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RaSCSI: DSK files, or links to premade HDA files for 7.5?

Nixontheknight

Well-known member
I just bought and set up a RaSCSI for my Macintosh Classic, and I noticed it doesn't have any version of system 7.5 on it, or really any version past 7.0.1. I have a 7.5.3 image, but it's in a DSK format, and I read that it only accepts variants of the HDA format and CDR files and ISO images. Is there a way to load DSK files on the RaSCSI or do I have to use HDA files? And if it's the latter, where would I find premade HDA files for 7.5.3 or 7.5.5? TIA!
 

Tom2112

Well-known member
Excellent link Kerobaros! Wish I'd known about that before I did mine.

Nix: they're not too hard to make. I'm working with a Windows 10 PC, so take that for what it's worth.

Here's how I made a bootable Apple Legacy Recovery disk image (not a CD image):

1) Download and install BasiliskII (a Mac emulator) - there's lots of online guides how to do this, and it isn't hard.
2) When you use BasiliskII, set it to emulate a "Mac IIci (OS 7.x)" from the Memory/Misc tab of the settings.
3) Download the Apple Legacy Recovery ISO image from Macintosh Garden or Macintosh Repository.
https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/apple-legacy-software-recovery-cd
4) On your RaSCSI, create a 1GB blank disk image (or 700MB in size if you want to save some space - but I like having extra space on the disk image so I can add some utilities, like Lido, SCSIProbe, patched HD setup, SetDate, etc.)
5) Download that disk image you just created to your PC via the RaSCSI's web interface. (You can delete it from the RaSCSI when you're done) The reason I created the blank image on the RaSCSI is because then I _know_ that it will be the right image format. I have several different SCSI devices, which all seem to take different disk image formats.
6) Rename the disk image you just downloaded to AppleLegacyRecovery.hda
7) Open BasiliskII. In the settings, add a boot disk (something OS 7.x should do nicely so long as you're not booting from the Apple Legacy Recovery ISO itself. (If you boot from the ALR ISO, the system files will be in use and you won't be able to copy them). Also be sure to add your AppleLegacyRecovery.hda to the list of drives you want mounted.
8) Once you've booted up in BasiliskII, the emulated Mac will identify your AppleLegacyrecovery.hda image as a blank disk, and you'll need to initialize it. Go ahead. Name it something creative like "Legacy Recovery". :)
9) Once the .hda image is initialized and formatted, and ready to go, you can open the Apple Legacy Recovery ISO (should show as a mounted CD). Hit Alt-A (Cmd-A) to select all, which includes the hidden system folder, and drag them to the Legacy Recovery hda drive. This will copy the entire contents of the recovery CD to your disk image, including that hidden system folder (which when selected, shows up as a highlighted little box between the Apple II and AU/X folders.
10) Once it's done copying the files, make sure the hidden system folder is on the hda image "drive", then shut down.
11) Upload this newly created hda image file to your RaSCSI via the web interface.

Of course, you can add other files/apps to your legacy recovery image. It's bootable on a huge variety of classic Macs (which is the point), and you can install just about any OS version and the patches from it. It's SUPER useful.

Somewhere along the line, I screwed my image up, making it not boot on some old devices (Mac SE without HDD) and I had to recreate it. I think I was messing with Lido or another SCSI drive setup and "updated" the disk driver on the image. So be careful playing around with it. Fortunately, it's not hard to recreate once you know how. Also, its important to realize that it boots into System 7.1. So if the Mac you're trying to use it on doesn't support 7.1, then it won't boot.

Another one I am meaning to try out is to make a smaller size legacy recovery image - delete all the versions of OS's that I don't need - like the Japanese Sys 7.1.1. or ones earlier than Sys 6.0.8. And see how small I can get the image down to. It would be nice to have a "Legacy Recovery" zip disk! ;)
 
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