Info about HyperDrive 20 Mac 512k

[YourTrashMyTreasure]

First off, hello. I am a new member here.

Secondly, I was driving down the street today and saw what looked like the top of a mac in a pile of trash on the side of the road (spring cleaning here), and low and behold, it was a Mac! With an external floppy drive (missing the front cover), mouse, and power cord (no keyboard, but has the 'little keyboard', or number keypad).

It starts up, all though it boots up to the Uptime software that is stuck inside the mac's internal floppy drive. I would like to find out more information about this particular mac, because I have never heard of it before. On the back, it has an emblem that says HyperDrive 20 that is recessed into the case, and it doesn't say Apple anywhere on it. The back bigger sticker says General Computer Corporation, with another sticker on that sticker that says HyperDrive. I decoded the serial number, it's a 1985 512k model M0001W. I would appreciate if anyone could point me to some good reading about this system. Also, what's it worth? I don't plan on selling it, because I've always wanted a compact mac, but I'm just curious.

I'll post pictures, if you need me to.

Any help is appreciated. Can't find much on Google. Thanks.

 

[Scott Baret]

The HyperDrive was an internal hard drive sold by General Computer that was added to many early systems. Apple didn't include any hard drives internally until 1987 in the Mac SE model.

Check the thread called "512Ke Rare?" for a nice list on how to tell if your 512K was ever upgraded to a 512Ke. It sounds like your Mac is a 512K with a few upgrades/mods.

Do you have any pictures of this machine?

PS: Welcome aboard!

 

[YourTrashMyTreasure]

Pictures it is. Also, I think it might be 64k. When hitting the interrupt button, it either acts weird until I let go of the button, or it shows a sad mac. That, and the borders, as said in the article you referenced. Anyway, I don't hear much noise from the hard drive, so I might be opening it up soon to see what's going on. Pics:

I almost bought a compact Mac a week ago on eBay. Good thing I waited, because people here are just throwing these things away! I still need a keyboard though.

 

[JDW]

You can see my HyperDrive 20 photos here.

For the sake of comparison, I would love to see some photos of the inside of your Hyperdrive kit, especially the hard drive mechanism. You will of course need a long torx driver to open the case, or a dedicated Mac cracker kit which includes such. Many years ago, when I was very young and poor, I didn't have access to a torx driver so I filed down either side of my father's long flat head screw driver. It was just enough to fit in the torx screws (and yet not so much that my father ever noticed). By applying sufficient pressure, I was able to unscrew the case with ease, and I never stripped the screws. The point here is, you should have some means to open the case.

Your Mac is definitely NOT a "64k" machine as far as RAM is concerned, as there never was such a Mac. It is most likely a Mac with 512k RAM, and with the original 64k ROMs.

In the case of my Hyperdrive 512k, the greatest sound comes from the fan that was included with the Hyperdrive kit. The hard drive mostly makes noise when the drive heads are accessing.

I would be curious to hear more about that "UP TIME" software you are running in one of your screen shots, as well as the other software goodies you were blessed with on this "trashed Mac." What a find!

 

[shred]

The interesting thing about the HyperDrive was that it was one of the few third party mods that did not void warranty. Apple mentioned it in their service manuals at the time.

 

[Quadraman]

We've got a big trash cleanup coming up here next month. I'm hoping to pick a few more Macs then, though it's getting harder to find the oldest stuff. I've found 3 Pluses out for trash so far and got an SE from Freecycle.

Look under the monitor bezel on the front for a serial number sticker. The letter after the M0001 number will tell you what model your machine started out as.

 

[Mac128]

Look under the monitor bezel on the front for a serial number sticker. The letter after the M0001 number will tell you what model your machine started out as.

Quadraman, you don't read too closely do you? :beige:

He's already decoded the serial number and it began as a 512K. Hyperdrive Macs required 512K RAM and almost always came inside 64K ROM Macs because of the nature of the MFM drives. The 128K ROM gave easy access to SCSI so that became preferred standard.

Note that HyperDrive replaced not only the 512K logo, but also the agency label. It's hard to tell from that Picture whether they pulled off the Apple label or merely pasted over it. The gray sticker across the agency label was meant for the front of the Mac.

The interesting thing about the HyperDrive was that it was one of the few third party mods that did not void warranty. Apple mentioned it in their service manuals at the time.

LOL, yes. That's because Apple used them themselves. However, they didn't cover it at first, but relaxed their position after they realized the HyperDrive was one of the only reasons why people were buying the Macs instead of PCs which came standard with hard drives. It's also the reason Apple got busy developing the HD20 which Jobs insisted be an external drive rather than add a fan to the Mac.

 

[YourTrashMyTreasure]

Ah! It's not a real hyperdrive. I opened it up and no hard drive, controller, etc. Just a 512k with a HyperDrive case, for whatever reason. Oh well, it's still cool. One of these days I'll stumble upon a keyboard and system software for it so I can use it. The Uptime software, dated 1988, won't work for the most part because it says it requires a 512ke or later system. Red LED's in the floppy is 400K, right?

Mac128, they removed the original apple label. Also, the gray sticker was either pasted there on accident by the technician doing the upgrade, or it was put back there by someone else a LONG time ago. I tried to peel it back a little, and the gray turned to white! Opps. Another interesting thing was that this thing was incredibly dusty, and came in a very old file box labeled '81. I'm a stickler for nostalgia.