Mac SE Hard Drive

[clearfire62]

Does anyone know much about the old Mac SE? I am trying to connect a newish HDD from my Performa 6110CD (which is a Quantum ProDrive 250MB) but the computer doesn't really turn on with it connected. It makes a buzzing sound from the speaker and it sits on a black screen. Is there a compatibility issue with the hard drive and computer or is there a size limitation on the motherboard of the SE. I am trying to put a hard drive into the SE because the original has bad sectors.

Any help would be appreciated.

[dmr727]

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. The SE boots fine when the drive isn't installed?

[GimmeSlack12]

What OS version you running? System 7 can handle up to 2gb, System 6 only 40MB I think.

[MacTech68]

MacSE series machines had the hard drive mounted upside down (the HD's logic board faces upwards).

If you have the replacement HD mounted logic board down, the SCSI cable from the MacSE's logic board needs to be twisted to be upside down.

The SCSI cable is normally keyed, but there are some that aren't, facilitating the cable to be plugged in reversed.

Also, try only connecting the HD's power cable. If the MacSE powers up successfully (blinking icon on screen) then the drive possibly has an I/O (input/output) problem or the cable is reversed (as above).

If the mac still refuses to startup with only drive power connected, test the drive in another machine to see if it spins up when power is supplied. If it does spin up, your SE's power supply may not be able to handle the extra load. That would be unusual and more indicative of a fault in the power supply's feedback and/or PWM circuits or capacitors on the power supply's output failing and placing excessive load on the ouput.

The last remaining possibility might be the driver that is on the hard disk. If you're getting a sad mac icon on the screen, that would be the case.

Good luck!

[clearfire62]

Thanks for the replys guys. To connect the hard drive, I tried using the SCSI cable from the Performa and the original cable from the SE. I have not officially added the hard drive since it doesn't boot up so it is not mounted in any specific way. I tested the drive yesterday on the Performa to ensure that it works and it does. It's not an OS thing because I can't even get a screen up so it hasn't attempted to boot with it connected.

[GimmeSlack12]

Originally Posted by clearfire62

Thanks for the replys guys. To connect the hard drive, I tried using the SCSI cable from the Performa and the original cable from the SE. I have not officially added the hard drive since it doesn't boot up so it is not mounted in any specific way. I tested the drive yesterday on the Performa to ensure that it works and it does. It's not an OS thing because I can't even get a screen up so it hasn't attempted to boot with it connected.

Busted SE? What about with no drive (boot from floppy), or the original SE HDD? Where did you get the SE from?

Sounds like it might just be a dud. Not to take away from your vintage exploration, but you'll find the SE a little lackluster even compared to your old Performa.

[clearfire62]

Originally Posted by GimmeSlack12

Busted SE? What about with no drive (boot from floppy), or the original SE HDD? Where did you get the SE from?

Sounds like it might just be a dud. Not to take away from your vintage exploration, but you'll find the SE a little lackluster even compared to your old Performa.

I'm not sure if it's a dud exactly, it boots with the original connected(booted off of floppy) without a problem. Of course, it tells me there is something wrong with the drive... After doing a little research, I found that the SE is SCSI-1 and the Performa is Fast SCSI. Do you think that these two are just not compatible? If so, why would they use the same connection (50 Pin) for both versions.

[GimmeSlack12]

Originally Posted by clearfire62

I'm not sure if it's a dud exactly, it boots with the original connected(booted off of floppy) without a problem. Of course, it tells me there is something wrong with the drive... After doing a little research, I found that the SE is SCSI-1 and the Performa is Fast SCSI. Do you think that these two are just not compatible? If so, why would they use the same connection (50 Pin) for both versions.

I can only assume the SCSI-1 and Fast SCSI are incompatible. Unfortunately the SE was my very first Mac which was well before my hardware tinkering days began so I'll only have as much insight as Google does. So best of luck but I haven't a clue what to do.