How do I get a 400k boot disk for a 512k?

[tattar8]

I have access to a Mac SE, non-FDHD, a Mac Plus, and a Mac Classic II.  I currently have 400k dsk images for System 4.0 on the SE, but Disk Copy 4.2 doesn't recognize them at all, and Disk Copy 6 refuses to write floppies claiming that I need a drive that can write 400k floppies, which the SE should be able to write (I'm able to initialize a single-sided disk).  Are the images I'm using not valid for Disk Copy 4.2?  If they aren't, where can I get valid images?  All the ones I've found seem to be intended to be used with emulators.

 

[cheesestraws]

There are a bunch of useful suggestions here that might help you:





I've used DiskDup Pro to generate DC42 images successfully, but never 400K ones.  So it's worth a try but I can't personally vouch for it

 

[davidg5678]

I found this video once, but I never finished watching it. From what I remember, the beginning was pretty good. I think it covers what you are trying to do though, so it may be of some use.

 

[Dog Cow]

I have access to a Mac SE, non-FDHD, a Mac Plus, and a Mac Classic II. 

You might already have everything you need. What is the oldest System/Finder version that you have among the SE and Plus? I'm not asking about disk images, but real floppies or HD. Is it older than System 6?

 

[tattar8]

The SE and Plus boot from an external SCSI2SD that is shared between them, so I can easily get whatever System I need onto them; currently it has 6.0.8.  

So I was able to figure out how to at least get a boot floppy by downloading an image from another site that specifically listed it as a DC4.2 image, and writing it to a disk using the SE.  I'll still need to try the method in the thread linked above to get anything else onto a floppy, though.  

Follow-up question:  Can 1.4MB SuperDrives (like the one in my SE/30 or Classic II) not write 400k disks?  I'd like to just do it on my SE/30 rather than keeping the SE set up to do it, but when I tried to initialize a double density disk in the Classic II, I was only given the option for 800k.

 

[Dog Cow]

The SE and Plus boot from an external SCSI2SD that is shared between them, so I can easily get whatever System I need onto them; currently it has 6.0.8.  

So I was able to figure out how to at least get a boot floppy by downloading an image from another site that specifically listed it as a DC4.2 image, and writing it to a disk using the SE.  I'll still need to try the method in the thread linked above to get anything else onto a floppy, though.  

Follow-up question:  Can 1.4MB SuperDrives (like the one in my SE/30 or Classic II) not write 400k disks?  I'd like to just do it on my SE/30 rather than keeping the SE set up to do it, but when I tried to initialize a double density disk in the Classic II, I was only given the option for 800k.

Disk Copy may not be necessary for you and may actually be a hindrance. You can use the Finder to make boot disks. Disk Copy isn't essential.

 If you can get the "bare" System and Finder file for anything from 1984 System 1.0 thru System 4.1/Finder 5.5 (which is the range of versions that the 512K can boot), then you can use the Finder on your SE or Plus to copy these two system files to a 400K MFS disk to boot your Mac 512K.

When the disk initialization package detects that you've got a double-density disk, you're supposed to get a button choice for Single-sided or Double-sided. What System version is on your Classic II? Try using System 6 on your Plus or SE to initialize your disk.

 

[tattar8]

I had tried it on the Classic II running 7.6.1.  Perhaps that's why it refused to work?

 

[LaPorta]

That is why. Unless you use System 6 or lower, you are no longer prompted to format an 800k disk as either single- or double-sided. That is the issue.