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Omega driver on Mac disk

Rollie44

Member
I want to use a zip drive with my SE30. Where can I get a suitable Omega driver on a Mac disk? I would need installation instructions as well.

Rollie44

 

Rollie44

Member
My SE30 is not connected to the internet so I have to get it in the machine on a diskett. I have no way of getting the driver on to a diskett. I don't have a diskett drive and I don't know anyone that does. I don't remember if the SE30 can read PC diskettes or not. Is there someone that copy the drive onto a diskette (Mac format or PC if that works) and send it to me. I can pay postage and cost of the diskette. I live in Sweden so it would be best if sender was in Europe. roland.anderson@swipnet.se

Roland Anderson

 

joshc

Well-known member
Just so you know, your SE/30 has a 1.44MB SuperDrive floppy drive, which supports reading and writing of 400K, 800K, and 1.44MB floppies. Do you have an Internet-capable Mac that also has LocalTalk which you can connect to your SE/30?

 

Mac128

Well-known member
Does anybody recall if a ZIP drive will boot an SE if formatted with a later driver? If that's the case, the same driver use to format a ZIP drive under say OS X as HFS, should also boot the SE/30. Just download and install a system onto it. Then you can copy the driver over to your hard drive, once you boot off the ZIP.

 

Rollie44

Member
I bought a USB diskette unit and copied the Omega driver onto a PC format diskette usning a modern computer. I will see (next week) if the SE30 can read it and install it from that. I think WackyMacs is right. He seems to have shaken up my memory. I am eager to give it a try. Thanks for all the hints and tips, all you guys!

Roland

 

Mac128

Well-known member
I bought a USB diskette unit and copied the Omega driver onto a PC format diskette usning a modern computer. I will see (next week) if the SE30 can read it and install it from that.
It's "Iomega".

Unless you have "PC Exchange" installed in your SE/30 you will not be able to read that PC FAT formatted disk. You'll need to get a utility on your Windows computer to write Mac HFS formatted disks (NOT HFS+).

 

register

Well-known member
To produce a Mac usable floppy disk on a PC follow the instructions given in our 68kMLA Wiki -> HFVExplorer.

You might also try to connect the iomega disk drive with inserted HFS formatted disk to your Mac, drive ready while booting. Probably this will cause an appropriate drive to load during the boot process without an iomega extension. As well, it is possible to use other disk formatting tools for the iomega zip drives, like HDT (FWB harddisk toolkit).

P.S.: make sure you have got a SCSI version of the zip drive; the Parallel Port version for PCs might sport a connector of the same physical dimensions, but experiments to connect this to a SCSI port are strictly forbidden ;-)

 

Mac128

Well-known member
You might also try to connect the iomega disk drive with inserted HFS formatted disk to your Mac, drive ready while booting. Probably this will cause an appropriate drive to load during the boot process without an iomega extension.
Nope. The only way a Mac formatted ZIP disk will load is if it has a system file on it, assuming it has an acceptable driver for the SE/30 ROM. The only way to see a blank ZIP disk is to have the extension in your System folder.

make sure you have got a SCSI version of the zip drive; the Parallel Port version for PCs might sport a connector of the same physical dimensions, but experiments to connect this to a SCSI port are strictly forbidden ;-)
Iomega probably produced a Parallel only ZIP drive, but they definitely produced a combo SCSI & Parallel disk drive that was auto-sensing. Not sure if there was one with a manual switch earlier or not. It's entirely possible he has one of those, which would be just fine for use with either.

 

register

Well-known member
Nice, I did not know they made also a combo drive. But as far as I remember I used several sorts of drivers with my PB180 and a SCSI ZIP 100 (probably with help of SCSI probe or HDT mounter). Unfortunately the drive did the deadly click and I trashed it years ago. The HDT formatted ZIP disks could be password protected, like later iomega formatted disks as well. The most important feature of the iomega software was to recognize a ZIP disk automatically after insertion.

 

Rollie44

Member
I don't have "PC Exchange". If the SE30 can't read a PC FAT formatted disk with the Iomega driver I'm still in a pinch. Making a HFS disk on a PC doesn't help either if I can't copy the Iomega driver onto the finished HFS disk. I have a year-old iMac. The SE30 has "LocalTalk". Can I connect the SE30 to the iMac somehow?

Roland

 

register

Well-known member
To produce a Mac usable floppy disk on a PC follow the instructions given in our 68kMLA Wiki -> HFVExplorer.
The online manual includes advice how to transfer files. HFVExplorer v.1.3.1 has also limited support for ZIP media.
To connect the SE/30 to your new iMac is not easy, except the SE/30 has got an ethernet network adapter (and if it has got a network adapter, the problem to transfer some extra software to the old Mac in the first place might remain, still).

Consider to ask a local Mac dealer or user (group) in your environment to provide the floppy disk you need. In case they refuse to help, p.m.

 

Mac128

Well-known member
I have a year-old iMac. The SE30 has "LocalTalk".
I'm really confused. If you have a year old iMac, why not just use the USB disk drive to make an HFS formatted 1.44MB disk for the SE/30 and download the ZIP driver onto it from your Mac. Zero compatibility problems. This seems like a no-brainer unless you just like making your life as complicated as possible. That's really all you need to transfer files between your iMac and SE/30, a single HD floppy disk and USB disk drive.

 

register

Well-known member
Great. I always use an imation USB superdrive for this task. Of course Rollie44 will connect the USB floppy drive to the iMac :lol:

 

Rollie44

Member
The USB disk drive I bought can only read and write to PC FAT disks. Both a modern PC and my iMac can write to such a disk, but only a HFS disk can be used in the SE30. Getting the driver from a modern PC or my iMac to a HFS disk is the problem.

rollie44

 

joshc

Well-known member
The USB disk drive I bought can only read and write to PC FAT disks.
Weird. I've never heard of this before. Your USB drive should be able to read/write HFS as long as its connected to a Mac.

 

Rollie44

Member
I just tried HFVExplorer on a PC and it seems to be able to save readable files to a HFS formated disk in the USB floppy. I will have to try the disks in the SE 30 (on Friday when I get a chance).

rollie44

 

tomlee59

Well-known member
The USB disk drive I bought can only read and write to PC FAT disks. Both a modern PC and my iMac can write to such a disk, but only a HFS disk can be used in the SE30. Getting the driver from a modern PC or my iMac to a HFS disk is the problem.rollie44
When you attempt to format a floppy with your iMac, you should be presented with a pull-down menu with several options. Did you check for these?

 
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