Revive a Mac SE without HD and without HD :-)

But I don't know how to get my HD floppy formatted as 800k so I could write the image to it.

1.4MB and 800KB floppies are physically different, and the disk will fail if you attempt to use one as the other. Furthermore, an USB floppy drive can't use the 800KB format; you need a Mac with a built-in floppy drive other than the SE.

(41896)

So any beige Mac should do the trick with formatting and writing the 800k images, is this correct?

Yes.

On the other hand, is it possible to just put a cheap PC floppy drive in the SE or are they totally incompatible connection- or otherwise?

Unfortunately, not possible.

If not, is there even a way to get System 7.x on the SE since it seems to be only available on 1.4 MB disks?

The British 7.0 here is one example of an 800K version.

Jan

If I remember correctly you can fake out an HD floppy drive into thinking the disk is 800k by taping over the hole that is punched on the opposite corner to the anti erase tab. It also seems to me but I could be wrong but you need to leave the tape on the floppy when you toss it back into the SE as the 800k drives had a sensing pin in that spot even though they cannot read an HD floppy.

PC drives will not work in your SE, the cables for the HD Apple drive are the same as your 800k though and even though the SE/HD model had a different designation I have a funny feeling you might be able to install an HD floppy out of any old mac from the SE/HD up to the Beige G3's though I would stick with the blue labeled Sony drive.

Hi Björn,

Is it true that I can use any 2D (2 sided double density) disk and just reformat if neccessary? I might have some 720k DOS disks lying around, but I believe there's physically no difference between these and 800k Mac disks or even 880k Amiga disks. It's just different number of tracks which can be changed by formatting, right?

Yes, you can use any 2DD (DSDD) diskette. A Mac floppy drive for 800K has a special design with a variable speed, and can format more than a (720K) PC drive.

The Mac models with a built-in 1.44 MB floppy drive can handle 800K Mac floppies, too (as well as 1.44 MB and 720K PC disks; with the PC Exchange control panel installed and active, or with a separate Apple File Exchange application for certain older operating systems).

Jan

Hi,

If I remember correctly you can fake out an HD floppy drive into thinking the disk is 800k by taping over the hole that is punched on the opposite corner to the anti erase tab.

Yes, that trick can be useful as a very temporary solution in some cases. However, the magnetic materials in HD and 2DD/DSDD diskettes are not the same, so expect errors.

It also seems to me but I could be wrong but you need to leave the tape on the floppy when you toss it back into the SE as the 800k drives had a sensing pin in that spot even though they cannot read an HD floppy.

Albeit not necessary from a sensing point of view, it must be considered good practice to leave the tape on said floppy when used in an 800K Macintosh SE. You should in fact be able to format a plain HD diskette (without the tape) two-sided to 800K in an 800K SE drive, but the floppy would then not be recognised as 800K if moved to a Macintosh computer with a built-in 1.44 MB drive. If the tape is used from the beginning, and kept, the newer drive will see the modified floppy as 800K.

Jan

Addendum

PC drives will not work in your SE, the cables for the HD Apple drive are the same as your 800k though and even though the SE/HD model had a different designation I have a funny feeling you might be able to install an HD floppy out of any old mac from the SE/HD up to the Beige G3's though I would stick with the blue labeled Sony drive.

A special ROM kit was needed for an FDHD (SuperDrive) upgrade. See KB article TA46432.

Jan

Hello, Björn.
I've gone through this same process reviving my SE. Speaking from experience, here's my advice to you:

Get a SCSI Zip drive. This provides a lot of storage space (100 megabytes never seemed so big!) and can provide a bridge to your modern computers if you have a USB Zip drive.
Zip drives and disks can be found cheaply enough on Amazon or eBay.
Note that you'll need version 4.2 of the Iomega driver in your System folder. This can be found easily online.

Unless you've installed additional memory, the SE will only be able to run System 6.0.8 or earlier.
Even if you have installed additional memory, use System 6 instead; it's smaller and will run faster on the SE.

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to create your installer diskettes:
You will need access to a System 7 Mac that can write to 800K floppies. (If you're interested, this type of Mac can be found online.)
If you get the Zip drives, you'll only need access to the System 7 Mac this one time, as you won't need it for future file transfers to your SE.

You'll also need five 800K floppy disks.

Step 1: Connect your USB Floppy drive to the computer with the downloaded System 6 images. Copy the image files onto the HD disks. Download the Iomega driver (Version 4.2) and copy it to an HD disk as well.
Step 2: Using the System 7 Mac, copy the image files and the Iomega driver to the hard drive.
Step 3: Double-Click the .sea files. They are Self Extracting Archives, meaning they will decompress themselves without any additional software. Select a location for the decompressed files to go.
Step 4: Open Disk Copy. If you don't have that, you can download it [here|http://download.info.apple.com/Apple Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_American/Macintosh/Utilities/D isk_Copy/Disk_Copy4.2.sea.bin] and send it to the System 7 Mac on a HD floppy.
Step 5: In Disk Copy, press the button that says "Load Image File…". Navigate to your first image file and choose it as the image file to load.
Step 6: Press the button that says "Make a Copy". When asked, insert an 800K floppy disk. Wait until it is done copying.
The disks won't copy if they are locked. To unlock a floppy, slide the Lock/Unlock tab so that it covers the hole in the corner of the floppy disk.
Step 7: +LABEL THE DISK!+ It saves a lot of time when you're asked to insert a specific disk.

(Repeat Steps 5 through 7 for each of the four image files.)

You should now have four labeled 800K floppy disks. They are your installation diskettes.
Step 8: Insert the disk labeled "Disk 1: System Tools" into your SE's floppy drive. Turn on the SE. After it boots, double-click the disk's icon to open it, then double-click the installer to begin installation.

Step 9: A full install of System 6 might not fit on an 800K floppy, and even if it does, there won't be room for the Iomega driver. After you press OK at the initial welcome screen, you should then press "Customize".
Step 10: Select "Minimal Software for the Macintosh SE" (You'll need to scroll down to find it.)
Step 11: Press "Eject Disk". This will eject the installer diskette. Yes, your computer is now running with no disks attached, but don't worry: it's perfectly normal for computers of that era.
Step 12: Insert the blank floppy disk, and press "Install".
Installation will begin. You'll be asked to "Please insert the disk…" about a dozen times over the course of the installation. Give it whatever disk it wants.
Step 13: After installation is finished, quit the installer, shut down your SE, label the disk, and store your installer diskettes in a safe place.
Step 14: Now take the disk onto which you just installed System 6 and return to the System 7 computer. Insert the disk and copy the Iomega driver to the System folder on that disk.
Step 15: Return to the SE with that disk, a SCSI cable, and a SCSI Zip drive. Connect the SCSI Zip drive to the SE with the cable and either enable auto-termination on the Zip drive or attach the SCSI terminator.
Step 16: Start up the SE by inserting the startup floppy and turning on the computer. It will load to the desktop. Insert a Zip disk into the Zip drive. You now have 100 Mb of storage!