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Reading SCSI disks with OS-X macs
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John Byrns
Nov 28, 2012, 1:24:59 PM11/28/12
to
This is a two part question. I have several SCSI hard drives and many 100 MB
and 250 MB ZIP disks from my system 7 Quadra and Performa days that I would like
to browse through. I have at least one external SCSI hard drive enclosure to
power the SCSI hard drives, and 100 MB and 250 MB SCSI ZIP drives, plus a 100 MB
ZIP USB drive.
Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that can
connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
Question number two, given the needed hardware interface can OS-X read these old
disk formats, and if so which versions of OS-X will read them, did later
versions of OS-X drop support for these older disk formats? I know that using
my USB 100 MB ZIP drive "Tiger" at least will read the old MAC formatted 100 MB
ZIP disks written by system 7, but will later versions of OS-X read these ZIP
disks? I will eventually dig out the USB 100 MB ZIP drive and test with "Snow
Leopard" and "Mountain Lion" for a partial answer to question number two.
Obviously my focus is on the old SCSI hard drives and the 250 MB ZIP disks for
which I only have an SCSI reader.
--
Regards,
John Byrns
Surf my web pages at, http://fmamradios.com/
and 250 MB ZIP disks from my system 7 Quadra and Performa days that I would like
to browse through. I have at least one external SCSI hard drive enclosure to
power the SCSI hard drives, and 100 MB and 250 MB SCSI ZIP drives, plus a 100 MB
ZIP USB drive.
Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that can
connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
Question number two, given the needed hardware interface can OS-X read these old
disk formats, and if so which versions of OS-X will read them, did later
versions of OS-X drop support for these older disk formats? I know that using
my USB 100 MB ZIP drive "Tiger" at least will read the old MAC formatted 100 MB
ZIP disks written by system 7, but will later versions of OS-X read these ZIP
disks? I will eventually dig out the USB 100 MB ZIP drive and test with "Snow
Leopard" and "Mountain Lion" for a partial answer to question number two.
Obviously my focus is on the old SCSI hard drives and the 250 MB ZIP disks for
which I only have an SCSI reader.
--
Regards,
John Byrns
Surf my web pages at, http://fmamradios.com/
JF Mezei
Nov 28, 2012, 1:42:43 PM11/28/12
to
On 12-11-28 13:24, John Byrns wrote:
> Question number two, given the needed hardware interface can OS-X read these old
> disk formats, and if so which versions of OS-X will read them, did later
> versions of OS-X drop support for these older disk formats?
OS-X Snow Leopard is able to read HFS disks from Classic 8.6 era.
> Question number two, given the needed hardware interface can OS-X read these old
> disk formats, and if so which versions of OS-X will read them, did later
> versions of OS-X drop support for these older disk formats?
I still have a G3 that I can use to read SCSI drives as well as ZIP
disks (I believe the G3 has Tiger on it). I created disk images on the
G3 for disks that were on my old Power Computing Mac and those images
can be accessed without problem on my MacPro intel mac with snow leopard.
Message has been deleted
Message has been deleted
-hh
Nov 29, 2012, 8:53:07 AM11/29/12
to
On Nov 29, 5:56 am, Lewis <g.kr...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <byrnsj-A887C6.12245828112...@c-131-121-196-216.gonavy.usna.edu>
A long time ago, there was a Firewire-SCSI interface "cable" that
someone sold.
FWIW, another alternative would be to find a USB-based ZIP drive. I
know that I had had one of those laying around someplace. I got my
data off of these old, hard-to-support physical formats quite awhile
ago.
> You MIGHT be able to get SCSI on a MacPro, but it's been many years
> since I saw a OS X compatible SCSI card, and I am sure the drivers
> wouldn't work on any Intel machine.
>
> If you really want to read these, your best bet is to find an old G3 or
> G4 computer with SCSI built-in.
I had a G5 (PCIx) that I put a SCSI card into which worked for HDD's
(not so for the SCSI Scanner I had); don't recall at which OS update
that I had already pulled the SCSI drives off of it.
