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bbales · Jan 30, 2005, 08:48 PM

I just installed a new internal drive. Backed up and cloned the old one first (a couple times! I'm kind of weird about making sure I have all my data -- plus I had a new external drive, as well as the new internal one).

Anyway, my intent is to make the new 120 GB internal my main drive. Copied and cloned, but when I tried to start up from the new drive I couldn't do so. All I got was the gray screen. Interestingly, the machine had about 5 alternatives to the one I was trying but all I got was the gray screen. Forgetting my various options, startups, etc., I dug out my Panther install disks and got back in business, and re-started from my original (and very small!) internal. Then I had the good sense to repair permissions on everything. There was a TON of stuff on the new internal drive. So that's all verified and repaired now.

But before I get a gray screen again, anyone have any ideas as to what the problem was? It's a brand new disk. I'm thinking that it wouldn't kill me, if I have to, to do a clean install of the OS. I'd just have to bring it up to 10.3.7, after installing from my disks.

Or do you think repairing the permissions will solve my problem?

Big Mac · Jan 31, 2005, 05:06 AM

You provided few details about the process you went through to get the drive working. Did you format the drive? And what program did you use to clone the old drive? That information will help narrow down the cause of your issue.

bbales · Jan 31, 2005, 08:04 AM

Sorry. I installed it as a slave. My existing/original drive is a Western Digital, so that had to be set as the master and the new one as a slave. After restarting (after installation) I formatted the drive with Disk Utility. It shows up on the desktop and I even dragged a few things onto it just to see if that worked, which it did. I did not try to open anything from there, though, now that I think about it.

I used CCC to clone the drive, and get all my info, data, etc., onto the new drive. Then I used the startup manager in system preferences to attempt to restart the computer from the new drive.

The computer hung at the gray screen with the little progress wheel spinning, spinning, spinning. Finally had to do a restart, using the Panther disks, then re-selected my original startup disk. From there I repaired permissions on the new disk. That's where I sit. I did not actually repair the disk, which I'm going to do next (I'm using my laptop at the moment), then try to restart.

And, as I think I said last night, I can always reinstall the OS. There's nothing on the drive at the moment that's not in at least two other spots, so it doesn't matter what happens to that data. It's replaceable.

Would the drive even show up if I somehow set the jumpers wrong? I don't THINK that I did.

bbales · Jan 31, 2005, 10:05 AM

All is well. Repaired permissions and ran disk first aid on the drive, which was fine. (always love the "appears to be OK" message!) and was able to boot from it.

Now I just have to make sure to use THAT drive, and not the original. Otherwise I'll have files all over the place. Once I'm sure everything is fine, I'll probably just remove the files from that drive and use it for music, or photos, only.