There are several things to do before you feel that you are driven to extremes, such as erase/re-install/nuke/offer burnt offerings to the gods. They are all comprehended under the banner of Good Housekeeping.
1. Click once on the drive's icon on the destop, and then press command-i to invoke Get Info. What proportion of the drive is filled? If that is more than 85%,, it's too much.
2. Archive or erase data files to make as much room as you can.
3. Reboot with command + option held down to rebuild the Desktop DB and Desktop DF (invisible files that keep track of your desktop data).
4. Get your hands on a copy of DiskWarrior 2.1.1 (eBay or the like). Use it to defragment your hard drive's file directory (to where all the disjointed bits from normal writes, erases (trashes), overwrites and whatever are).
5. If possible, then copy the complete contents of the drive to another known-good drive to defragment the files themselves, unless you can lay your hands on a file defragmenter. This simple act of temporary copying (archiving) to another drive will defragment your files, and may even be safer than some flakey defragmenting utilities are.
6. Then reinstall the OS 9 driver on the original HDD. You can also erase the original HDD with the disk utility if you wish, but check the now archived files on the second drive for quantity (GB) and number of folders before you do that.
7. If the quantity and number of folders at root level tally with the disk's quantity and number before the archiving, writing those files back to the original HDD from the second HDD will do as well as dedicated erasure with a utility because the old files will be overwritten in the following process of step 8.
8. As an alternative to erasing the original HDD with a disk utility, drag everything on the desktopof the original HDD to a single new folder called Phthththt!, or whatever, and drag that folder to the Trash. Empty the Trash. This removes all the references to all of your files, and takes about the same time as erasing the HDD with a disk utility, but it is free of cost.
9. Now copy the archived files back to the original HDD. Swear to yourself by the Gods of Olympus that you will, in future, be a fanatical housekeeper in using DiskWarrior at regular intervals to defragment your file directory, and in keeping the total population of the drive below 85% fullth (technical term), and in rebuilding the desktop directories at intervals too.
10. There's no need to do all of this in one sitting, and you should make sure after each step that you have not lost files that you wish to keep. When you get to the end, whatever endpoint you choose ... Enjoy!
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