[tpxstyle]

so i finally gave in and bought a 1.5ghz powerbook yesterday. everything was working fine until I installed all the updates. 10.3.4/ itunes/ security updates. etc.. after the reboot, the system would hang on initializing printing services or something. i thought maybe it'd just take a long time on that screen, so i decided to go to sleep. eight hours later after i woke up, it was still on that screen! i know this is just a software issue, but i can't help feeling a bit disappointed. i'm currently performing an archive/preserve installation, and i hope this solves the problem.

[killer_735]

Are you still running the version of X that came installed on it? For some reason, I've always found that doing an erase and install when you first get the machine causes it to run a bit more smoothly-Apple probably images hard drives rather than installing via CDs..

And partition the HD! Make a 1GB swap disk at the beginning of the drive, your performance will see decent gains. A backup partition at the end of the drive means you can keep your photos music, etc. safe if you have to reinstall again.

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by killer_735:
And partition the HD! Make a 1GB swap disk at the beginning of the drive, your performance will see decent gains. A backup partition at the end of the drive means you can keep your photos music, etc. safe if you have to reinstall again.

Do not do this.

[365]

Originally posted by Powaqqatsi:
Do not do this.

Why?

[djohnson]

The first night I have my new PB, I am going to reformat the drive. I did this with my Beige G3 with 8.1 and it worked even better then the stock install.

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by 365:
Why?

It's useless, the "speed gain" is as good as nothing. And if you need more than 1GB of VM one day your OS will freak out. And if you don't need 1GB of swap space then that space is just wasted.

[madmacgames]

I believe the hard drives in all new machines are just cloned drives... and well the cloning process sometimes doesn't go exactly right.

So it's always a good idea on a new Apple machine to just wipe the drive and start over incase something didn't go quite right in the cloning process (no need to archive & install on a brand new machine).

Same with my 12" PB. When I got it, a few things seemed to be "quirky" and wiping the drive took care of it.

As a side note, I've heard from alot of people that their new machine wasn't cloned quite right and they had to wipe and re-install. You'd think Apple would come up with a better way to do it, or try to stabilize the cloning process; however I would image trying to stabilize a volatile technology (hard drives) would be next to impossible.

[madmacgames]

Originally posted by killer_735:
A backup partition at the end of the drive means you can keep your photos music, etc. safe if you have to reinstall again.

I am guessing you are coming from windows or PC or something similar? I made the same mistake myself at first, but there is no need for this on the Mac with the addition of archiving & install. You can perform a clean system re-install and keep all of your settings, music, photos, etc (basically everything in /Users I think) in tact.

backing up to the same HD is pointless, because if the drive were to become hosed, the backup isn't going to do you one bit of good.

[urrl78]

Sometimes these problems seem to take care of themselves after a couple of boots. After swapping my 1 year old 17" with a brand new 1.5 Ghz 17" (for free, since Apple tried 3 times to fix the old one) I downloaded all the updates while at the genius bar, then made the mistake of trying to use the old 17" install disk to repair disk permissions. Bad idea. The rev. "A" CD is not compatable with the 1.5 Ghz. The new laptop would not boot on the old 17" CD and started acting kind of cranky afterward, but after a few re-boots and use, in time it settled down. It does seem to take a little longer than it initially did on booting but I am not a nit-picker. I swapped the old install CD at the Apple store with the new one.

Reformatting is an option though, and it has made my old 17" run and boot surprisingly quicker in the past.

[Randman]

Obviously, repair permissions. And if you got extra ram, you could also check too make sure that the ram isn't causing problems.


Oh, and one more vote against partitioning. This isn't Windows.

[Maflynn]

Stay with the single partition.
Apple has done an excellent job with the swap files no there's no a reason appreciable speed increase by creating a swap partition.

The same goes with creating a user partition, the amount of work at creating it and the software incompatibilities incurred out weight the benefit.

Mike

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Maflynn:
Stay with the single partition.
Apple has done an excellent job with the swap files no there's no a reason appreciable speed increase by creating a swap partition.

The same goes with creating a user partition, the amount of work at creating it and the software incompatibilities incurred out weight the benefit.

Mike

I agree.
I have two partitions on my iBook from the days when I used one for OS X and the other one for OS 9.

Now, this is obsolete. As soon as I get bored enough, I'll throw those two together...

-t

[djohnson]

Originally posted by turtle777:
I agree.
I have two partitions on my iBook from the days when I used one for OS X and the other one for OS 9.

Now, this is obsolete. As soon as I get bored enough, I'll throw those two together...

-t

Same here but with my Beige G3. Once my PB comes in next week, I am reformatting the drive and keeping it 1 partition. Much easier imho.

[SupahCoolX]

I also always erase & reinstall when getting a new Mac. This way, I can choose not to install language files, etc. that I don't need, thereby saving quite a bit of HD space.

[tpxstyle]

wow! didn't expect so many replies. i ended up just doing an archive/preserve reinstall and it was good as new! i love this computer!

[urrl78]

I am happy for you. Enjoy it.