In any case, a strategy to get the data onto the MBP would be to hook
up ye olde desktop, and then have it networked (Ethernet) and file
sharing enabled.
> > Question number two, given the needed hardware interface can OS-X read these old
> > disk formats, and if so which versions of OS-X will read them,
>
> *MAYBE* 10.4. Probably 10.3. Certainly 10.2.
> should be HFS and that should be readable by any Mac. The issue is
> drivers for a SCSI card.
The other question is if the data format of the individual files is
still being supported by the new (current) application: merely
copying over the data files isn't adequate to assure that the
information can be accessed. For example, one of the things that I
keep around to illustrate this issue of "file format
mortality" (actually: how backwards-compatibility to legacy file
formats can get dropped) is an old Mac PowerPoint v2 file - -
Microsoft dropped support for that file format in PowerPoint98, so if
the file's *format* had not been modernized, one would have to go find
an even-older 68K series Mac running OS 7.5 (or thereabouts) to be
able to run PowerPoint v4 (the last version that was backwards
compatible to PP v2).
-hh
> In message <byrnsj-A887C6.12245828112...@c-131-121-196-216.gonavy.usna.edu>
> John Byrns <byr...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > This is a two part question. I have several SCSI hard drives and many 100 MB
> > and 250 MB ZIP disks from my system 7 Quadra and Performa days that I would like
> > to browse through. I have at least one external SCSI hard drive enclosure to
> > power the SCSI hard drives, and 100 MB and 250 MB SCSI ZIP drives, plus a 100 MB
> > ZIP USB drive.
> > Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that can
> > connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
>
> Nope.
>
> > This is a two part question. I have several SCSI hard drives and many 100 MB
> > and 250 MB ZIP disks from my system 7 Quadra and Performa days that I would like
> > to browse through. I have at least one external SCSI hard drive enclosure to
> > power the SCSI hard drives, and 100 MB and 250 MB SCSI ZIP drives, plus a 100 MB
> > ZIP USB drive.
> > Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that can
> > connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
>
A long time ago, there was a Firewire-SCSI interface "cable" that
someone sold.
FWIW, another alternative would be to find a USB-based ZIP drive. I
know that I had had one of those laying around someplace. I got my
data off of these old, hard-to-support physical formats quite awhile
ago.
> You MIGHT be able to get SCSI on a MacPro, but it's been many years
> since I saw a OS X compatible SCSI card, and I am sure the drivers
> wouldn't work on any Intel machine.
>
> If you really want to read these, your best bet is to find an old G3 or
> G4 computer with SCSI built-in.
I had a G5 (PCIx) that I put a SCSI card into which worked for HDD's
(not so for the SCSI Scanner I had); don't recall at which OS update
that I had already pulled the SCSI drives off of it.
In any case, a strategy to get the data onto the MBP would be to hook
up ye olde desktop, and then have it networked (Ethernet) and file
sharing enabled.
> > Question number two, given the needed hardware interface can OS-X read these old
> > disk formats, and if so which versions of OS-X will read them,
>
>
> > did later
> > versions of OS-X drop support for these older disk formats?
>
> The disk *format* is not the issue. (Well, probably not). The disks
> > did later
> > versions of OS-X drop support for these older disk formats?
>
> should be HFS and that should be readable by any Mac. The issue is
> drivers for a SCSI card.
The other question is if the data format of the individual files is
still being supported by the new (current) application: merely
copying over the data files isn't adequate to assure that the
information can be accessed. For example, one of the things that I
keep around to illustrate this issue of "file format
mortality" (actually: how backwards-compatibility to legacy file
formats can get dropped) is an old Mac PowerPoint v2 file - -
Microsoft dropped support for that file format in PowerPoint98, so if
the file's *format* had not been modernized, one would have to go find
an even-older 68K series Mac running OS 7.5 (or thereabouts) to be
able to run PowerPoint v4 (the last version that was backwards
compatible to PP v2).
