Well, I was able to boot System 7.5.5 from an HFS+ partition, but any other HFS+ partition could not be mounted. I also see no option to format partitions to HFS+, but only to "HFS Standard" or "DOS" (rather than the dual "HFS Standard" you guys were getting, maybe because a STR# or TEXT resource was forgotten).
For the record, even on Mac OS 8.1, at least ONE of my HFS+ partitions don't mount either (even though it mounts normally in 9.2.2 and OS X), but the rest do. What also happens is that Mac OS 8.1 (but not HFS+-enabled System 7.5.5) leaves my (HFS+-only?) partitions in such a state, at least when a crash occurred (but maybe also otherwise), in which the next time I boot an OS, be it 8.1, 9.2.2 or OS X, it takes FOREVER (20+ mins) for them all to mount, almost as if there was a minor HFS+-related corruption that needs to be auto-fixed by the booting OS (which seems to always work on OS X Tiger, and sometimes on Mac OS 9.2.2). No idea why. Perhaps 8.1 HFS+ is not as good, or not as up-to-date as HFS+ in Mac OS 9.2.2, or in OS X.
I mean, that wouldn't be surprising if true, even the likes of NTFS went through multiple versions and changes until a decade later with the Windows XP era or so, at which point it "stabilized".
It could also be that something isn't quite "perfect" about HFS+ in the 10.2.1 ROM for older systems, in the sense that what Mac OS 9.2.2 needs is all in there, but that the likes of 8.1, and earlier, are lacking that they need in the ROM file.
Again, I'm using my Mac mini G4 1.5 GHz model.
On a different note, for emphasis, this is exactly what I'm patching for 7.5.5 (everything taken from 8.1), in alphabetical and numerical order respectively:
boot, 3 (the one from DT 8.1 PPC should also work, perhaps it's even better? For Mac OS 7.6 and later, we use "boot, 2" from Mac OS 9.2.2 instead)
boot, 2246
gpch, 750 (for 68k Macs only)
gtbl, 6 (for 68k Macs only)
p2u#, 0
PACK, 2
ptch, -20217
ptch, 41
ptch, 42 (for 68k Macs only)
STR#, -20574
STR#, -20573
STR#, -20483
TEXT, -20574
TEXT', -20573
For @Rairii's 7.5.x/7.6.x Enabler, you must not touch "boot, 3" (dunno about "boot, 2"). However, patching everything else in the enabler also does not seem to work right, e.g. booting 7.5.5 from HFS+ won't work. However, if you patch ONLY "ptch, -20217" and "ptch, 41", as per @croissantking's instructions, it seems to work, at least to the extent I described earlier. I wonder what, exactly, we should and should not be patching in the enabler file.
That's it from my report for now. I'll try System 7.5.3 later (I don't think that one works at all, but I will see), and definitely try this (7.5.5) for running on Mini vMac in Mac OS 9.2.2. Note that if the latter works, it would bring HFS+ altogether to Mini vMac itself, since the highest OS version available in it is 7.5.5.
For the record, even on Mac OS 8.1, at least ONE of my HFS+ partitions don't mount either (even though it mounts normally in 9.2.2 and OS X), but the rest do. What also happens is that Mac OS 8.1 (but not HFS+-enabled System 7.5.5) leaves my (HFS+-only?) partitions in such a state, at least when a crash occurred (but maybe also otherwise), in which the next time I boot an OS, be it 8.1, 9.2.2 or OS X, it takes FOREVER (20+ mins) for them all to mount, almost as if there was a minor HFS+-related corruption that needs to be auto-fixed by the booting OS (which seems to always work on OS X Tiger, and sometimes on Mac OS 9.2.2). No idea why. Perhaps 8.1 HFS+ is not as good, or not as up-to-date as HFS+ in Mac OS 9.2.2, or in OS X.
I mean, that wouldn't be surprising if true, even the likes of NTFS went through multiple versions and changes until a decade later with the Windows XP era or so, at which point it "stabilized".
It could also be that something isn't quite "perfect" about HFS+ in the 10.2.1 ROM for older systems, in the sense that what Mac OS 9.2.2 needs is all in there, but that the likes of 8.1, and earlier, are lacking that they need in the ROM file.
Again, I'm using my Mac mini G4 1.5 GHz model.
On a different note, for emphasis, this is exactly what I'm patching for 7.5.5 (everything taken from 8.1), in alphabetical and numerical order respectively:
boot, 3 (the one from DT 8.1 PPC should also work, perhaps it's even better? For Mac OS 7.6 and later, we use "boot, 2" from Mac OS 9.2.2 instead)
boot, 2246
gpch, 750 (for 68k Macs only)
gtbl, 6 (for 68k Macs only)
p2u#, 0
PACK, 2
ptch, -20217
ptch, 41
ptch, 42 (for 68k Macs only)
STR#, -20574
STR#, -20573
STR#, -20483
TEXT, -20574
TEXT', -20573
For @Rairii's 7.5.x/7.6.x Enabler, you must not touch "boot, 3" (dunno about "boot, 2"). However, patching everything else in the enabler also does not seem to work right, e.g. booting 7.5.5 from HFS+ won't work. However, if you patch ONLY "ptch, -20217" and "ptch, 41", as per @croissantking's instructions, it seems to work, at least to the extent I described earlier. I wonder what, exactly, we should and should not be patching in the enabler file.
That's it from my report for now. I'll try System 7.5.3 later (I don't think that one works at all, but I will see), and definitely try this (7.5.5) for running on Mini vMac in Mac OS 9.2.2. Note that if the latter works, it would bring HFS+ altogether to Mini vMac itself, since the highest OS version available in it is 7.5.5.
