I'm new to this mailing list, so first of all, I'd like to say hello to everybody!
I just acquired a SuperMac C500/200, and I need some advice. Since I bought this computer (used) on eBay, I don't know whether all of the parts inside it are standard. It has a Western Digital 2.1 GB IDE hard drive and a Toshiba 12X SCSI CD-ROM drive. I don't know which OS is installed on it; I thought it was supposed to be Mac OS 8. The person I bought it from failed to send me the System Disk; all I have are the manuals and the Application Software CD. It was my intention to wipe the hard drive and reinstall everything from scratch, so for my purposes, the current OS is irrelevant. I'm thinking about replacing the IDE hard drive with a SCSI hard drive to reduce cable clutter and improve performance. Do you think that would help? I've managed to boot the system with an Apple/Quantum 230 MB SCSI hard drive with Mac OS 7.5.5 installed (using Apple Drive Setup 1.7.3). But when I hooked up an IBM (OEM) 2.1 GB SCSI hard drive, the computer said, "This startup disk will not work on this Macintosh model." I tried to update the driver using Disk Setup Lite, but that didn't help. I didn't try to initialize it, because I don't want to destroy the data that's on it. Does the hard drive need to have Apple ROMs, or do I need to use a utility such as FWB Hard Disk ToolKit? Unfortunately, I don't have the disk for that. Since I don't want to erase the 2.1 GB IDE hard drive that came with the machine (not yet, anyway), I tried to replace it with a Fujitsu (OEM) 1.24 GB IDE hard drive. I figured that since the SuperMac likes to boot up with an IDE drive, that's what I would give it. The first problem I ran into was that I couldn't install Mac OS 7.5.3 on the SuperMac because the installer couldn't recognize the computer. To work around that, I hooked up the Apple/Quantum 230 MB SCSI hard drive and booted up with it (successfully bypassing the Fujitsu 1.24 GB IDE drive), then I set up the Fujitsu drive and copied everything from the Quantum drive to the Fujitsu drive. When that was done, I disconnected the Quantum drive and proceeded to boot up from the Fujitsu drive. It seems to work just fine, but can anyone tell me if copying an OS installation like that could lead to problems in the future? Is is possible that some critical system files could not be copied like that? The Quantum hard drive with Mac OS 7.5.5 was set up on a Power Macintosh 6100/60. Is is possible that the OS installation doesn't have all the files needed by the SuperMac? I wanted to install the OS from scratch with the Fujitsu hooked up to the SuperMac, but as I explained, the Mac OS 7.5.3 installer wouldn't let me. I'd like to run Mac OS 8.1, but I can't install Mac OS 8 without the System Disk. I have Mac OS 8.5, but I don't know if the installer will let me install it on the SuperMac. Also, since the SuperMac only has 16 MB of memory, I don't think I can run Mac OS 8 or higher on it until I add more memory, anyway. So for now, I have to stick with Mac OS 7.5.3 or 7.5.5. Is that a good idea? Also, I can't get the Toshiba 12X CD-ROM to read disks. The firmware seems to be okay, because SCSI Probe (among other things) can detect it and identify it, but it won't read any disks. The result was the same when I hooked it up to a Power Macintosh 6100/60, so I suspect it's a bad drive. When I hooked up an Apple 300 Plus 2x CD-ROM drive to the SuperMac, it worked just fine. I could leave it like that, but I wouldn't be happy with it. I'm pretty sure that the Toshiba 12X CD-ROM drive is a bad drive. I also have a CyberDrive 24X SCSI CD-ROM. It works just fine on the Power Mac, but it won't work on the SuperMac, which leads me to believe there might be a driver problem. What can I do about that? I put the Apple CD-ROM Driver 5.4 into the System Folder (Extensions), but it didn't help. Do I need to use FWB CD-ROM ToolKit? I have the manual, but unfortunately, I don't have the disk. I realize that this is a lot of questions, and I appreciate your indulgence. Thanks in advance for your help. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus -- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