-hh
bi...@mix.com
Nov 29, 2012, 5:07:29 PM11/29/12
to
Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> writes, quoting
John Byrns <byr...@sbcglobal.net>:
> > Question number two, given the needed hardware interface can OS-X read
> > these old disk formats, and if so which versions of OS-X will read them
>
10.4 depends on which SCSI card you have. For example, he Apple
version of the Adaptec card (2930 et al.) works, but the Adaptec
version does not.
In this case you could not load the Adpatec driver, and try using
Apple's driver. If that doesn't work, you'll need to patch it.
In -
/System/Library/Extensions/Adaptec78XXSCSI.kext/Contents/Info.plist
find this section -
<key>IOPCIMatch</key>
<string>0x00789004&0x00ffffff
0x78009004&0xff00ffff 0x00109005&0xfff0ffff</string>
then find out what the chip in your SCSI card is reporting, with
"ioreg -l", and patch the above key string to match.
I do realize this may be a bit beyond what some/most people will
feel comfortable doing, thus I've only given enough info so that
those who are can take the ball and run with it, and everyone
else won't have to slog through a step-by-step long article to
get to the rest of what I have to offer. Heh.
A bit of history -- Apple kept the Adaptec drivers in 10.4, and
loads them, even though they do not work. As well, Adaptec stopped
supporting their SCSI cards on OS X when 10.4 was released. That
is, there were many changes made in 10.4, and Adaptec chose not
to update their drivers.
There are some other vendors who don't have this problem, like
ATTO, Acard, etc... The problem with these now is finding them.
All this stuff is no longer made... Ebay is a good place to look.
Speaking of which, I also occasionally see SCSI->FW and SCSI->USB
adapters there. I bought a few of the Iomega ones, and they also
generally work, at least on 10.3 and 10.4 systems...
Billy Y..
--
sub #'9+1 ,r0 ; convert ascii byte
add #9.+1 ,r0 ; to an integer
bcc 20$ ; not a number
John Byrns <byr...@sbcglobal.net>:
> > Question number two, given the needed hardware interface can OS-X read
> > these old disk formats, and if so which versions of OS-X will read them
>
> *MAYBE* 10.4. Probably 10.3. Certainly 10.2.
10.3 works fine, I've had no problems at all with it.
10.4 depends on which SCSI card you have. For example, he Apple
version of the Adaptec card (2930 et al.) works, but the Adaptec
version does not.
In this case you could not load the Adpatec driver, and try using
Apple's driver. If that doesn't work, you'll need to patch it.
In -
/System/Library/Extensions/Adaptec78XXSCSI.kext/Contents/Info.plist
find this section -
<key>IOPCIMatch</key>
<string>0x00789004&0x00ffffff
0x78009004&0xff00ffff 0x00109005&0xfff0ffff</string>
then find out what the chip in your SCSI card is reporting, with
"ioreg -l", and patch the above key string to match.
I do realize this may be a bit beyond what some/most people will
feel comfortable doing, thus I've only given enough info so that
those who are can take the ball and run with it, and everyone
else won't have to slog through a step-by-step long article to
get to the rest of what I have to offer. Heh.
A bit of history -- Apple kept the Adaptec drivers in 10.4, and
loads them, even though they do not work. As well, Adaptec stopped
supporting their SCSI cards on OS X when 10.4 was released. That
is, there were many changes made in 10.4, and Adaptec chose not
to update their drivers.
There are some other vendors who don't have this problem, like
ATTO, Acard, etc... The problem with these now is finding them.
All this stuff is no longer made... Ebay is a good place to look.
Speaking of which, I also occasionally see SCSI->FW and SCSI->USB
adapters there. I bought a few of the Iomega ones, and they also
generally work, at least on 10.3 and 10.4 systems...
Billy Y..
