Question about a hard drive on a Mac SE/30

[rangerwalker]

I have the original hard drive Mac SE/30 with OS 6. I just purchased a Quantum Fireball ST Hard Drive 50 Pin 2GB 3.5. This hard drive was in another Mac SE/30 with OS 7.5.5. If I replacing it, hard disk works without doing anything or will not work OS 7.5.5?

Thanks in advance

Francis

 

[phreakout]

If you install that new drive into your SE/30, you shouldn't have to do anything further. Now, what could happen is it will either boot into System 7.5.5, like you mentioned, or it will give you a blinking question mark inside a floppy icon. If that happens, then the Mac is having a hard time trying to find a System folder to boot from. This is where you'll need to have your Disk Tools floppy handy, so you can run some utilities to check for disk problems.

A blinking question mark can happen for two reasons: 1.) The drive was wiped by a previous owner, or 2.) The System Folder or files are corrupted and need you to boot from a Disk Tools floppy to get back in working order. If the drive was wiped, you'll need to repartition and reformat the drive before installing the System software. Use HD SC Disk Setup version 7.3.5 or Drive Setup to get that hard drive ready for installing the System software.

But first, let's just assume that the drive is good and has System 7.5.5 already installed. After it is hooked up and you turn on your SE/30, if it boots into the System software, you're all set. No further work needs to be done. But be prepared just in case the above happens. I'll be here to help you out likewise.

Give it a try and report back with your results.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[rangerwalker]

today I tried to open the mac but my torx screwdriver was a little short. Tomorrow I will buy a longer screw driver and try again.

Thanks for your help Phreakout. I appreciate that. Tomorrow I'll post my results on the website.

 

[rangerwalker]

Finally I opened the Mac and installed hard disk and all goes well, doing nothing. The old hard drive had a cable that connected to a small light bulb, but as in the new hard drive was no place to connect, I can not connect. But without that, everything is perfect.

I also installed an ethernet card Asanté Maccone PDS. The previous owner had installed Netscape 3.1, but click on the icon, a window appeared telling me that I have enough memory to run Netscape.

I have a 8mb installed the original and the message says I need 9mb (also says that I have free 6mb only).

Is it worth buying 8 units SIMM of 16mb 30-pin or there will be little difference with 8 units of 4mb?

Thanks :approve:

 

[phreakout]

Well, 8 units of 16 megabytes (MB) will give you the maximum of 128 MB and 8 units of 4 megabytes gives you about 32 MB. You can throw in the maximum it can support, but be sure you do two things:

1.) Have the system extension file called "Mode32" placed inside the Extensions folder within the System Folder on the hard drive, and

2.) The more RAM you install (above 32 MB) will cause the SE/30 to take a bit longer to boot; this is perfectly normal. Just remember that.

If you don't want to install "Mode32", you can buy a spare ROM SIMM out of a Mac IIfx, IIci or IIsi, and replace the SE/30s' ROM SIMM with that. The IIfx, IIci and IIsi ROM SIMMs are "32-bit clean", whereas the SE/30 is not. The SE/30 has up to 24-bit data addressing, which is why this model, out of the box, couldn't support more than 8 MB without the "Mode32", enough though it can take up to 128 MB.

As far as where to get RAM, http://www.pcmemorystore.com sells 16MB sticks for about $30 USD each. Another couple of places to try are eBay and Amazon.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[Charlieman]

4 * 4MB + 4 * 1MB SIMMs = 20MB. 4MB 30 pin SIMMs are significantly cheaper than 16MB SIMMs and should give enough RAM to experiment further with the SE/30, even when using Netscape.

If that works for you, 4 * 16MB + 4 * 4MB = 80MB is almost perfect, and a lot cheaper than 8 * 16MB.

The Asante ethernet card should work well. If you have problems, ask. Make sure that you install the drivers using the installer utility. Some more tips can be found at http://www.vintagemacworld.com/netprimer.html and elsewhere.

 

[rangerwalker]

Hi there again...

Now I have 80mb of memory and the computer is going very well. I tried netscape 3.0 or 3.1 (i cant remember) and although it took me a while to configure the tcp / ip, the computer is connected to the Internet.

I have some more questions, if anyone has time to advise me ...

- Netscape is a little slow. What web browsers are typically used with a Mac SE/30?

- I tried to get some games and applications (from this page http://www.macintoshgarden.org). I've tried about ten and the majority says "can not find the application that created them." And I can not open. Do I need a other software for open it? Use Stuffit Expander.

In other applications I get the message that I have to burn the image to a diskette. Is there any program that can be used to mount the disk image in the hard disk and run the program without using disks?

Sorry if I seem a noob, but I'm a noob. I had never touched a Macintosh in my life But now I see they are wonderful, at least the old Macintosh.

Thanks for reading my words :b&w:

 

[Udo.Keller]

Well, before you go for applications, maybe you should first decide on the operating system. There is a dependance between the browser you are going to use and the O/S you are using.

In your first post, you mentioned System 6 on your old HD, and 7.5.5 on the new one. Will you keep the 7.5.5 or do you plan to go back to System 6?