Trying to read a hard drive from Performa 630

About SheepShaver, a PPC Mac emulator for Windows, MacOS X, and Linux that can run System 7.5.3 to MacOS 9.0.4.

Moderators: Cat_7, Ronald P. Regensburg, ClockWise

Post Reply
stam
Space Cadet
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:25 pm

Trying to read a hard drive from Performa 630

Post by stam »

Hey all,

I found my old Performa 630 (aka LC 630), but it's dead - i think a well known issue with these machines being unplugged for any length of time (let alone 20+ years).

I removed the hard drive (an IDE drive - i think was fairly new to this model) and bought a USB-IDE adapter but predictably i am unable to mount this under OSX. In Disk Utilities this shows up as a drive but won't mount.

I thought maybe installing SheepShaver would do the trick, and I've set it up with a functioning OS 9, but can't seem to find a way to mount the drive there either - and some posts i've seen suggest it isn't possible to get SheepShaver to connect to USB?

Is this correct? Any workarounds - or any other suggestion on how i can mount/read the drive?

many thanks
User avatar
24bit
Forum All-Star
Posts: 1424
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:47 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Trying to read a hard drive from Performa 630

Post by 24bit »

Maybe try to use the "Unix" folder to point to the device as seen by DiskUtility.
More promising will be to try to assign the device to a virtual machine running Leopard Server.
Leopard was the last OS with read/write ability for HFS formatted volumes, as you will know.
See here for some details: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mac-os-x-server-105

Such old IDE devices may of course be dead meanwhile.
Do you have access to a Windows PC or a Windows virtual machine?
The free CrystalDiskInfo tells about SMART values from drives connected - even over USB adapter.
stam
Space Cadet
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:25 pm

Re: Trying to read a hard drive from Performa 630

Post by stam »

Hey thanks for the detailed answer!

I know System 9 had 'USB Mass Storage' installed by default... I was hoping there may be some kind of bridge to allow SheepShaver to access drives over USB, but i'm guessing that's not possible?

Unix path may be difficult as it doesn't mount; Disk Utility shows me the disk number but not the volume, ie says 'disk2' instead of something like 'disk2r2'. Nevertheless i edited the .sheepshaver_prefs to include 'Disk /dev/disk2' but that didn't work.

I'll see about using a Win machine - i think i have a bootcamp partition on one of my macs, will install CrystalDiskInfo, but i think from what you're saying running a virtual machine with Leopard Server may be the way to go...

I'll report back how it goes in case someone else find this helpful!
User avatar
24bit
Forum All-Star
Posts: 1424
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:47 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Trying to read a hard drive from Performa 630

Post by 24bit »

While you are with Windows, you might also give Basilisk II Build 142 a whirl.
If you can manage to assign your Performa HDD a drive letter, BII might see the device.

Alas, I´d agree that Leo Server is the most promising way.
If you should have trouble setting up 10.5, there must be a working instance for VMWare Fusion at Mega.
stam
Space Cadet
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:25 pm

Re: Trying to read a hard drive from Performa 630

Post by stam »

24bit wrote: Alas, I´d agree that Leo Server is the most promising way.
SOLVED

Basically, a variation of the above... my other half had an old MacBook Pro tucked away in storage with Lion installed (not Leopard server). Loaded the drive seamlessly via the USB adapter and have copied the entire HD.
Just a pity this couldn’t be done with SheepShaver... would have been a lot more straightforward.

Thanks for your help!
Post Reply