[MAC Guy]

My G4 -733 will not boot. I may have caused the problem myself as I was running Norton Systemworks 3.0 - Utilities that I later discovered is not compatable with OS 10.4 Tiger.
I had run Disk Doctor which identified a problem in B-Tree attributes with incorrect key.
Also tried to run Disk Optimizer and Volume Recovery. Problem may be bogus due to compatability with OS 10.4. I was running from Systemworks CD, not the HD. Now computer will not boot from the HD.

I have a fairly recent back-up of most data and all the programs, but would like to recover files if possible.

Suggestions?

[VegasACF]

Egad.

It won't help you at this point, but ever since X came out people have been saying to avoid Norton like the plague. There is simply no need for it, as OS X handles its own file management, dealing with fragmentation on a continual basis. Anything beyond that is handled by the self-diagnostic/self-repairing scripts built into the OS (or done by Disk Utility, MacJanitor, etc.).

Without knowing precisely what it did to your system I'm afraid I'm not going to be of much specific help. The individual files may be intact, and all that is required is a reinstallation of the OS. On the other hand the entire directory structure may have been hosed. I hope it's the former, not the latter. But I cannot say with anything resembling certainty.

Godspeed, John Glenn.

[MAC Guy]

Thanks for the reply.

Can I reinstall the OS without distroying other files on the HD that may be OK?

[VegasACF]

Absolutely. By default this is what the installer will do.

[MAC Guy]

OS would not install on the original HD without clean install, error message said due to Disk errors. I installed OS on another borrowed HD, then set up my original HD as a slave drive. Most of the original files were accessible and programs would work from the slave. I was primarily interested in the address book, email and other Microsoft User Data which was not recently backed up. All these file were OK and now reinstalled on the replacement HD.

All is well now, just waiting for a new HD to be delivered to continue installing programs and the few missing files from backups.

Thanks for rapid response and advise.

Bob Willis -(Alias - MAC Guy)