hoakley March 26, 2023 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Are you ready for 13.3 or 9.1?

In the next day or three, Apple is expected to release the update to bring macOS Ventura to version 13.3. To help you prepare for this, I thought it might be useful to revisit how we updated just over twenty years ago, to Mac OS 9.1, as we did in 2001. When you’ve updated Ventura, you’ll then have a useful comparison.

Not only did Mac OS come on CD-ROM, but it was quite usual to install only selected parts of it. Among the new features of 9.1 was support for the burning of CDs in the Finder, and Finder support for switching between open windows. However, we had to wait for 9.2 in June 2001 before enjoying significant improvements in performance, and Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah wasn’t released until March 2001. This is how we installed System 9.1 when it shipped in January 2001.

What it does

You wish to install Mac OS 9.1 (or upgrade to it), and have more than one hard disk volume available.

What you need

Your Mac running at least Mac OS 8.1, the Mac OS 9.1 installation CD-ROM, one hard disk partitioned into 2 or more volumes, or 2 or more hard disks.

Potential problems

Most problems arise when trying to install or update Mac OS on your only volume, hence it is better to have more than one volume available. Make sure that you do not need to upgrade your Mac’s ROM (check Apple’s support site), and if you do, perform that first. Installations can fail for many other reasons: if you have an older Mac OS on another volume, it will give you a fall-back whilst you sort the problem out. You may also find extensions and applications that are incompatible with the new Mac OS. Be prepared to chase updates as needed.

Further info

Full instructions are given in an Acrobat installation guide on the Mac OS 9.1 CD-ROM, with late-breaking news in the Before You Install file. Also check tech notes in the Apple TIL, at til.info.apple.com/ (now Apple’s Support Knowledgebase here)

Checklist

Back everything up.
Read the installation guide and release notes.
Using the new Disk First Aid, check and repair disks.
Update hard disk drivers.
Run the installer, exploring options.
Restart from new Mac OS and configure.

Setting It Up

You should only install a new version of Mac OS on a fully healthy and backed-up Mac. Once you’ve made a complete backup, insert the installer CD and read carefully through the installation manual, the Before You Install file, and any other readme files. Then, open the Disk Tools folder on the CD and run the new version of Disk First Aid.

Once you have checked (and repaired) all mounted volumes, open the Drive Setup provided on the installer CD-ROM. Although the Mac OS installer will by default update any disk drivers it can, you will find it best if you do this manually first, and then restart your Mac, so the updated drivers ‘take’.

Once restarted (you don’t have to start up from the CD), run the installer, which is largely self-explanatory. If you’re updating a volume that already has Mac OS on it, perform a clean install by selecting this as one of the install options. You may wish to use the freeware Clean Install Assistant to help move old System Folder contents over easily.

Although recent installers have improved considerably, you should normally opt for a ‘custom’ installation, rather than just accepting that recommended. This enables you to browse through the components to be installed, and to ensure that nothing important to you is missed out. Try to get these right now, rather than having to return later to add bits you forgot.

Don’t be afraid to check what is in the Recommended Installation for each component, either. There are a very large number of items contained in the Mac OS 9.1 install item, some of which you won’t want, and some of which you’ll miss. Take your time and browse these thoroughly, or you may find yourself running the installer again to locate missing components.

Once complete, use the Startup Disk control panel to select the volume containing Mac OS 9.1, and restart. You may find you’re missing drivers for essential devices, such as your Graphire pad. It is wisest to start off with ‘generic’ mice and a minimum of peripherals. Work your way through the Mac OS Setup Assistant, configure Memory to your taste, and away you go.

Reformatted from the original, first published in MacUser volume 17 issue 10, 2001.

17Comments

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1

Bryan Christianson on March 26, 2023 at 7:28 am

Lots of memories there, some good, some bad. I liked all the installation options in the installers, but I don’t miss at all the complete system crashes should some errant piece of software have overstepped its memory bounds.

Development was a bit of a nightmare, with frequent rebooting, and MacOS X was very welcome when it arrived for that reason alone.

Thanks for revisiting that article – very nostalgic.

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- 2
  
  hoakley on March 26, 2023 at 11:09 am
  
  Thank you.
  At least in 9.1 there was room (and money) for articles explaining how to upgrade. I can’t see a similar article on 13.3 being very useful or popular.
  Howard.
  
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3

EcleX on March 26, 2023 at 11:01 am

Thanks for the memories! On the other hand, you said “Using the new Disk First Aid, check and repair disks”. Should that be done as well for new versions like macOS 13.3 Ventura?

I ask because it may take Disk Utility’s First Aid several hours checking the snapshots when there are many (I have 16 in the booting disk and more than 110 in the Time Machine one). And even duplicates such snapshot checking for “volumes” (containing system and data) and the specific data volume, when checking in the recommended order by Apple (firsts volumes, then container, and finally disk).

