Q: Performa 200 (Classic II) and upgrading to 7.5.3
Hey all,
I have not used many Macs in my life, but am very familiar with computers. I'm trying to wrap my brain around how to upgrade my newly acquired Performa 200 from 7.0.1 to 7.5.3 and have some questions. I'll give you all a little insight into the situation.
The Performa 200 boots up fine into System 7.0.1, and there is actually Microsoft Office installed on it, which I'd like to keep. I know about the download site to get both 7.5.3 and the upgrade to 7.5 from there. I have the 19 install disks downloaded from the Apple support site, on my pc, and my wife's Macbook Pro. I am assuming I will have to get these onto 800k floppies, or somehow get them onto an external scsi device, or on the Performa 200 hard drive from Appletalk to another Power PC I have..
#1: If I have the 19 install files on my Performa 200 hard drive, will I be able to update to 7.5.3 while booting from the same hard drive that has 7.0.1 on it?
#2: If I upgrade to 7.5.3 from 7.0.1, does it completely wipe the hard drive, or keep the software loaded and just update the OS? (this may be associated with Question #1)
#3: I don't have any floppy disks (and not sure if newer 1.44MB PC-formatted disks will work in my Performa 200) to be able to create install floppies. I thought getting it to the hard drive from Appletalk would be the easiest way. What do you guys think?
Thanks!
-Pat
Performa 200, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier
Posted on May 7, 2013 1:09 PM
Hello Pat,
1. Since the System 7.5.3 installer will be found in a mounted disk image (the nineteen files are segments of one large image), it is in principle possible to carry out the installation when the computer has been started from the hard drive. However, even though System 7.0.1 according to Apple should be sufficient for the mounting of the disk image, there have been cases where this has not worked. So, I recommend that you use a separate startup floppy like the Network Access Disk 7.5 here:
2. You would have to start from a floppy in order to erase the hard disk (this can be the System 7.0.1 Disk Tools):
Once the hard disk has been erased, one can drag-copy the system folder from the startup floppy to the hard disk. This will provide the Performa with a temporary system in order to free the floppy drive for subsequent transfers.
3. 1.44 MB Mac-formatted floppies are OK for the Performa. However, if you wish to read PC-formatted floppy disks, the Apple File Exchange program (to be found on the System 7.0.1 Tidbits system disk) will be required. Remember, you do not really create install floppies, you just transfer the System 7.5.3 files on floppy disks to the hard disk of the Performa. 1.44 MB diskettes would be need for this. If you download the nineteen files on a PC, you could carry out the transfers on Mac-(re)formatted floppies if you have access to a PC program for the handlings of Mac disks (such as TransMac).
With access to another older Mac with serial ports, you could also (as you indicated) use LocalTalk (or just a plain MiniDIN-8M to MiniDIN-8M Mac printer cable between the printer ports) for the transfer. The aforementioned Network Access would be useful for this. Create the Network Access disk on the other Mac using Disk Copy 4.2 (the Make A Copy button) or Disk Copy 6.3.3 (the Make a Floppy command under the Utilities menu).
Normally, keep the nineteen files as they are (.bin = MacBinary) until on the Performa. Once there, use StuffIt Expander for Macintosh to decode the files. Place all decoded files (one .smi and eighteen .part) in a common folder. Double-click on the first file (the..smi) to mount the image.
If you do not have StuffIt Expander in a suitable version (4.x), it is possible to get one via a PC. See the following post for details:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21898244#21898244
Having said all this, please note that System 7.5.3 is going to be slower than System 7.0.1. Also, do check whether the hard drive has space enough for System 7.5.3 (a 40 MB drive is too small; you should have at least 80 MB). Furthermore, you should have more than 4 MB of RAM.
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP213
Jan
Posted on May 7, 2013 3:36 PM