For older posts, hit up the Archive or Category links in the right sidebar

 


RescueMyClassicMac.com

Do you need old system software disks to boot your vintage Mac?


MailFromCupertino.com

It's fun to look back at old Apple emails. Check them out.


This site is not affiliated with Apple, Inc.
All company logos and product names may be registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

© 2004-2022 Kevin Rye. All Rights Reserved.

For older posts, hit up the Archive or Category links in the right sidebar

 

AppleToTheCore.me

I'm a total Apple addict, as you might tell.

Macintosh Color Classic

Would you rather pay $50 for a mint condition Mac Color Classic, or get a damaged one for free? Me, I’d rather pay the cash for nice looking one. Too bad it didn’t turn out that way.

This bad boy was only $50 bucks and it was in perfect working order. Unfortunately, the god ‘ol boys down at the USPS don’t seem to read Italian. “Fragile” means “don’t freakin’ drop it!”

The box arrived with a little ding in the corner. It didn’t look so bad, and I though nothing of it.

Pasted Graphic 424

Opening the box revealed that it seemed to be packed well enough for the ride.

Pasted Graphic 425

However, much to my disappointment, a huge crack revealed itself once I pulled the packing material out. The horror!

Pasted Graphic 426

I found the little missing piece in the bottom of the box.

Pasted Graphic 427

I immediately contacted the seller and reported the bad news. Luckily, he took out insurance on it. He filed a claim with the Post Office. Not only did they refund the hefty $30 postage that I paid, but they also refunded the $50 purchase price! So I actually got it for free! But like I said, I would have been much happier paying the money and getting one that wasn’t broken.

Anyway, let’s have a look at this baby!

Yeah! It works! 80MB hard drive and 8MB RAM.

Pasted Graphic 428

I wasn’t happy that the drive in this thing is only 80MB. I was hoping that the previous owner upgraded it. So much for the freebie. I guess I should be grateful that they splurged for the 80MB instead of the stock 40MB. Being that this is now my most capable Classic Mac, the drive needs to be bigger. I think it’ll end up holding a lot more data than my SE, which is my workhorse machine right now.

I decided to pop it open and jam a larger drive in there. I have a 1.2 G drive in an old LCIII that’s dying to get out. (That LC doesn’t work half the time).

Pasted Graphic 429

Wow, that tube is huge! It looks like a tricky disassembly.

Pasted Graphic 430

Now of course, you can just reach in there, push down on a clip, and pull the hard drive out on the rails. But what fun is that?

Pasted Graphic 431

Let’s take this thing apart!

Remove the yolk.

Pasted Graphic 432

Pasted Graphic 433

Remove connectors:

Pasted Graphic 434

That white one is kind of tricky to get to.

Pasted Graphic 435

Pasted Graphic 436

Pasted Graphic 437

Another tricky one. Try not to bend it too much or cut yourself.

Pasted Graphic 438

Once all that stuff was disconnected, I was able to slide the logicboard out to reveal the hard drive underneath.

Pasted Graphic 439

And there she is. All 80 Megs of her.

Pasted Graphic 440

Remove the SCSI cable, push this tab, and pull the drive out.

Pasted Graphic 441

Pasted Graphic 442

Swap the rails.

Pasted Graphic 443

Slide the new drive in.

Pasted Graphic 444

Power it up. Funny. That drive had System 7.1 on it, which of course will just crash.

Pasted Graphic 445

Time for a clean install of System 7.5! I rebooted the machine with my AppleCD 300e connected.

Pasted Graphic 446

Works like a charm!

Pasted Graphic 447

The enclosure is pretty yellow. Not the worst I've seen, but in need of a retr0brite dip nonetheless. I still haven't decided if I'm going to bother restoring the color, or just sell it and get one that's not cracked.

In the meantime, it's working out great!