This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

About BasiliskII, a 68k Mac emulator for Windows, MacOSX, and Linux that can run System 7.x through MacOS 8.1.

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RanJay
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This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

Here is my setup:
MacBook Pro 16" running Catalina 10.15.5 and 16GB RAM.
External USB SuperDrive

Basilisk II
1GB hard drive space.

Graphics:
Video Type: Window
Window Refresh Rate: Dynamic
Width: 1280
Height: 800

System:
MacOS Ram Size: 64(MB).
Mac Model ID: Mac IIci (MacOS 7.x)
CPU Type: 68040
Rom File: Quadra-650

I am running MacOS 7.5.3
I am running QuickTime 2.5

My issue: I'm trying to install an old program from 3 CD-ROMs, but it is not recognizing the CD-ROM.
I insert the 1st of 3 CD-ROMs, and it doesn't show up in the finder.
I am unable to eject the disk from the Special menu. Eject Disk is greyed out, but Erase Disk is not.
I quit Basilisk and restart, then I get the message:
"This disk is unreadable by this Macintosh. Do you want to initialize the disk? Name: untitled. Format Macintosh 668.5 MB. Eject. Initialize."
Naturally, I eject the disk as it won't initialize it.

The program I'm trying to install prefers a Power Macintosh, System 7.5 or greater, 16 MB free RAM after loading system software, display capable of millions of colors at 640x480 resolution, quad-speed CD-ROM drive, 50 MB free space on hard disk.

The minimum requirements for the program are 68030 processor, 7.5 or greater, 12 MB free RAM after loading system software, display capable of 256 colors at 640x480 resolution, double-speed CD-ROM drive, 50 MB free space on hard disk.

It seems I meet all the requirements, but something is going on where it won't recognize the CD-ROM.
Anyone able to help?
Thanks
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rickyzhang
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by rickyzhang »

You could rip the CD-ROM to ISO. Add ISO files as disks.

BII can't emulate Power PC. It emulate 68030 Motorola processor a.k.a M68K.
There is an App for that!
https://github.com/rickyzhang82
RanJay
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

rickyzhang wrote:You could rip the CD-ROM to ISO. Add ISO files as disks.

BII can't emulate Power PC. It emulate 68030 Motorola processor a.k.a M68K.
Ok. I am a little computer illiterate.
Could you explain how to do this?
And having BII as 68030 or 68040 won't work?
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rickyzhang
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by rickyzhang »

First of all, please make sure the binary in the CD-ROM is for Power PC architecture or M68K architecture.

They are two different architectures. Apple Macintosh transit from M68K to Power PC in 90s. Some binary may be a fat binary which supports both. Some don't.

If it is for M68K, please proceeds to use BII. Otherwise, you use the wrong emulator.

If you confirm it is M68K, rip the CD-ROM as ISO or toast. I can add ISO or toast to BII and run the app from there.
There is an App for that!
https://github.com/rickyzhang82
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

1. OSX/macOS does not allow BasiliskII (and SheepShaver) to mount physical CD's (If I remember well, since OS X 10.8).

2. Catalina will not mount HFS CD-ROMs (only HFS+ CD/DVD-ROMs). That makes it impossible to use Disk Utility for creating disk images from old CD-ROMs. I do not know if other software (or Terminal commands) still can.

3. Which is the old program you want to install? Maybe disk images with that software can be found for download, like on the Macintosh Garden site.

And, as rickyzhang pointed out, if the software is not for 68k Macs, you use the wrong emulator for it.
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24bit
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by 24bit »

I´m using a virtual machine running Snow Leopard Server on a Catalina host for tasks like that.
VirtualBox from Oracle is free and SL Server setup is fairly simple.
Snow Leo Server is hosted at Macintoshgarden.
Except for creating CDR master files from old HFS CDs Snow Leo also plays many old PPC coded games via Rosetta.
Not the issue right here, but a nice option at least.
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:1. OSX/macOS does not allow BasiliskII (and SheepShaver) to mount physical CD's (If I remember well, since OS X 10.8).

2. Catalina will not mount HFS CD-ROMs (only HFS+ CD/DVD-ROMs). That makes it impossible to use Disk Utility for creating disk images from old CD-ROMs. I do not know if other software (or Terminal commands) still can.

3. Which is the old program you want to install? Maybe disk images with that software can be found for download, like on the Macintosh Garden site.

And, as rickyzhang pointed out, if the software is not for 68k Macs, you use the wrong emulator for it.
The discs are for the PADI Open Water dive course I took years ago.
I was certified using them and I just want to have them to look over and refresh.
So there are three install discs. The majority of the files are .MOV vids which are used in the program.
Some are .pdf files.
Is there a way to add a picture in here without having it hosted on a web page?

