Thread

Mac SE with CD?

· Troubleshooting · 16 posts · Dec 13, 2009 — Jan 4, 2010 View original thread ↗

#1 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 - 00:28

Can you use an external CD with a Macintosh SE? I need some way to take data over to it until I get my other floppy-enabled mac out.

Thanks,

agg23

#2 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 - 04:18

Yes. Find yourself a slow SCSI CD drive (say, 2x or 4x, max), and it should work. If you encounter a driver problem, the "CD Sunrise" driver works well with many third-party drives. There's no audio CD support with that driver, but since you're just looking to transfer data, that shouldn't be a problem.

#3 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 - 21:38

I took a cd drive out of a old PowerMac 7100, stuck it in a external case, and hooked it to my SE. I booted up and it can't read any cds. Apple HD setup (or whatever it's called) sees it as a drive that needs to be initialized. Do I just need that "CD Sunrise" driver?

Thanks,

agg23

#4 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 - 21:41

Can you use an external CD with a Macintosh SE?

Yes, but keep two points in mind:

1.) Apple-branded SCSI drives will probably work better

2.) You can't start up the Mac from a CD

#5 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 - 21:50

1.) Apple-branded SCSI drives will probably work better

It is Apple-branded, but it is an internal used as an external.

2.) You can't start up the Mac from a CD

I don't really care.

Thanks

#6 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 - 23:40

what version of OS is it running? I can't recall the minimum required for CD support. Might be 7.1 (?)

#7 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 - 23:51

I had cd roms on 6.x machines, cant remember exactly which version of 6 it was but it was one of the later ones with the internet connection kit

#8 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 - 00:09

2.) You can't start up the Mac from a CD

Click to expand...

I don't really care.

I'm not really sure why you felt the need to tell me that, but oh well.

#9 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 - 00:24

I'm not really sure why you felt the need to tell me that, but oh well.

I don't know either

I am running 6.0.5. I am still trying to find a way to copy the sunrise driver to a floppy (my other Macs are in our garage).

#10 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 - 01:57

You will have difficulty reading many discs if you are using system 6 (I recommend upgrading to 6.0.8 in any case). You will need to find the desktop manager init and place it in your system 6 folder. This will avoid your getting stuck in a loop in which the OS attempts to rebuild the desktop of the CD.

Beyond that, you will need to observe the usual Rules of SCSI, amended for the Compacts: Have the external drive supply termination power; make sure that a terminator is present; make sure that each device on the bus has a unique ID; sacrifice a chicken.

#11 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 - 03:33

A few of notes:

- CD Sunrise will only support HFS CDs. So ensure that you are creating HFS CDs if you are using a CD drive to transfer files onto the SE.

- Apple's CD driver will support ISO CDs, but it only supports Apple branded drives IIRC. It is the drive that matters, not the enclosure.

- Apple CD-ROM drives will be no more and no less reliable than third party drives. If you do run into an issue, it will be because of a SCSI ID issue or termination issue.

- Try using the serial ports to transfer small files. Not only is it bi-directional, but you won't fill landfills with as much crap.

#12 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 - 05:18

Another good option, although not free, is FWB CD-ROM Toolkit. Versions earlier than 2.0 will work on both System 6 and 68000 processors. I currently have an Apple CD 300e attached to a Classic with this as my driver, although I use it for audio CDs. I've used 300e drives on machines as early as the Plus without any problems.

As for booting up with CDs, most machines made before 1990 cannot do this. There should be a list somewhere online of the Macs that can or cannot boot from a CD. If not, I believe the list is in Charles Rubin's "What do I do Now?" book, which was part of the Macintosh Bible series.

#13 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 - 12:43

Another good option, although not free, is FWB CD-ROM Toolkit.

That might work because I have an Apple CD 300i Plus that I'm trying to use.

Try using the serial ports to transfer small files. Not only is it bi-directional, but you won't fill landfills with as much crap.

What do you mean by that???

#14 Sat, 2 Jan 2010 - 02:11

I install the CD Sunrise driver today with System 6.0.8 and when I stuck a CD in the drive I get a error of some sort (I can't remember right now). What else could I try?

Thanks,

agg23

#15 Sat, 2 Jan 2010 - 15:13

I get an address error. Can anyone help???

#16 Mon, 4 Jan 2010 - 08:25

What kind of CD did you try? Are you sure it's undamaged? Is it a burned CD, or a factory-pressed one? If the former, expect trouble in older drives.

Is it an HFS disc? HFS+? ISO? The more information you can provide, the more likely someone can offer specific advice.