SpacetimeOrgan
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Q: Using an Apple CD 300e+ with a Macintosh Plus

I have a macintosh Plus with a system 6.0.3 floppy, an external 800k drive and a CD 300e+ drive. I want to use the drive to transfer files to floppies from my PowerMac G5, but I understand I need system 7.x.x and a CD driver to run the CD drive; and so I have two questions:

 

     - Can I burn a bootable system 7 CD with my PowerMac G5 to run on the Macintosh plus? I assume this isn't possible but maybe if the CD has the correct

       driver?

 

     - Secondly, Can I create an 800k bootable system 7 disk, with a CD driver on my PowerMac G5 and put it on an 800k floppy        (http://rescuemyclassicmac.com/), and boot the Macintosh Plus off that disk to use the CD drive?

 

My main goal is to use the CD drive to transfer files and as a sort of hard drive, not necessary to boot off it. Would that be possible?

Posted on Jun 4, 2013 4:20 PM

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SpacetimeOrgan

Q: Using an Apple CD 300e+ with a Macintosh Plus

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  • by Jan Hedlund,

    Jan Hedlund Jan Hedlund Jun 5, 2013 2:02 AM in response to SpacetimeOrgan
    Level 6 (9,901 points)
    Jun 5, 2013 2:02 AM in response to SpacetimeOrgan

    In order for the Macintosh Plus to recognise a CD at all, a CD-ROM driver would have to be present. You could per se create an 800K startup floppy from a disk image downloaded from Apple, and it should then be possible to modify this floppy disk to hold an appropriate driver. However, you cannot use a USB floppy drive (nor any PC floppy drive) to do this. That rules out a Power Macintosh G5 for the purpose. The special Macintosh 800K floppy disk format requires a variable-speed drive, which is found in Macintosh computers before 1998 only.

     

    So, look for a suitable intermediate Mac first. This could be something like a PowerBook 520/520c/540/540c (with a floppy drive for 800K/1.4 MB, LocalTalk, and Ethernet, allowing transfers from/to both older and newer machines).

     

    Jan