How can I get a Performa 6300 to read newer data CDs?

Actually, external SCSI Zip drives show up at eBay, as well as at thrift stores taking donated computers and peripherals. As for the CDs that you burned, are they in the Mac OS Standard (HFS) or Mac OS Extended (HFS+) format? Mac OS 8.0 and all versions preceding it don't support HFS+ volumes. Did you use CD-R disks and not CD-RW disks? The latter aren't compatible with older CD-ROM drives. The 6300 has an 8x CD-ROM drive, and when this problem has been posted in previous years, some have suggested selecting a slower burning speed. In some cases, the color of the CD-R disk's reflective surface has been singled out for causing compatibility problems. Some CD-Rs have an aqua color, while others have a mirror-like appearance. Changing from one type/brand to the other can make a difference. Once these minor issues are cleared up, the 6300 should be capable of reading burned CD-Rs.

It may just be that the Zip Drive's power adapter block is dead. This happened with a Iomega Zip Plus drive of mine and replacing the power adaptor made it work again. Best of all the power adapter block is one thing Iomega's Tech Support will replace free of charge no matter how old the Zip Drive is. I assume the Zip Drive is SCSI and if such and it may be handy to have it working for transferring files between older Macs (with six older Macs I need to do it often). If you need drivers I also know where you can download drivers for the Zip Drive too. One last thing you should know is to always let the Zip Drive be the last external device at the end of a external SCSI chain as it auto-terminates itself eliminating the need for a SCSI termination resistor pack. Also make sure that the Zip Drive is set to the correct SCSI ID. An easy way to check this is to download the Mac utility SCSI Probe (a search in Google should find a link for it).

I think one must often make offerings to the CD burner gods to get the right burned CD!! CD burning potentially has so many variables, any one of which can mess up a burn one time and NOT the next, when even nothing has changed. I use Toast v. 3.5.7 on a Yamaha4416SX and rarely have problems, although I recently burned a CD on one Mac which won't play on it but WILL play on my other Mac -- go figure.

Roxio (Adaptec) used to have, may still have, a downloadable manual on their website which described all the different settings which one could make to burn the various different kinds of CDs. You might see if you can locate a copy, as the steps were laid out clearly. My gut reaction is that you should be able to burn a CD on your Mac which will work on your cool grand-uncle's Mac! Use and HFS format; burn at a slow speed; choose a basic Mac-only format. I also have Performa 6320 and have no trouble playing my burned CDs on it.

Unfortunately, burning CDs/DVDs in the Finder under OS 10 doesn't provide the HFS (Mac OS Standard) format option. Third-party programs (like Roxio's Toast 6) do include more user-adjustable settings, but the software isn't inexpensive.

IF you can use a PC with Nero you can burn a CD with Nero,ISO 9660,slow, you can burn a CD that runs on old MACs.I used MP3 files for this-works. The old MAC also can read DATA CD's made like that(downloaded sit.files,softwate downloads,expand with Stuffit). You would need to compress the files,send it to PC via Ethernet/Internet,and burn.
Don't ly to your grandpa!

If it is the original CDrom then it will likely NOT read a burned CD as many old cd drives cannot read anything but a commercial cd. A newer cd drive would solve this

Just to confirm:
My Apple CD 150(1x) connected with PB 190 Os 7.6 can read DATA CD made on PC,ISO 9660, also 7200 CD(4x) does. I copied the files to the HD to run them, because speed is to slow with transfer. My 7600/132(8x) can even run VCD from CD(movies)made on PC!

My old performa 550 will read no burnt cd's But the drives in my PCI powermacs will. The 6300 is a NuBus mac and I am just not sure when the cd drives in those old macs became burn aware

On a totally unrelated point here I know.

Looking at all your Registration Dates, many of the posters here have been around a long-ish time.

Have you all noticed that the number of posts you have made have been deleted for some reason? I reckon I had a least 300 at one point. Suddenly I have only 20 or 30 posts.

Weird huh?

D-NO

D-NO,

Did you get your answer in the "Discussions Feedback forum?

When the new software went "live" in November, the total posts were displayed, along with levels. I have over 4000 and am an L4. They had to turn off that feature as part of troubleshooting other issues. We expect it to show up eventually. It certainly managed to rid the forums of "class-consciousness" though!

A