Hard Drive Compatibility

[JRL]

Then why does it mention in an Apple Tech article that HD SC Setup is not compatible with the PowerBook 150? I seem to renember that HD SC Setup would throw up "no SCSI devices found on SCSI bus" when used on my PB 150 (when it was still booting)

 

[benjgvps]

Did you use the one on the Utilities disk, version 7.5.3 (The version of HD SC Setup), or an older version?

 

[JRL]

I used the latest version. It's probably there because 7.5.3 isn't the original OS for the PowerBook 150.

 

[benjgvps]

I just found they are both not compatible... Though the drive is in ROM so I can still initialize it and it should work according to http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=19644 . Though it confuses me. If it has a driver partition, it can't be formatted, yet it tells you that when you start up with a boot disk you can initialize it... Am I not understanding something?

 

[tomlee59]

That article is telling you only that the driver resides in ROM. That does not mean that you cannot format or otherwise install the drive. It just means that you need a special formatting tool (Internal HD Format) to prepare the drive correctly. As the article says, use of other formatting tools will inevitably result in a driver being installed on the drive, preventing Internal HD Format from doing its thing, and thus preventing the PB150 from using the drive.

Installation of a driver is not the same as initialization or formatting. These are separate operations.

 

[JRL]

Apple has an Internal HD Format download somewhere.

 

[Mac128]

That article is telling you only that the driver resides in ROM. That does not mean that you cannot format or otherwise install the drive. It just means that you need a special formatting tool (Internal HD Format) to prepare the drive correctly. As the article says, use of other formatting tools will inevitably result in a driver being installed on the drive, preventing Internal HD Format from doing its thing, and thus preventing the PB150 from using the drive.

The PowerBook 150 was the first to incorporate the IDE bus architecture, at least in a portable. At about the same time the Quadra 630 was introduced with the first desktop IDE bus. Did it suffer the same problem? Was this just Apple's early implementation of IDE to get the machines out the door on schedule?

EDIT – Looks like it was – http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=48417#48417 And here's the setup utility. And Startup Disk.

I would guess that even though the IDE bus made the drives less expensive, the requirement to use Apple's unique formatting tool would restrict the number of compatible drives.

I am not aware of the LC 580 or PowerMac x200 series which debuted almost a year later having any drive formatting problems.

Was this just a PB 150 problem? In which case it's another strike against that poor PowerBook. Definitely an odd bird. They make it almost impossible to use it as a desktop replacement by removing the ADB port and second serial port, then, even though they had to burn a new ROM to utilize the IDE bus, they don't add SCSI disk mode code to it, which would make it a perfect companion for use with a desktop. They add a more expensive 640x480 LCD, but limit it to 2-bit grayscale which most applications that needed 640x480 probably couldn't use. Odd.

 

[benjgvps]

So I should be able to make it work if I don't touch it with anything other than Internal HD Format? If so, it is good to know and will be done as soon as I have some cash that is not going toward my PC (Lots of upgrades to make it able to play the latest games).

 

[tomlee59]

Was this just a PB 150 problem? In which case it's another strike against that poor PowerBook. Definitely an odd bird. They make it almost impossible to use it as a desktop replacement by removing the ADB port and second serial port, then, even though they had to burn a new ROM to utilize the IDE bus, they don't add SCSI disk mode code to it, which would make it a perfect companion for use with a desktop. They add a more expensive 640x480 LCD, but limit it to 2-bit grayscale which most applications that needed 640x480 probably couldn't use. Odd.

The 150 definitely has several strikes against it. I think your speculation about how the need for Internal HD Format could limit the number of drive options is probably spot on. I've never tried any extensive experiments to assess compatibility with more modern drives, so the question remains open. But given the other oddities of the 150, it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that it will only work with certain drives made in a certain country on a certain day of the week. Except in leap years.