| Author |
Topic |
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Tallgeese
Full Member
USA
523 Posts |
 Posted - 09 Nov 2001 : 07:29:27
I have some cool old programs that are on MFS disks. These things are old, they have System 5.something on them. My IIsi will read the disks, of course, but won't boot from them, and the programs won't run even when I boot under 6.0.7. Should my IIsi be able to run these and this is an indication of disk corruption, or do I need an even older Mac to run this stuff? PFC Tallgeese
68k Mac Liberation Army
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maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
Posted - 09 Nov 2001 : 15:43:42
aah, good old MFS!Well, MFS (Macintosh Filing System) was the original disk format used by the Mac before they went to HFS. This means that the programs on there are probably really old, so you might want to try and get a 128k or a 512k or if you know someone who has one, try them on there. Pizzabox LCs RULE!!!!!!! Warrior maclover5
68k Macintosh Liberation Army
Number of 68ks Liberated: 5 |
Tallgeese
Full Member
USA
523 Posts |
Posted - 09 Nov 2001 : 16:53:39
Would a Plus or SE work? (easier to find)
PFC Tallgeese
68k Mac Liberation Army
68k Macs Liberated: 3 |
maclover5
LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
Australia
5830 Posts |
Posted - 09 Nov 2001 : 17:04:49
Probably. Give it a try and tell us what happens. Also, if you try on a Mac Plus, try using a really old system version, because that may increase your chances of being able to run the programs on the disk.Pizzabox LCs RULE!!!!!!! Warrior maclover5
68k Macintosh Liberation Army
Number of 68ks Liberated: 5 |
~Coxy
Leader, Tactical Ops Unit
Australia
2822 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 06:43:55
An SE with its native OS should be able to read MFS disks.~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit
68k Macintosh Liberation Army (now with forums!)
00007 Macs liberated. |
benightedbastard
New Member
Australia
62 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 09:04:18
By what System version was MFS dropped? My understanding was that HFS came in pretty early in the game, so MFS was only there for the very early days indeed.
From my experience with the 6 and prior days, you need to make sure the system you use is very specific, ie watever came on the disk with the app.
Incidentally, what's the latest mac that will run System 6? |
~Coxy
Leader, Tactical Ops Unit
Australia
2822 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 09:16:25
Prepare to be amazed...
The last Mac to come with System 6 was the LC, Classic and IIsi.
The last Mac that can run 6 was also these models (Oct 1990)~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit
68k Macintosh Liberation Army (now with forums!)
00007 Macs liberated. |
Captain Z
Mobile Ops Commander
USA
637 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 13:04:09
THE Macintosh File System (MFS) was standard in the Mac OS until System 4.0. The Mac Plus and Mac SE are the only 2 capable of using MFS disks the traditional way because they can use System software dating back to System 2.0 (Mac Plus can use System 1.1).------------------
Captain Z - Sniper
68K Macintosh Liberation Army
17 68K Macs Liberated |
Tallgeese
Full Member
USA
523 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 14:09:19
Oh darn... looks like I have to go get a Plus or an SE. What terrible luck.  PFC Tallgeese
68k Mac Liberation Army
68k Macs Liberated: 3 |
Captain Z
Mobile Ops Commander
USA
637 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2001 : 14:33:33
quote:
Oh darn... looks like I have to go get a Plus or an SE. What terrible luck.
According to Apple, you need a Plus or SE (with 800K floppy drive!). The SE with FDHD or dual Superdrives requires System 6 or later. The older systems prior to 6 can't recognize 1.4MB Floppy disks. ------------------
Captain Z - Sniper
68K Macintosh Liberation Army
17 68K Macs Liberated |
candyPunk
Full Member
USA
856 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2001 : 20:57:19
This is kind of off topic, but about 1.4 meg disks: When I was about 8 and we got our quadra(which I still use and love), it was a big step up from the plus. One thing it had was 1.4 meg drives. I found out an odd thing about my grandmother's SE, though. Whenever I took a 1.4 meg disk from my quadra to her SE(system 7), the SE could read it just fine, but when I came home, my quadra couldn't. My brother never figured it out, and he was the resident mac expert of the day. Ever happen to any of you? A bad drive in the SE maybe?{ candyPunk }
{ 68k MLA }
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{ Uses found for said Macs: Uh...3? }
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Tallgeese
Full Member
USA
523 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2001 : 21:28:00
All right! I'm not the only one! In my HS computer fundamentals class, we had a bunch of Pluses and SEs. I used a floppy for my final HyperCard project, and did part of it at home on my IIsi. I still have that floppy, because of how weird it became. It stopped being readable at school, and at home... well it was odd. I popped into the IIsi's floppy drive, and the machine became unbearably slow. The floppy showed no files, but it read that there were items on it (in the disk header) and that there was only a little space left. Norton told me it wasn't an HFS disk, and disk doctor said it was irreparable.
