Root, Second HDD,

[5mugg13r]

OSX newcomer with questions:

I just set up a buddy with a PowerMac G5 and would like some help with a few questions as I am also trying to adjust to this new (for me) environment.

1. I dropped an additional HDD (WD 320gb) into the tower and would like to know the best way to make use of it. I'm used to Windows where I normally have a HDD for the OS and apps plus additional HDDs for my actual files. As I understand, a user's Home folder is on the primary drive and this is where all personal user files will be saved. Can I simply place all music, photos, etc. on the 2nd HDD and have the programs access everything from there? Or are the OSX programs not going to like that?

Again, as a Windows user I'm accustomed to keeping all personal files on a 2nd HDD in case I ever have to wipe the primary HDD.

2. How do you know that you're not running as Root? I assume you're always logged in with a user account unless you specifically go into the terminal and change that.

3. I'd ask for recommended links & reading material to help me get comfortable with OSX but I'm sure Google can handle that without me pestering the forum. However, feel free to suggest; I'm a visual learner.

I've played with Ubuntu before but not enough to be comfortable with it. My buddy's not a power user so the learning falls on me.

Thanks.

1_Power Mac G5, dual 2ghz, 1.5gb RAM, OSX 10.5.6
2_Power Mac G5, dual 2ghz, 4gb RAM, OSX 10.5.6

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by 5mugg13r 1. I dropped an additional HDD (WD 320gb) into the tower and would like to know the best way to make use of it. I'm used to Windows where I normally have a HDD for the OS and apps plus additional HDDs for my actual files. As I understand, a user's Home folder is on the primary drive and this is where all personal user files will be saved. Can I simply place all music, photos, etc. on the 2nd HDD and have the programs access everything from there? Or are the OSX programs not going to like that?

Yes, you can put music and photos on the second hard drive. That will work fine. If you have specific questions (for example, how to get iTunes to look on the second hard drive for your music library), feel free to search the forums, the hints, or ask here.

Quote: Originally Posted by 5mugg13r Again, as a Windows user I'm accustomed to keeping all personal files on a 2nd HDD in case I ever have to wipe the primary HDD.

Usually, when one has to wipe the hard drive in Windows it is because
1. your computer contracted a virus
2. the Windows registry is clogged with junk or corrupted, and is slowing down your computer

Fortunately, there are no viruses in the wild for OS X, and although there are a couple of trojan horses, a careful user taking some very very simple precautions will never download and install one of them.

Also fortunately (perhaps even more fortunately than the fact that there are still no OS X viruses) OS X has no registry so you should never have the same kind of slowdowns as you get in Windows after a while.

Because of these two things, it is far less likely that you will ever be forced to wipe your hard drive in OS X.

That said, it's always possible that something will happen, so as with any computer anywhere anytime, make sure that you keep a good backup. Fortunately, Time Machine (a fantastic backup program) is included with recent versions of OS X, including the one that you have installed on both of these Power Mac G5s. If you are forced to wipe your drive, or something equally catastrophic, you can restore easily from your Time Machine backup.

If you'd like, you can use that second drive as your Time Machine backup drive, and keep your other data on your primary drive. Or not, your choice.

Quote: Originally Posted by 5mugg13r 2. How do you know that you're not running as Root? I assume you're always logged in with a user account unless you specifically go into the terminal and change that.

There's no way to not be logged in with a user account, no matter what you do in your Terminal.

As far as root, by default it is disabled in a default install of OS X. (By disabled, I mean that the password is set to an unknown state and it is impossible to log in to that account. The account must exist in any form of Unix, and always does in OS X, but it is not something that can be logged into by default.)

My advice is to leave root at this default state. Do not enable the root user, doing so will weaken the security of your computer.

Quote: Originally Posted by 5mugg13r 3. I'd ask for recommended links & reading material to help me get comfortable with OSX but I'm sure Google can handle that without me pestering the forum. However, feel free to suggest; I'm a visual learner.

A good general OS X beginners book is David Pogue's Missing Manual for OS X Leopard:
http://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Leopard.../dp/059652952X

If there is some specific aspect of OS X that you would like to explore further, for example the command line, feel free to ask about that specifically.

Trevor

[5mugg13r]

Very thorough/helpful. Thanks.