Also, when I get info on the installer program, it says it is a Aladdin Systems Stuffit Installer Maker SEA 2.0.2.
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

rickyzhang wrote:You could rip the CD-ROM to ISO. Add ISO files as disks.

BII can't emulate Power PC. It emulate 68030 Motorola processor a.k.a M68K.
The minimum requirements for the program to run is a 68030 processor.
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rickyzhang
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by rickyzhang »

I think you are good.

I used to RIP CD/DVD by Toast Titanium. However, after the recent 32 bit binary ban in Mac OS X, I can not use Toast Titanium any more.

If you have Linux, you could try dd command to rip the CD into ISO. A command below should work:

Code: Select all

dd if=/dev/[your cdrom device in Linux] of=my_cd.iso bs=16M
I believe dd command doesn't care if your CD ROM is HFS or HFS+. It just read the CD blindly.

I can read CD ISO or Toast file from BII without problem. My son is playing Monkey George CD ROM Toast file in BII recently.

But I never tried read a physical CD ROM from BII.
There is an App for that!
https://github.com/rickyzhang82
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Let us not go beyond what the OP RanJay asks and could do.

@ RanJay
- You have a MacBook Pro 16" running Catalina 10.15.5
- You would lik to use three CD-ROMs with software you used long time ago.
- I understand that the minimum requirements of the software is a 68030 processor. So BasiliskII will probably run it.

You will need a way to get disk images of the CD-ROMs.
The software is not something that was widely distributed in the past, so it is unlikely you will find disk images for download on the internet.

The easiest way would be to find someone among your friends or relatives who has a computer that can create the needed disk images. Could be someone who has an older OSX version installed, or who uses Linux, or even one with a Windows machine. The disk image files could simply be transferred on a USB-stick.

More complex would be to install an older OSX version in a virtual machine on your Catalina MacBook Pro like 24bit recently suggested above.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Hold on. I think I found a way to create an .iso disk image in Catalina from a HFS CD-ROM. My test is running right now. This will be a long write. I will be back.
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

rickyzhang wrote:I think you are good.

I used to RIP CD/DVD by Toast Titanium. However, after the recent 32 bit binary ban in Mac OS X, I can not use Toast Titanium any more.

If you have Linux, you could try dd command to rip the CD into ISO. A command below should work:

Code: Select all

dd if=/dev/[your cdrom device in Linux] of=my_cd.iso bs=16M
I believe dd command doesn't care if your CD ROM is HFS or HFS+. It just read the CD blindly.

I can read CD ISO or Toast file from BII without problem. My son is playing Monkey George CD ROM Toast file in BII recently.

But I never tried read a physical CD ROM from BII.
Ricky
I happen to have an older MacBook Pro (Early 2008) running 10.11.6 El Capitan.
I assume Toast Titanium would work on it?
And thanks for all your help.
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:Hold on. I think I found a way to create an .iso disk image in Catalina from a HFS CD-ROM. My test is running right now. This will be a long write. I will be back.
Responding to this one but will reference your previous post.
I do have an early 2008 MacBook Pro running El Capitan 10.11.6 that I use as a DVR for my TV.
As Ricky stated, Toast Titanium doesn't work on the 64 bit platform.
So I am assuming it should work on my older MacBook Pro.
However, I am excited to see how your test goes and to try and implement it on my Catalina machine.
And thanks for all your help.
You guys are great!
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

You do not need Toast. Disk Utility is part of OS X 10 (El Capitan) and it can do the job.

The interface of Disk Utility has changed between OSX/macOS versions, so it may be a little different from my description, but the principle is the same:

- Mount the CD in OSX/macOS
- Start Disk Utility (in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder))
- Select the CD volume (not the drive) in the list on the left
- Click New Image in the tool bar or in newer Disk Utility versions use New Image from the File menu
- Choose DVD/CD master for the format
- Save the image file. It will have a .cdr extension.

Edit 1: I will post later how I managed to successfully create a disk image from a HFS CD-ROM in Catalina.

