SE/30 floppy problem

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Level 1

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SE/30 floppy problem

I recently bought an SE/30 (for €10), it's working almost perfectly fine, exept for the floppy .
When it's fully switched on, and the system (7.1) is fully loaded, it can't read any floppies. It only reads them when it's booting the system, so when I want to change the floppy I have to completely reboot the SE/30. So my question is, "Is there some kind of program that looks for the inserted floppies?"

SE/30, iMacG3 (1999), iMacG3 (2001) , iMac (2008) , MacbookPro (2010) , iPhone 3GS (32GB), All different OS'es

Posted on Nov 30, 2010 10:21 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 30, 2010 3:09 PM in response to Momentus

Here's the spec sheet on your "new Mac". http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macclassic/stats/macse30.html

The Mac reads 1.44MB floppies. Are any of the floppies you are trying to use 800K floppies?

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 2

Jeff

Level 6

12,058 points

Nov 30, 2010 5:19 PM in response to Momentus

It should read/write Mac-formatted floppy disks without an additional program, because the computer's ROM is programmed to do so, as well as boot from a (bootable) floppy disk, if inserted immediately at startup. If you're trying to read PC-formatted floppy disks, you need an OS 7.1-compatible version of the "Macintosh-PC Exchange" control panel installed. The "Read Me" file for this utility can be found here. If your SE/30 has Apple's "SuperDrive" floppy disk drive, it's capable of reading/writing High Density disks (1.4 MB), Double-Sided Double Density disks (800K), and Single-Sided Double Density disks (400K). After its introduction in 1988, the "SuperDrive" floppy disk drive was included in all Macs, until it was phased out with the first iMacs and B&W G3s.

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Answer 3

Momentus Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2010 9:51 PM in response to Texas Mac Man

I only use 1.44MB High-Density floppies, and they're also brand new.

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Answer 4

Momentus Author

Level 1

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Nov 30, 2010 9:59 PM in response to Momentus

It reads them perfectly fine, I just find it stupid that I have to turn the power off and on to put another floppy in the computer. When just changing the floppy, it doesn't want to read them anymore.
They're formatted by the mac, and are all 1.44MB floppies.

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Answer 5

Jeff

Level 6

12,058 points

Nov 30, 2010 11:43 PM in response to Momentus

How do you eject the floppy disk? Do you drag its icon to the Trash or do you click/highlight the icon and choose the "Put Away" or "Eject" command?

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Answer 6

Momentus Author

Level 1

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Dec 1, 2010 2:56 AM in response to Jeff

I always use -E to eject the floppies and when shutting down I have to drag the floppydisk-icon to the trash, because otherwise it asks for the floppy and gets stuck.

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Answer 7

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,261 points

Dec 1, 2010 4:56 AM in response to Momentus

Hi,

Eject Disk (the Apple key + E) from the Special menu is used, for example, when one wishes to free the floppy drive for another diskette when the computer is running from a boot floppy. The command results in a "shadow icon" on the Desktop.

In order to eject floppies normally (when the SE/30 is operating from a system on the hard disk), use one of the two other methods mentioned by Jeff above; either drag the floppy icon to the Wastebasket (Trash), or select the icon and then choose Put Away (the Apple key + Y) from the File menu.

Jan

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Answer 8

Momentus Author

Level 1

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Dec 1, 2010 8:32 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

When I press -Y or drag the icon to the trash, it ejects normally, but when I put a different floppy in the drive it doesn't show a new icon on the desktop. When I go to Disk First Aid, it says : "--no disk inserted-- (Internal Floppy Drive)", then I reboot the system, reinsert the floppy, and then it does show an icon on the desktop.

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Answer 9

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,261 points

Dec 1, 2010 9:23 AM in response to Momentus

To begin with, one should perhaps not rule out a problem with the floppy drive itself (such as not reliably working switches or even dirty read/write heads). However, it is strange that correct operation seems to become restored after every restart. No difficulties with the operating system? I suppose that you have tried the usual things (Disk First Aid tests, rebuild Desktop, PRAM reset, check whether the internal 3.6 V battery retains date/time).

Jan

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Answer 10

Momentus Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 1, 2010 11:53 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Today I upgraded System 7.1 to MacOS 7.5.3, and now it's working perfectly fine. When I eject my floppy and put it back in, the icon reappears on my desktop. So the problem was with the system, and not with my hardware.
Anyways, thanks for all your help.

Momentus ;D

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