--
sub #'9+1 ,r0 ; convert ascii byte
add #9.+1 ,r0 ; to an integer
bcc 20$ ; not a number
Fred McKenzie
Nov 29, 2012, 6:26:14 PM11/29/12
to
In article
<byrnsj-A887C6....@c-131-121-196-216.gonavy.usna.edu>,
I have a Microtech "FireSCSI Xpress" FireWire-to-SCSI adapter. I use it
with a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual film scanner, running VueScan on a Mac
Pro. It can get its power from either the SCSI or the FireWire bus, or
from an optional power supply. I see no reason it would not work with a
MacBook Pro and a SCSI HD.
Microtech's website is at <http://www.microtechint.com/index.html>.
However, it does not seem to be kept up. I found a 2007 comment from an
Apple discussion board, that the FireSCSI Xpress was discontinued. I
did not find any on E-Bay.
I did an E-Bay search for scsi usb adapter, and found several different
products for prices ranging from $20 to over $200.
Fred
<byrnsj-A887C6....@c-131-121-196-216.gonavy.usna.edu>,
John Byrns <byr...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that can
> connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
John-
> Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that can
> connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
I have a Microtech "FireSCSI Xpress" FireWire-to-SCSI adapter. I use it
with a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual film scanner, running VueScan on a Mac
Pro. It can get its power from either the SCSI or the FireWire bus, or
from an optional power supply. I see no reason it would not work with a
MacBook Pro and a SCSI HD.
Microtech's website is at <http://www.microtechint.com/index.html>.
However, it does not seem to be kept up. I found a 2007 comment from an
Apple discussion board, that the FireSCSI Xpress was discontinued. I
did not find any on E-Bay.
I did an E-Bay search for scsi usb adapter, and found several different
products for prices ranging from $20 to over $200.
Fred
Andreas Rutishauser
Nov 30, 2012, 1:34:07 AM11/30/12
to
In article <slrnkbefqe....@mbp55.local>,
Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <byrnsj-A887C6....@c-131-121-196-216.gonavy.usna.edu>
not any more... Because of limited or no interest, companies have
stopped production... Microtech has been mentioned in another post, here
Ratoc:
<http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/FR1SX.html>
Cheers
Andreas
--
MacAndreas Rutishauser, <http://www.MacAndreas.ch>
EDV-Dienstleistungen, Hard- und Software, Internet und Netzwerk
Beratung, Unterstuetzung und Schulung
<mailto:and...@MacAndreas.ch>, Fon: 044 / 721 36 47
Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <byrnsj-A887C6....@c-131-121-196-216.gonavy.usna.edu>
> John Byrns <byr...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> > This is a two part question. I have several SCSI hard drives and many 100
> > MB
> > and 250 MB ZIP disks from my system 7 Quadra and Performa days that I would
> > like
> > to browse through. I have at least one external SCSI hard drive enclosure
> > to
> > power the SCSI hard drives, and 100 MB and 250 MB SCSI ZIP drives, plus a
> > 100 MB
> > ZIP USB drive.
>
> > Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that
> > can
> > connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
>
> Nope.
> > This is a two part question. I have several SCSI hard drives and many 100
> > MB
> > and 250 MB ZIP disks from my system 7 Quadra and Performa days that I would
> > like
> > to browse through. I have at least one external SCSI hard drive enclosure
> > to
> > power the SCSI hard drives, and 100 MB and 250 MB SCSI ZIP drives, plus a
> > 100 MB
> > ZIP USB drive.
