hard drive update?

My husband uses a Cube. Sotware Update told him he should download a
Hard Drive updater. But the associated warnings scared him so he asked
me if he should.

I found this on the Web: Apple has released Hard Drive Update 1 for Mac
OS X , which improves the longevity of some hard drives shipped in
certain Power Mac G4s, including the Cube, and Power Macs known as "AGP
Graphics," "Digital Audio," "Gigabit Ethernet," and "Quicksilver."
According to Apple, most drives do not need this update. You can check
the drives in your computer by running this update. If the update is
needed, a message will alert you. Apple also said that it is "strongly
recommended that you back up the data on your hard drives to an external
drive or removable media before running this update." If an error occurs
during >the update process, your hard drive(s) may become unusable. In
that >case, all data on the drive(s) would be lost.

Even if he backs his data up to CDs or to my laptop, if his drive is
ruined he has basically trashed his computer hasn't he?

Has anyone run this?

In article <iesf-48F153.15513030072003.RemoveThis@news.fu-berlin.de>,
Irene Friedman <iesf.RemoveThis@excite.com> wrote:

 > My husband uses a Cube. Sotware Update told him he should download a
 > Hard Drive updater. But the associated warnings scared him so he asked
 > me if he should.
 >
 > I found this on the Web: Apple has released Hard Drive Update 1 for Mac
 > OS X , which improves the longevity of some hard drives shipped in
 > certain Power Mac G4s, including the Cube, and Power Macs known as "AGP
 > Graphics," "Digital Audio," "Gigabit Ethernet," and "Quicksilver."
 > According to Apple, most drives do not need this update. You can check
 > the drives in your computer by running this update. If the update is
 > needed, a message will alert you. Apple also said that it is "strongly
 > recommended that you back up the data on your hard drives to an external
 > drive or removable media before running this update." If an error occurs
 > during >the update process, your hard drive(s) may become unusable. In
 > that >case, all data on the drive(s) would be lost.
 >
 > Even if he backs his data up to CDs or to my laptop, if his drive is
 > ruined he has basically trashed his computer hasn't he?
 >
 > Has anyone run this?

I did. Turns out I didn't have one of the affected drives. Note that, as
described, it's a two-stage process. Check and fix. You get a chance to
cancel between the steps. I'd say do at least the first part. If it
turns out you're okay, then you can rest easy. Otherwise, make sure the
backups that you've got (you do have backups?) are current and repair to
your heart's content.

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