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- 4
  
  hoakley on March 26, 2023 at 11:17 am
  
  Thank you.
  No. HFS+ is an inherently unreliable file system which is prone, even with journalling, to acquire minor errors. Although APFS isn’t perfect – no file system is – there is absolutely no point in running first aid checks unless you have evidence of a problem. That’s particular true of the SSV, of course, which is read-only being a snapshot, and protected by its hash tree, at least on Intel Macs with a T2 chip and on Apple silicon models.
  Howard.
  
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5

Duncan on March 26, 2023 at 12:14 pm

In the murky days of final-stage ‘classic’ Mac OS, I avoided all that by running NeXTstep while waiting for OS X to become viable 😛

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- 6
  
  hoakley on March 26, 2023 at 5:31 pm
  
  But you missed all that fun then. It certainly kept me busy writing.
  Howard.
  
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7

RalphB on March 26, 2023 at 2:53 pm

Great trip down memory lane! Especially the screenshots, which prompt memories like “yesterday.” Always liked the clear, visibly distinguishable window outlines and boundaries, and even the rainbow Apple logo. The update process was always something I “settled-in” for, knowing it would not be quick, and would require quite a bit of user interaction.

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- 8
  
  hoakley on March 26, 2023 at 5:34 pm
  
  Thank you.
  Howard.
  
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9

Donald E. Dunbar Jr. on March 26, 2023 at 7:13 pm

A pinch off topic, but are the old desktops available for 4k monitors. I was very partial to the one with the little blue squares. As always, the site is wonderful.

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- 10
  
  hoakley on March 26, 2023 at 7:51 pm
  
  Thank you.
  I’m sorry, I don’t know.
  Howard.
  
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- 11
  
  Duncan on March 26, 2023 at 9:25 pm
  
  I don’t know about the desktops, but I once saw where someone took the original black & white Mac screen (System 6) and showed what it would look like on a 5K monitor. It was basically a window the size of the System Preferences panel shoved way up into the upper-left corner. It’s amazing we got anything done on those things.
  
  (One of my first big purchases after getting a Mac SE was to add a Radius Full Page Display, and it was glorious!)
  
  Even more off-topic: In a somewhat similar comparison, the first Apollo moonwalk could almost all fit inside a baseball diamond:
  
  https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/the-apollo-11-landing-site-superimposed-on-a-baseball-diamond/261802/
  
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  - 12
    
    hoakley on March 26, 2023 at 10:09 pm
    
    It’s fun converting the original PICT screenshots from my old articles to new formats and scaling them so that you don’t need a magnifying glass. I used to do this directly in GraphicConverter, but tend now to open the PICT, adjust its scaling and take a screenshot for a PNG.
    Howard.
    
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    - 13
      
      Duncan on March 26, 2023 at 11:09 pm
      
      I simply take a photo of the screen and scan the negative (once the film gets developed) and then fax that to a line-printer which first converts everything to ASCII characters.
      
      Some of the detail gets lost but it’s acceptable.
      
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    - 14
      
      hoakley on March 27, 2023 at 8:41 am
      
      Haha!
      Howard.
      
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15

hstriepe on March 27, 2023 at 12:40 am

I still have this running on both a PPC mini (officially only supports it under Tiger, but there are ways to set it up to boot it) and SheepShaver. Great for nostalgia but I would not want to go back. Tiger is actually pretty nice.
This time around I was not on the Ventura 13.3 beta until what I think is the final RC. Upgrading the OS was painless and SMB looks fixed!!! I am back to running custom disk icons.
It also offered an Apple Studio Monitor Firmware upgrade that did not go so well. It ended up in an endless loop and then advertise support.apple.com/display/restore. The Apple page advised a restart of the monitor and plugging it back in. It was late at night and I also restarted the Studio, which was a very dumb idea running FileVault. The update did not restart and a standalone firmware update was nowhere to be found. So I could not use my PowerBook Pro to recover.
I chatted with Apple support and the tech did not have a clue. He scheduled an advanced tech for the next day.
Rather than giving up, I decided to get an old HDMI monitor out of mothballs and also hook that to the Studio, boot and log in to Filevault, repower the Studio, and plug it in.
I was happy to see that the FW update started and was completed twenty minutes later.
I used the tech appointment the next day to get the monitor registered since Apple’s site for this did not work correctly. My AppleCare+ is still missing in action, more work on that Monday.
The lesson is in crisis, think three steps ahead before acting. And ideally, use a system with a second monitor for monitor FW upgrades. Next time I will upgrade the Studio using my MacBook Pro.

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- 16
  
  joethewalrus on March 27, 2023 at 4:29 am
  
  FileVault is the biggest hassle on desktop Macs for reasons like these, and it only gets worse with 3rd party displays and 3rd party wireless keyboards. I feel your pain here!
  
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- 17
  
  hoakley on March 27, 2023 at 8:42 am
  
  I’m sorry to hear that. I do hope the Studio Display update is fixed for the release. The previous update worked OK here.
  Howard.
  
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