>
> > Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that
> > can
> > connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
>
not any more... Because of limited or no interest, companies have
stopped production... Microtech has been mentioned in another post, here
Ratoc:
<http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/FR1SX.html>
Cheers
Andreas
--
MacAndreas Rutishauser, <http://www.MacAndreas.ch>
EDV-Dienstleistungen, Hard- und Software, Internet und Netzwerk
Beratung, Unterstuetzung und Schulung
<mailto:and...@MacAndreas.ch>, Fon: 044 / 721 36 47
Hauke Fath
Nov 30, 2012, 9:13:51 AM11/30/12
to
Andreas Rutishauser <and...@macandreas.ch> wrote:
> not any more... Because of limited or no interest, companies have
> stopped production... Microtech has been mentioned in another post, here
> Ratoc:
> <http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/FR1SX.html>
I have a RATOC Firewire-SCSI-Bridge that I use with a Nikon CoolScan III
> not any more... Because of limited or no interest, companies have
> stopped production... Microtech has been mentioned in another post, here
> Ratoc:
> <http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/FR1SX.html>
and a HP ScanJet 4c every now and then. It works flawlessly on a '2012
MacBook Pro.
For the OP's harddrives, you might need to find adapters to 50 pin HD,
or a SUN SCSI disk case which sports those, on eb*y.
HTH,
hauke
--
Now without signature.
bi...@mix.com
Nov 30, 2012, 12:11:08 PM11/30/12
to
Andreas Rutishauser <and...@macandreas.ch> writes, quoting
John Byrns <byr...@sbcglobal.net>:
> > Question number one, is there a hardware interface device
> > available that can connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
>
being made...
John Byrns <byr...@sbcglobal.net>:
> > Question number one, is there a hardware interface device
> > available that can connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
>
> not any more... Because of limited or no interest, companies
> have stopped production...
The problem is the SCSI chips everyone was using are no longer
> have stopped production...
being made...
Geoffrey S. Mendelson
Dec 1, 2012, 11:14:05 AM12/1/12
to
John Byrns wrote:
> This is a two part question. I have several SCSI hard drives and many 100 MB
> and 250 MB ZIP disks from my system 7 Quadra and Performa days that I would like
> to browse through. I have at least one external SCSI hard drive enclosure to
> power the SCSI hard drives, and 100 MB and 250 MB SCSI ZIP drives, plus a 100 MB
> ZIP USB drive.
>
> Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that can
> connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
Yes. There was a USB to SCSI adaptor cable made, you can still buy them on
> This is a two part question. I have several SCSI hard drives and many 100 MB
> and 250 MB ZIP disks from my system 7 Quadra and Performa days that I would like
> to browse through. I have at least one external SCSI hard drive enclosure to
> power the SCSI hard drives, and 100 MB and 250 MB SCSI ZIP drives, plus a 100 MB
> ZIP USB drive.
>
> Question number one, is there a hardware interface device available that can
> connect SCSI drives to my MacBook Pro?
eBay.
Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM/KBUH7245/KBUW5379
"Owning a smartphone: Technology's equivalent to learning to play
chopsticks on the piano as a child and thinking you're a musician."
(sent to me by a friend)
Erik Richard Sørensen
Dec 4, 2012, 5:48:20 PM12/4/12
to
haven't used such one myself but know from others that it works just fine.
You can't use a ZIP 100 drive to read ZIP 250mb disks. Here you need a
ZIP 250, - it can read/write to/from both 100mb and 250mb disks and it
works at least up to 10.6.x... I have - and still use - ZIP 100mb and
250mb disks for special purposes on my MacPro with both 10.5.x, 10.6.x
and 10.7.x, but haven't tried it on the Lion yet.:-)
Regarding the SCSI harddisks you could also try to find a cheap B&W G3
and install OS X 10.2.x or 10.3.x. these machines have a built-in
Adaptec AVA-2906(A/I) SCSI card and it works just fine over a local
network. I used to use such a G3 for that purpose, but now have
exchanged the G3 to a MDD running 10.5.8 and an Adaptec AHA-2940U2B
UltraWide SCSI card. - So now I also can use my JAZ 1gb and 2gb units on
that machine. - I also infact have an USB floppy disk reader/writer -
though it isn't used that much anyhmore. But it still happens now and
then that some of my friends ask me to transfer their old floppies to
CDs.:-))
There are no problem for OS X to read (and write) to/from standard HFS
formatted medias.
Cheers, Erik Richard
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-m...@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com
OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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