OSX Tiger - login window failure

Can anyone help me with a hanging OSX-Tiger hangup?

I've done the Verbose startup and it clearly shows that the application.login has failed as it keeps trying to perform that task. I cannot seem to even get a SAFE-BOOT as it hangs and I've also used original CD to startup with the CD and then start the DiskUtility to perfrom Disk Repair and Disk Permission repair, to which it says nothing was wrong but I still cannot startup my early '06 iMac.

Any ideas how to troubleshoot or fix?

I also can't do the archive&install because I don't have enough disk space on my HD. I'm about 3 GB short as I was previously near the limit.

Brutal.

Peter

G'day and welcome to the forums Peter.

You say 3GB short? How much free disk space do you actually have as your machine needs about 15% free disk space to boot and work successfully. Sounds like you need to invest in a much larger HDD

Use the current one in an external case maybe. If you install the large HDD, put Tiger on it and connect your old drive via Firewire if a PPC iMac, and USB if Intel, and back up the complete drive contents to the new drive using SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner.

G'day to you too, Harry.
So, are you suggesting I buy a new external HD, install Tiger or Leopard on it, book up my Intel iMac with the new OS on the new external HD, then use one of those 2 programs you suggested to copy over all of my files from the original iMac internal HD?

If so, how do I get the iMac to boot off the external HD rather than the usual internal iMac HD. Or did I get one piece wrong?

But you guessed it, of my 233 GB HD, I only had 1.9 GB left. Five years of family pics of my 2 boys and 720p videos has eaten up all my disk space.

Strange though, I knew this wasn't good to do but it has been running at this low disk space situation for over a month. Every time I had to download more pictures, I would delete movies or something. Guess it caught up with me.

Peter

Peter I was suggesting you have at least say a 500GB HDD put in the iMac, install the 233GB, which is probably 250, into the external case. Install your OS on the 500GB, and then connect the external to the iMac using Firewire, or USB2 if it is an Intel model, go into System Preferences, Startup Disk and select the external to boot, and reboot.

Then use a cloning program to copy the external to the internal, thin down some of the material on the external to say about 150GB, and then each week you can just back up your current OS.

SuperDuper, when registered, uses a program, called Smart Backup so only the new files/applications are added to the external. Sounds confusing but it isn't and in today's computing world you sure need an external back up HDD with your current OS and files on it.

Of course it may well be simply mush easier to use a 500GB drive externally, copy everything to it and prune back your internal drive to that 150GB mark. With my photos I also burn them to DVD-RW discs as a double/double back up using Toast Titanium.

Harry,
Thanks for the clarification. Wow, I just saw a Youtube video for replacing the HDD. I don't like the part where you take off that black liner - crazy.

I suppose it's fairly easy though and will save me a lot of money to let the Apple Store do it?

Can I just buy any 2.5" (Laptop) HDD? How does this one sound?
Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500420AS Mobile Hard Drive - 500GB, 2.5", 7200RPM, 16MB, SATA-300, OEM

I do have an external HD and copied most of my files over but I think I have 1 month of pictures I don't want to lose. Funny, I was doing the same in the external HD backup as well as the DVD burn. Great minds think alike and fools seldom differ.

That SuperDuper sounds good. I was thinking about a software that would only add the additions/changes instead of full backup each time.

Peter

Depends on the model iMac I guess, however 3.5" drive seems to be the standard:-

Intel iMac Hard Drive - 2.5" or 3.5" ??

Mac Minis use the laptop 2.5" HDD.