 GB internal master and IBM 45 GB slave drives became invisible and wouldn't mount. Starting from the OS X installer disk caused kernel panics while starting from Diskwarrior 2.1 (OS 9.1) was OK however neither internal drive was seen by Diskwarrior. Disconnecting the slave drive allowed the master to mount satisfactorily. The 45 GB slave drive and it's contents have been transformed into a door stop. Fortunately, I backed up all my data onto an external firewire drive so that all is not lost. DO NOT USE THIS UPDATER!
IBM/Hitachi apparently supplied Apple with the updater and is now aware of the problem and will replace my drive under warranty.

Apple did warn about this update, and instructed users to back up information. An update like that is probably important enough to warrant backing up and upgrading the drive - better than having it just up and die on you without notice (the update is to extend the life of certain drives).

Eriamjh · Jun 30, 2003, 11:23 AM

There is an OSX version of the update. I am afraid to use it.

DO NOT USE any firmware update for HDs without backing up! You have been warned.

Chito · Jul 1, 2003, 08:01 AM

I d/l the updater and it said it didn't find any drives that required it. QS 933 with the stock 60 gb drive and an additional 60 gb drive.
The one I d/l did run in OSX.

scottiB · Jul 1, 2003, 10:10 AM

Originally posted by Chito:
I d/l the updater and it said it didn't find any drives that required it. QS 933 with the stock 60 gb drive and an additional 60 gb drive.
The one I d/l did run in OSX.

Me neither: DP 800 w/stock 80GB drive.

hrubin1000 · Jul 2, 2003, 05:11 AM

IBM/Hitachi has agreed that my fried 45 GB Deathstar is still under warranty and has issued me an RMA for its return. I would, however, like to make sure that my personal data can't be recovered before I send it back to them. Since I can't get it to mount in either OS 9 or OS X and it must be returned in a pristine, unopened state, how can I remove the files? Externally applied heat?, Magnets? Vibration? Any ideas?

PubGuy · Jul 5, 2003, 12:16 PM

Well, if you've got a friend with a PC, you could always install the drive into the PC and perform and FDSK on it and create a new, blank partition, reoobt, then format it.

Now, if the updater completely prevents the drive from running on ANY computer, then the best way is using STRONG magnets for about 24 hours (of course, this is done with the drive no where near the computer). The hard drive stores data magnetically, and 24 hour exposuer to a strong magnetic field should pretty much wipe out your data without physically damaging the drive (so that they accept it for the exchange).

Eriamjh · Jul 5, 2003, 06:12 PM

See if Radio Shack still sells those disk erase magnets. It used to be for floppies (remember when they were 5.25"?), but it might work for a HD.

The other thing to note is that it is VERY difficult and EXPENSIVE to revcover data from a HD where the controlling electronics have failed.

Most hard drive data recovery places can open the HD in a clean room, kludge the read head and spin motor to a controller, then read off the data to another computer.

If the head has physically touched or crashed into the HD platter, then certain sectors are unrecoverable (hench the phrase "hard drive crash) due to damage.

Blast your HD with a strong magnetic field. Maybe put it in the microwave?

kkant · Jul 5, 2003, 06:56 PM

If you have another hard disk handy, take it apart. The head control mechanism has a couple *extremely* strong neodynium magnets. Wave those around the disk a bit. That should do the trick.

On second thoughts, those magnets achieve their strength at only very close distances. A better idea: find a subwoofer and stick your hard disk on the back for a day. Then shift position and leave it there some more.

superlarry · Jul 6, 2003, 09:38 PM

Originally posted by hrubin1000:
IBM/Hitachi has agreed that my fried 45 GB Deathstar is still under warranty and has issued me an RMA for its return. I would, however, like to make sure that my personal data can't be recovered before I send it back to them. Since I can't get it to mount in either OS 9 or OS X and it must be returned in a pristine, unopened state, how can I remove the files? Externally applied heat?, Magnets? Vibration? Any ideas?

Assuming the drive still spins up and is recognized by your computer (even if it doesn't mount), you should do it the unixy way (requires booting in OSX from another drive):
Do this all as an "Admin" user (the first user you set up on the computer is an Admin user).
First, you need to find the address of the drive to be erased. Open "Disk Copy" (in the "Utilities" folder in your "Applications" folder). Choose "New -> Image from Device..." from the file menu. The disk should show up there (even if it's not mounted) as, for example, disk2 45.0 GB (it will actually say a little less than 45.0). For my examples, I'll use disk2.
Open the Terminal application (also in the "Utilities" folder). Type (without the quotes) "sudo cat /dev/urandom > /dev/disk2". This will take a while - it's writing random data to your drive. The more times you do this, the more securely your drive will be erased (getting rid of electromagnetic traces of your old data). Seven or eight times, I think, is the usual number of times to do this for your drive to be considered clean.
Don't do this to your boot drive, of course ;c)