🚀 go-pugleaf

pedro <pedro@nowhere.com> writes:
> 
> Hi David. I tried the earliest version I could find of Disk Aid, but
> it wouldn't run. But now things have gone from bad to worse. I cliked
> on a program, and the hard drive stated making lots of weird noises,
> and wouldn't stop, and with the wristwatch constantly on the
> screen. So I re-booted, but the HD wouldn't boot. So I think it's
> faulty somehow, so I may have lost all my progs. But everything was
> fine till this happened. :(

Ugh.  This means one of two things.

If you're lucky, the drive needs a low-level format (yes, I know, it's
not really "low-level", but it still does more than erase the file
system.)  I think the Apple Disk Utility (should be on one of your 6.0.8
floppies) can do this if you have an Apple-brand hard drive.

If you have a third-party drive, you'll need a third-party utility.  I
have old versions of LaCie's SilverLining, APS PowerTools (which is
CharisMac's Anubis), and FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit.  All can do this.
The problem is that I don't think the current version of any of these
will run on your Plus, so you may have to go searching for an old
version from somewhere.

If a low-level format doesn't work, then you're looking at a new
drive.  You should be able to put any narrow (that is 50-pin) SCSI
drive inside the case your current drive is in.  Unfortunately, SCSI
drives are expensive.  Fortunately, you really don't need a very big
one.  You may be able to find a 1G or 2G drive for really cheap.

If you replace the drive, remember that the HFS file system doesn't
support partitions larger than 2G, and its very inefficient when the
partitions get bigger than 1G.  Don't waste your money on something
really large or you'll find your desktop covered in nothing but drive
icons.

>  Also.. I discovered that the new set of floppies that I made for the
>  sys 6.0.8 install would not boot the Mac either, whereas they did at
>  first. But *surely* I couldn't have had another lot of bad disks?? So
>  I got to thinking that maybe the install prog marks the disks after
>  it installs the system so they can't be used again. So to test this
>  theory, I remade them using the same floppies, and sure enough they
>  worked. Which means then that the disks I used originally weren't
>  'bad' at all.

Try cleaning the heads of your floppy drives.  You should be able to
get a cleaning kit at your local Radio Shack, and possibly at other
computer stores.

Mac floppy drives are pretty reliable, but dust and dirt does tend to
build up on the heads after several years of operation.

-- David