Why am I getting “This disk (CD I inserted) can’t be read by this computer (Performa 6360/160) Do you want to initialize?

Macintosh Performa 6360:Technical Specifications

http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/desktops/0309068APRF636 0TI.PDF

http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/desktops/0300026APRF636 0UM.PDF

Are you using a US version Mac OS 7.6.1 Update?

http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English -North_American/Macintosh/System/Mac_OS_7.6.1_Update/Mac_OS_7.6.1_Update_Info.tx t

A Performa 6360 should be capable of reading a CD in an ISO 9660 format. To begin with, check whether something like Foreign File Access and ISO 9660 File Access together with an Apple CD-ROM extension are present in the System folder. Furthermore, check that any files that you have downloaded and wish to transfer are protected by a MacBinary (.bin) or BinHex (.hqx) encoding. Burn a CD-R (not a CD-RW) with the files at a low speed. Is it now possible to access the CD contents? If so, use StuffIt Expander on the Performa 6360 for the decoding.

Providing that the files to be transferred are kept encoded (.bin or .hqx), you could also use a Windows PC for the downloading and CD-burning.

If necessary, there are other ways, including serial modem or null modem transfers, and possibly the use of floppies. This may or may not require extra equipment, depending on what you have to work with now.

Note most optical drives were 2x or 4x at best during that time frame. If you burnt faster, it may not read. If you burnt to a DVD or CD-RW it may not read either.

I would also only depend on media that is originally packaged in a jewelcase. Spindle media is easily damaged.

Using any kind of pen on the label side surface can make discs unreadable.

Jeff mentioned that a computer running Mac OS 7.6 cannot read Mac OS Extended (HFS+), only Mac OS Standard (HFS). The Disk Utility Help for Yosemite (https://help.apple.com/diskutility/mac/10.10/index.html) shows various ways of creating disk images and how to burn these to discs, but nothing about Mac OS Standard (HFS). Mac OS Standard (HFS) appears to have been an option only for Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and earlier (in which case the article http://main.system7today.com/articles/tutorials/osxos7cdburning.html could have been of interest). As Jeff also indicated, with Yosemite you will probably need a third-party program for Mac OS Standard (HFS).

In order to avoid any misunderstanding, would the following be correct?

1. The Performa's CD-ROM drive reads (some or all?) factory-made CDs without a problem, but it does not allow the computer to start up from those that should be bootable?

2. The Performa's CD-ROM drive does not read a CD-R (created with a Yosemite Mac).

3. The Performa's floppy drive reads (and possibly writes) floppies, but it does not allow the computer to start up from a floppy that should be bootable (such as an appropriate Disk Tools 7.6 disk).

Any change if you disconnect the internal hard drive completely (or perhaps just disconnect the hard drive power cable) and then again try to start up from a CD (that normally should boot this computer)?

Also, do you have access to any other (pre-1998) Macintosh computer (desktop or PowerBook), apart from the Classic II mentioned in another discussion? An external SCSI hard drive (including Zip drives) or CD-ROM drive?

>shows an ISO 9660 File Access and an Apple CD-ROM extension are present.

... and Foreign File Access?

>How do I burn a CD in ISO 9660 format on my Mac Pro running 10.10.5? Step by step please.

Sorry, I am not using that operating system version, so cannot say which exact format is normally produced (or possible alternatives).

With a PC, ISO 9660 is a standard format. I have used various Linux machines to burn a data CD-R (not CD-RW), which then could be read in an old external Apple CD-ROM drive (for example, used with a PowerBook 540 under System 7.5.3) without a problem (CD only used for plain transfers of downloaded MacBinary-encoded files). Truncated names for the MacBinary files may appear, but that is usually not a problem, since these .bin files will be decoded/decompressed on the old Macintosh (the contained files have their original names).

However, to burn a CD that is supposed to be bootable in an old Macintosh computer is another matter, and entirely different methods (and special Mac programs) will have to be used.

>The Performa runs 7.6.1

Was this an update carried out earlier, or do you mean 7.6 (US or perhaps another version)?

>but does not start up on anything (system CD or floppy) holding the C key.

Holding the C key should normally work with a (bootable) system CD, but you could always try the four keys Command(Apple) + Option(Alt) + Shift + Delete(Backspace) instead.

An appropriate startup floppy in the floppy drive should boot the computer without the need for pressing any key(s). Since the Performa 6360 needs System 7.5.3 (plus a special system enabler) or higher, this means that a generic Disk Tools disk must be at least Mac OS 7.6.

I assume that the CD-ROM drive as such is OK (the lens is clean, and that is is capable of recognising/reading random factory-made CDs), and that the floppy drive can read floppies properly.

>I have a Performa Software CD vers.7.5.3

I guess that this is the original CD for this very machine, not for another Performa model.

Any change i you reset the PRAM? Even a bad logic board battery can sometimes, with some models, cause strange issues, including startup and video problems...

Unless changed out at some time, the Performa 6360 has a Matsushita SCSI 8x CD-ROM drive. When burning CDs, the choice of file system selected for the burned disk was/is critical. A Mac running OS 7.6 can't read data disks formatted with the newer Mac OS Extended (HFS+) file system (support for that began with OS 8.1). The disk needs to be formatted as a Mac OS Standard (HFS) volume and Yosemite's Disk Burn will likely not enable you to do so. I always used Roxio's Toast for disk burning in Macs, because it provided control over far more variables needed to custom tailor the project disk for a Mac (including bootable disks), a PC, or both platforms. Also, I remember problems when attempting to get those primitive drives to read burned CDs, that the slightly newer ATAPI optical drives in the beige G3s could read. My experience was that blank CD-Rs having an aqua/blue surface color (like Verbatim did at the time) fared much better than those having a silvery, mirror-like appearance, as most of the other blank media had.