Regarding "Dual boot problem, lost OS X" 1

[grothbaum]

I placed a question that deals with dual booting (issues regarding printing into Postcript 1 printers, to which I have had no answers) and now I'm nervous. I haven't had the chance to find a similar issue on this forum.

Jimoblak says that dual booting "can lead to ruin". By coincidence I called Apple this morning before reading this, and Apple said "it would be fine to boot back and forth between the two".

What do you mean by "renaming or deleting files"? When I revise OS 9 documents, I usually DO have to rename them, at least the revision dates. Is there a way out of this besides partitioning the drive? I need to make sure my OS9 documents "stay that way" without interfering with OSX (and viceversa).

Forgive me if I sound ignorant, which I am (on this and the other thread); I'm somewhat of an expert on OS9, and completely ignorant on OSX. It's taking us awhile to switch over to OSX and I have to train myself to use it--long story.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[jimoblak]

Here is how ruin can happen...

When you are in OSX, you or other users cannot delete or rename critical files and folders, such as System, Library, Dev, etc.

When you are in OS9, those safeguards are not in place and an OS9 user can move, delete and rename all kinds of things.

For example: your home directory in OSX may be called 'grothbaum' but while in OS9 you get the idea that you want to rename it to 'Groth Baum'. When you restart OSX, you can no longer log in as 'grothbaum'. This is not simple renaming of documents but the renaming/moving/deleting of system files that are unprotected while booted into OS9.

Yes, it is possible to boot back and forth. However, from past experience with users that like to fiddle with their settings (this means all of us), OSX can be corrupted on dual boot systems.

The beauty of OSX is that it features the security/permissions known to the unix world. Those security features are useless when you boot in OS9. Put a 12 year old kid on an OSX-only machine and they cannot trash the system. Allow that kid to boot into OS9 and they can erase OSX in seconds. Dual booting on any system (Windows/Mac/etc) can be dangerous because one system will allow you to override the security of another.

As long as you are certain that you and your fellow users will not alter files on purpose or by accident, you should be fine with a dual boot system.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[grothbaum]

Ouch...

I wonder how difficult it would have been for Apple to place better security options to avoid things like this ...

I was always careful not to rename files on OS9 because I used to have major problems with our friendly program Quark, and our even friendlier extensions. So I had to apply a very "sensitive hand" to everything including system files. Great, just when I wanted to relax... what was I thinking.

Well, I'm the only one with a Mac at work, so I should be fine as long as I follow your instructions. If this situation changes, then I should really worry about it (I guess I can just pass out a copy of your response to anybody who would dare get his hands on the machine--I now feel even more protective of it).

Much obliged again for your thorough and helpful response.