Power Mac G4

[truenorth]

I have just started to use the above model Apple computer (it is about 1999 vintage). It came loaded with OS 9. It has 2 hardrives in it a "normal' and a SCSI. When i 1st turned it on there was evidence on the desktop to the existence of the 2 drives. I have all the books and software for the computer.One of my 1st observations of a problem was that when i shut down and restarted the computer one of the hardrives no longer was displayed on the desktop. At the same time as this happened i could hear a "clicking" sound continuing as long as the computer was on. i have determined that the sound was coming from the "normal" HDD. Because i was still able to access the computer i assumed that the OS was on the SCSI drive.I then decided to upgrade the OS to OS X ( i have all the discs and manuals as well for that OS). During the whole process there was no longer any "clicking".At one point i was told i would "lose everything" if i continued that had previously been installed on the HDD.No problem on i went.OS X was successfully installed and seems to be fully functional. I now will pose my questions.
1.Is there a function like on Windows for "control panel" and "my computer"?
2.Why if it stated i would "lose everything" after OS upgrade can i still see multitudes of applications ,etc that were there before from the 2000-2006 time frame?
3. Are HDD's Apple specific or can a HDD from a PC also be used?
4.How can i use the computers resources to determine if it is detecting 2 HDD's?
That's it for now I'm sure that there will be more questions to follow. I have and am reading the manuals but thus far the above questions are not answered from that source.Thank you,truenorth

[truenorth]

Hey out there in Pippin land surely with 200 views someone has something they can help me with on this post! I know the Apple forum is not the most active one on the CH forums but there are usually a few that seem to have some knowledge on the subject. truenorth

[kand4cs]

Sorry, Another new user out here to try and help.
A hard drive is a hard drive is a hard drive. That being said, all you have to do is match interface, IDE, SCSI whatever and size limits. The Mac wil format the drive HFS where a PC will format FAT 32 or NTFS.
I think what you did was an upgrade in the OS, Macs do that as an installation option during install.
I would replace the offending HD as soon as possible to not risk burning out the drive controller for the drive.

[truenorth]

kand4cs, Whew! Thank you ever so much for your reply.I was on the verge of giving up that i would ever get a response.I shall soon proceed with your advise re the HDD. I shall also continue to hope that other Apple users (there must be some) will come forward to answer the rest of my questions. truenorth