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Backporting HFS+ to Mac OS 8.0 and earlier

LaPorta

Well-known member
@Phipli, try this little updater I made. It is specific for 7.6.1, and an unmolested System file, but it does make the process easier. I could probably make the same for 8.0, 7.5.5, etc.
 

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  • 7.6.1 HFS+.sit
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croissantking

Well-known member
If there is any chance you guys can bring this to 7.1.2 68k, I'd be very interested in that. It essentially acts like 7.5.0, is that is any useful information.
I’d imagine it’d be tough, what’s your use case for HFS+ under 7.1.2? Maximum partition size is only 2GB under that OS if I remember right.
 

ArmorAlley

Well-known member
If there is any chance you guys can bring this to 7.1.2 68k, I'd be very interested in that. It essentially acts like 7.5.0, is that is any useful information.
The Text Encoding Converter needs to be in the Extensions folder. Is this extension supported under system 7.1.2?
 

Phipli

Well-known member
Ok, so let's say that is a patcher for the US-specific 7.6.1 :p
Can you send a resedit file with the resources needed in it to me? I'll make a more aggressive patcher that doesn't care what it is working on.

(Stuffit 5 or MacZip or bin or hqx)
 

rjkucia

Well-known member
I’d imagine it’d be tough, what’s your use case for HFS+ under 7.1.2? Maximum partition size is only 2GB under that OS if I remember right.
Not who you replied to, but for me the coolest thing about HFS+ on earlier systems would be the ability to swap Zip disks between the old computer and a modern Mac with zero issues.

btw, should 68k 8.1 work natively with HFS+? And what are the size limits there? I've looked online and some things I've seen say you need third-party software to enable it, and that only works for 68040. I'm running a patched version of 8.1 on my 68030, but it doesn't seem to read HFS+ disks. My software could just be borked, though.
 

croissantking

Well-known member
Not who you replied to, but for me the coolest thing about HFS+ on earlier systems would be the ability to swap Zip disks between the old computer and a modern Mac with zero issues.
Why not just format your Zips as Mac OS Standard? Because the smaller block size that Mac OS Extended format offers really only helps for partitions larger than around 1-2GB.
btw, should 68k 8.1 work natively with HFS+? And what are the size limits there? I've looked online and some things I've seen say you need third-party software to enable it, and that only works for 68040. I'm running a patched version of 8.1 on my 68030, but it doesn't seem to read HFS+ disks. My software could just be borked, though.
It should. From what I know, the only limitation is that you can't boot from an HFS+ formatted disk on a 68k Mac, but you can read write to them just fine under 8.1.

I'd be surprised if there was any difference between an '030 and an '040 in this regard. As in, having to patch OS 8.1 to run on the '030 shouldn't affect the HFS+ support.
 

rjkucia

Well-known member
Why not just format your Zips as Mac OS Standard? Because the smaller block size that Mac OS Extended format offers really only helps for partitions larger than around 1-2GB.
HFS+ works natively on modern macOS. I have played a bit with macFUSE for HFS but I forget how well that's working currently.

It's not that big of an issue for me since it's usually quicker & more convenient to share files over AFP.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
The dream would be to have a HFS system extension.

Indeed. Just having a macOS solution for HFS read/write would be awesome. The existing solution is key for me because I have a PT Pro with 7.6.1, 8.6, and 9.1 partitions. With this, I can now see the other Games, Programs, etc partitions that I have as HFS+ while I am in 7.6.1.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
Can you send a resedit file with the resources needed in it to me? I'll make a more aggressive patcher that doesn't care what it is working on.

(Stuffit 5 or MacZip or bin or hqx)

When I am home, I’ll make a file with all the resources I used and send it over.
 

croissantking

Well-known member
HFS+ works natively on modern macOS. I have played a bit with macFUSE for HFS but I forget how well that's working currently.

It's not that big of an issue for me since it's usually quicker & more convenient to share files over AFP.
Haha, when you said 'modern Mac' I thought you were exchanging them with a G3 or somehting. I guess I don't really associate any of my truly modern Macs as coexisting with Zip disks at all. But of course HFS support is no longer there, at least not as far as write support?
 

rjkucia

Well-known member
Haha, when you said 'modern Mac' I thought you were exchanging them with a G3 or somehting. I guess I don't really associate any of my truly modern Macs as coexisting with Zip disks at all. But of course HFS support is no longer there, at least not as far as write support?
Hey, USB is USB! They work totally fine with modern systems.

HFS became read-only starting with Snow Leopard, and support was removed entirely in macOS 11 (Big Sur).


The dream would be to have a HFS system extension.
fuseHFS is basically this: https://thejoelpatrol.github.io/fusehfs/
 

croissantking

Well-known member
Hey, USB is USB! They work totally fine with modern systems.

HFS became read-only starting with Snow Leopard, and support was removed entirely in macOS 11 (Big Sur).



fuseHFS is basically this: https://thejoelpatrol.github.io/fusehfs/
Quick question for you on the subject of Zip-100 drives and disks. How do you find their reliability? Because I’ve been using some disks that I’ve had since 1998 in a SCSI drive I got off eBay, and I’m finding that those disks are randomly corrupting themselves or becoming unreadable. Do you think the media might be worn out?
 
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