PFC Tallgeese
68k Mac Liberation Army
68k Macs Liberated: 3 |
~Coxy
Leader, Tactical Ops Unit
Australia
2822 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2001 : 21:31:09
Sounds like the disk just when bad over time...~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit
68k Macintosh Liberation Army (now with forums!)
00007 Macs liberated. |
Tallgeese
Full Member
USA
523 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2001 : 22:03:44
This was a brand new disk, and the class was only a month long. And the symptoms only appeared after uing it in the Plus then the IIsi. Actually, I've heard that disk drives can get misaligned, so a floppy only works on the drive that it was last in... maybe that happened. or I'm making stuff up. whatever.
PFC Tallgeese
68k Mac Liberation Army
68k Macs Liberated: 3 |
Marchie
Chaplain
USA
911 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2001 : 16:16:56
ahh yes... the mysterious 800k -> 1.4MB and back problem.Gather my soldiers and you shall hear, of the wandering lives of disk drive gears.... It's not JUST Mac drives, and it's not JUST 800k vs 1.44MB, but it does happen faster and more often in such a setup. for those that don't know, a floppy drive and disk works like this: A Floppy disk is merely a single round peice of magnetic film, divided in two directions: in circles around the disk (tracks), and in pie slices from the middle outwards (sections). A 400k disk is only written on ONE side (the bottom I beleive) of the disk. an 800k on both sides (thus Double Sided), and a 1.44MB on both sides and at a higher density (more tracks I beleive). The drive HEAD moves along the disk media, reading and writing to the litle "Sections" under it. Everytime you insert a disk into a Mac's disk drive, and the disk is NOT Write Protected, the Desktop file on the disk MIGHT be updated. It's ALWAYS updated when you slide it into a computer that has a different operating system version from the last one you had it in. this in itself won't cause a problem... BUT... As drives are used, their heads begin to settle, shift, and wander. when you Initialize a disk, it's tracks are laid out by the drive. When you put the disk into another drive, if the drive's been used alot (or the one you initialized the disk in had been used alot) there is potential that the drive isn't going to read and write the information in exactly the correct spots. Sometimes, if the drive isn't TOO out of wack, it's not a problem because the drive head is quite a bit bigger than the area that the area on the disk it's reading/writing to. But as the drive heads get further out of alignment, it read/writes too far off where it should be... causeing OTHER drives to not be able to read the disk, or to improperly read the disk. this is why floppy disks at school wear out so quickly. Lots of people useing the drives, and the disks in many macheines get their data spread all over the track and section lines, all of which are slightly different. Thre's no way to predict how a drives heads will shift. When Apple started supplying high density floppy drives, the drive mechanism of course changed, and made things even more complicated and when popping disks from 800k to superDrives, the potential for the Desktop file and disk headers to get shifted around is even greater. that's the story. ~Marchie ~~"We are all Mad here."~~ |
Tallgeese
Full Member
USA
523 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2001 : 16:24:03
So now we know... wow. i had been wondering about that one for ages.
PFC Tallgeese
68k Mac Liberation Army
68k Macs Liberated: 3 |
~Coxy
Leader, Tactical Ops Unit
Australia
2822 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2001 : 17:34:39
There was a question in the 2000 Info Sys exam about that, now I understand it.~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit
68k Macintosh Liberation Army (now with forums!)
00007 Macs liberated. |
MFS, etc.
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