Install System 7 on PowerBook 145b

The way I would do this, is to create a tools disk from an NAD 7.5 floppy and the HD SC Setup 7.3.5. One would modify the normal NAD 7.5 by removing a few files in order to make space (post back for instructions later), and then copy the HD SC Setup utility to the base level of the NAD 7.5 floppy. A similar tools floppy can be modified to hold Disk First Aid. Together with one plain NAD 7.5 disk, you have a few bootable floppies that can be used for emergency startup purposes.

Again, check whether there are files from the existing PB 145B installation that you want to save on empty Mac-(re)formatted 1.44 MB floppies. This could be, for example, a StuffIt Expander utility or a PC Exchange file, if applicable.

Then you could boot the PB 145B using the NAD 7.5 tools disk containing HD SC Setup, and initialise (erase/format) the SCSI hard drive. The hard disk will be empty after this, and have an appropriate disk driver. The free space should now be near 80 MB (or more). In case a third-party utility has been used earlier to reformat the hard disk, HD SC Setup may not be able to bypass the existing driver, and special measures may be needed.

Next, boot the PB 145B from a plain NAD 7.5 floppy. A temporary system can be installed on the PB 145B hard disk by drag-copying the System Folder from the NAD 7.5 to the hard disk. When you choose to restart, the PB 145B should start up from the temporary system on the hard disk.

Since you have decoded all 7.5.3 .bin files on the PB G4 Ti under Mac OS 9, the .smi and .part files are ready for transfer. Drag-copy these one by one onto an empty Mac-formatted 1.44 MB floppy and transfer them to the PB 145B hard disk.

Once all 7.5.3 files have been copied to a new folder on the PB 145B, choose to shut down (the Special menu). Now, boot from a plain NAD 7.5 floppy. Move the temporary System Folder on the hard disk to the Trash and Empty the Trash (the Special menu). The PB 145B is now running from the NAD 7.5 floppy in the floppy drive.

Finally, double-click the .smi in order to mount the "CD". Launch the System 7.5 Installer from the mounted image and install a system (probably the easy installation).

Not quite. Please look upon the 19 (.smi and .part) files as one unit. They belong together, and can only be used once all of them are placed on the PB 145B hard disk. But this is later. For now, the 19 files have nothing to do with booting or erasure. The hard disk will be erased via an NAD 7.5 floppy.

There are a few variants of the procedure, but I would suggest that you try to do it exactly as I describe.

Having bootable disks is very important if anything goes wrong. You must have a way to start up the PB 145B in such a case.

It may be possible to create the bootable NAD 7.5 disks already on the Mac OS 9 PD G4 Ti using a USB floppy drive. It depends a bit on the USB drive. Basically, you will need the Disk Copy 4.2 utility and the NAD 7.5 disk image (links earlier in this thread). You know the procedure. Decode the .bin and decompress the .sea (self-expanding archive). Begin by making one plain NAD 7.5 floppy (and an extra one as a backup). Use the Make A Copy button in the Disk Copy 4.2 utility in order to create a sector-copied disk from the NAD 7.5 .image file.

If not possible to successfully create the NAD 7.5 floppy on the Mac OS 9 PowerBook G4 Ti, you will have to make the floppy using Disk Copy 4.2 under the existing old system on the PB 145B. A built-in floppy drive is often more reliable for something like this.

Check that the NAD 7.5 floppies work (can be used to boot the PB 145B). Please post back when you have at least one working NAD 7.5 floppy.

Disk First Aid is used for checking/verifying and reparing the file system. Not used for erasing.

HD SC Setup is the utility you would use for initialising/reformatting/erasing.

To begin with, create one NAD 7.5 floppy (and one extra as backup) without any modifications. Check that the created floppies work as startup disks for the PB 145B.

Later, I can show how to modify an NAD 7.5 to hold Apple HD SC Setup or Disk First Aid. For space reasons, it may be necessary to use two separate NAD 7.5 floppies for this.

OK.

One more thing: I guess that you have StuffIt Expander on the PB G4 Ti only, not on the PB 145B. If so, decode the NAD 7.5 .bin file by dragging it onto the StuffIt Expander icon. The intermediate file is the .sea (self-expanding archive). Transfer this .sea file on a 1.44 MB Mac-(re)formatted floppy to the PB 145B. You may have to change the StuffIt Expander preferences.

Do not try to drag-copy the image file to a floppy for the transfer from the Mac OS 9 PB G4 Ti to the PB 145B. It will be too large.

When double-clicking on the .sea on the PB 145B, the archive will expand and show the image file, which then can be used to create a real NAD 7.5 floppy via the Make A Copy button in Disk Copy 4.2.

Please disregard this if you have an appropriate version of StuffIt Expander, such as 4.0.1, on the PB 145B. You could then just transfer the NAD 7.5 .bin file and carry out the decoding et cetera on the PB 145B.

