Help! Unable to initialize Linux-formatted HDD in G4

[Confusion & Distress]

I recently acquired a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120 GB ATA hard drive,
to use as a second drive in my G4 (Sawtooth with upgraded 1.4 Ghz
processor running 10.3.9, 1 GB RAM). The drive was previously formatted
(by the original owner) on a Linux machine, and it is perhaps due to
this--and (from what I have heard) to some Linux code inserted into the
boot sector which is always left empty on a MAC OS-formatted disk--that
I am unable to initialize or format the disk for use in my G4.

Apple System Profiler does see the unmounted disk, but no other
application does (including Drive Setup, Disk Warrior, or Norton when I
run them from CD). I get a kernel panic ("you need to restart your
computer") screen/message when I attempt to startup with the new drive
configured as a slave and the already-installed 80 GB IBM/Hitachi
Deskstar as the Master.

Anyone had this problem before me, and achieved a satisfactory
resolution? Please respond with any information that may prove useful
to me--I have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of systems other than
MAC OS!

Many Thanks,

Mist

[Jack Malmostoso]

Anyone had this problem before me, and achieved a satisfactory resolution?

Never had this exact problem, but I think that if you're sure that the HD
is formatted with some linux related filesystem, you could start an
installation CD (try the Debian netinstaller, it's a small download), come
to the partitioning part, delete all partitions and then try again with
apple's tools.

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/3.1_r2/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-31r2-powerpc-netinst.iso

[I R A Darth Aggie]

On Mon, 01 May 2006 17:34:38 +0200,

+
+ > Anyone had this problem before me, and achieved a satisfactory resolution?
+
+ Never had this exact problem, but I think that if you're sure that the HD
+ is formatted with some linux related filesystem, you could start an
+ installation CD (try the Debian netinstaller, it's a small download), come
+ to the partitioning part, delete all partitions and then try again with
+ apple's tools.
+
+ http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/3.1_r2/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-31r2-powerpc-netinst.iso

Alternatively, the OP could try booting from the Mac OS X install
DVD/CD and see if the disk can be manipulated from there.

[Confusion & Distress]

An update: I ended up giving the drive back to the person I got it from
to see if he could initialize it on a PC. As it turns out, it didn't
show up on that computer either!

At least I got my money back after all that messing around with an
unusable drive.