Good. I assume that it worked fine booting the PB 145B.

Next, I would suggest that you try to modify one of the floppies to hold HD SC Setup.

You can do this on the PB 145B running from the old system.

Insert the Network Access floppy.

Check the available space on the floppy, should be 10K (too little for HD SC Setup).

Some not needed files must be removed in order to make room.

Open the System Folder.

In turn, open the Apple Menu Items, Control Panels and Extensions folders.

Move all files inside these three folder to the Trash (Papierkorb or something similar in German).

Select Empty Trash (entleeren or similar) from the Special (Spezial or similar) menu. Important!

This should have resulted in enough space for the HD SC Setup 7.3.5.

Eject the NAD 7.5 floppy (drag it to the Trash).

Decode the Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5 .bin file and move the HD SC Setup utility to the PB 145B hard disk.

Insert the modified NAD 7.5 floppy.

Copy the HD SC Setup utility (program only) to the base level of the NAD 7.5 floppy.

Check that you have at least something like 10-20K free on the floppy after this.

Eject the floppy.

Shut down from the Special menu.

Test that you can still boot from the modified floppy.

Shut down from the Special menu.

Post back for further steps.

OK.

Double.check that both floppies are bootable.

One of them should contain HD SC Setup.

Check that you have copied all important files from the PB 145B hard disk to diskettes, if necessary.

It is now time to erase the hard disk.

Boot the PB 145B from the NAD 7.5 floppy containing HD SC Setup.

Launch the HD SC Setup application.

Check whether the hard disk can be detected.

If so, choose to initialise the hard disk (this should erase everything).

If successful, quit HD SC Setup and shut down.

Post back for further steps.

Did you create both these floppies on the PB 145B?

When double-clicking a 4.2-style disk image like this, Disk Copy 4.2 will usually open automatically (and load the image). If you then choose to click the Make A Copy button, the result will be a sector-copied floppy that is an exact copy of the original.

Do you have yet another NAD 7.5 floppy (freshly created from the disk image) that has not been opened/changed at all? If so, could you try that one as well?

Any problems reading diskettes in the PB 145B floppy drive in connection with the transfers?

The Network Access Disk is top right, which means that it is the startup disk.

Was this NAD one exactly from the image, without any changes/modifications?

I see the wristwatch icon, which indicates that the computer is busy for some reason.

I do not see a hard disk icon. Could the computer possibly still be loading something from the hard disk?

Wait a bit longer until the hard disk icon appears (if at all).

Will the computer start up from the internal hard disk without a problem?

If so, check the hard disk size and the available empty space. You will need approx. 25 MB just for the 19 files in one folder. Maybe you could move various items on the hard disk to the Trash, and empty the Trash. Keep the System Folder intact for now.

Also, have a look at About This... under the Apple menu. How much total installed memory (RAM)?

The system once installed will require much more than 15 MB. You will have to throw away a substantial amount of files. What is the total on the hard disk at the moment? What is the size of the existing system folder?

Try to reduce the amount of files in order to make more room.

Have a look at the Help (page 3?) about creating a New System Folder. Something like this:

Choose Easy Install

Select the drive

Press the three keys Shift + Command(Apple) + K

Select New System Folder and click OK

Click on New System Folder

That may be a suitable way. However, please be aware of the possibility that something could go wrong during the process.

Also, for a new startup floppy test, you may want to try holding down the four keys Command(Apple) + Option(Alt) + Shift + Delete(Backspace) immediately after the startup sound and during startup. This may prevent a bad hard disk driver from affecting booting.

You could also try to reset the PRAM by pressing and holding the four keys Command(Apple) + Option(Alt) + P + R at startup. Hold down until the startup sound has been heard a second time.

If possible, try to launch HD SC Setup on the NAD 7.5 floppy after having started with the four keys depressed.

Again, check whether the utility can locate the hard drive.

If so, you may want to either update the hard disk driver or initialise the hard disk.

Since the SCSI hard drive apparently has a problem, you may need additional tools.

If you have one extra (unmodified) NAD 7.5 floppy, it may be a good idea to lock that diskette.

Can you use the Mac OS 9 PB G4 Ti and its external USB floppy disk drive to create more copies of NAD 7.5? Disk Copy 4.2 (the Make A Copy button) or Disk Copy 6.3.3 (the Make a Floppy command) can be used. In this case, also other utility disks for SCSI hard drives could be made.

An alfa version of Mt. Everything can be found at https://www.nic.funet.fi/index/mac/info-mac/_Disk_&_File/ (see the 00disk-abstracts.txt file). Also, an earlier version at https://websites.umich.edu/~archive/mac/system.extensions/cdev/ (see the 00index.txt file).

You could perhaps check whether enough space can be made available for the Mt. Everything control panel on a copy of the 7.0.1 tools disk (by removing the utilities there) or on a modified NAD 7.5 floppy.