Edit 2: When you got the three diks image files, add all three to the volumes list in BasiliskII GUI. They should then be mounted in BasiliskII.
Last edited by Ronald P. Regensburg on Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

I described a way to create a disk image from a HFS CD-ROM in Catalina in a separate new topic: https://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewt ... =1&t=10709
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rickyzhang
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by rickyzhang »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:I described a way to create a disk image from a HFS CD-ROM in Catalina in a separate new topic: https://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewt ... =1&t=10709
Great Jobs, Ron! I forgot there is dd command in macOS.
There is an App for that!
https://github.com/rickyzhang82
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

rickyzhang wrote:I forgot there is dd command in macOS.
Only when you choose for /bin/bash. In Catalina the default is zsh, with zsh dd does not work.
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:You do not need Toast. Disk Utility is part of OS X 10 (El Capitan) and it can do the job.

The interface of Disk Utility has changed between OSX/macOS versions, so it may be a little different from my description, but the principle is the same:

- Mount the CD in OSX/macOS
- Start Disk Utility (in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder))
- Select the CD volume (not the drive) in the list on the left
- Click New Image in the tool bar or in newer Disk Utility versions use New Image from the File menu
- Choose DVD/CD master for the format
- Save the image file. It will have a .cdr extension.

Edit 1: I will post later how I managed to successfully create a disk image from a HFS CD-ROM in Catalina.

Edit 2: When you got the three diks image files, add all three to the volumes list in BasiliskII GUI. They should then be mounted in BasiliskII.
Ok.
So I made the disk images per your instructions, which were great instructions BTW, but no joy.
After I added the disk images to the volumes section in the GUI, and started BII, I still get that same message that the disk is unreadable and asks if I want to initialize it.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

It should work fine if those CDs are regular Apple HFS CD-ROMS and if you chose DVD/CD master for the format with no compression and no encryption.

You did not accidentally still have a CD in the drive when you started BasiliskII?

What kind of CDs are they? Commercially produced (pressed) or privately burned?

Could it be that the CDs are hybrid CDs with multiple file systems, useable on both Macs and Windows machines?
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:It should work fine if those CDs are regular Apple HFS CD-ROMS and if you chose DVD/CD master for the format with no compression and no encryption.

You did not accidentally still have a CD in the drive when you started BasiliskII?

What kind of CDs are they? Commercially produced (pressed) or privately burned?

Could it be that the CDs are hybrid CDs with multiple file systems, useable on both Macs and Windows machines?
I am unsure if they are Apple HFS CD-ROMS. I assume they are. Anyway to check?
I chose DVD/CD master with no encryption or compression.
I did not leave the CDs in the drive when running BII.
The CDs are commercially pressed and were sold nationwide as a home study kit.
I suppose they could be hybrids, but the box says Mac specific.
Apparently they made home study courses for either Mac or PC.
I had purchased the Mac version.
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

(You can do this also on your Catalina Mac)

- Insert one of these CDs in the drive
- Open Terminal (in Apps/Utilities)
- In Terminal, type at the prompt

Code: Select all

diskutil list
followed by a return
- In the output in Terminal, find the external physical disk that is the CD
- Copy the information and paste it here in your reply

You can eject the disk by typing in Terminal

Code: Select all

drutil tray eject
followed by a return.
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:(You can do this also on your Catalina Mac)

- Insert one of these CDs in the drive
- Open Terminal (in Apps/Utilities)
- In Terminal, type at the prompt

Code: Select all

diskutil list
followed by a return
- In the output in Terminal, find the external physical disk that is the CD
- Copy the information and paste it here in your reply

You can eject the disk by typing in Terminal

Code: Select all

drutil tray eject
followed by a return.
Here is what I got:

Code: Select all

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:        CD_partition_scheme                        *701.1 MB   disk2
   1:     Apple_partition_scheme                         610.4 MB   disk2s1
   2:        Apple_partition_map                         1.0 KB     disk2s1s1
   3:                  Apple_HFS PADI O/W Disc 1         610.1 MB   disk2s1s2
Last edited by Ronald P. Regensburg on Wed Jul 01, 2020 12:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added "code" BBCode for readability
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

The disk contains a HFS volume with the name "PADI O/W Disc 1".
Did you select that volume name in Disk Utility in El Capitan to create the disk image from it?
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by RanJay »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:The disk contains a HFS volume with the name "PADI O/W Disc 1".
Did you select that volume name in Disk Utility in El Capitan to create the disk image from it?
Do you mean when I did it in Catalina?
I didn't have that option in Catalina.

EDIT 1:
Checking it now, and even though it is greyed out, I think I can make an image with PADI O/W Disc 1.
Standby for follow up.

EDIT 2:
I tried to make the image, even though it was greyed out, but it said operation cancelled.
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Re: This disk (CD-ROM) is unreadable by this Macintosh

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

RanJay wrote:
Ronald P. Regensburg wrote:The disk contains a HFS volume with the name "PADI O/W Disc 1".
Did you select that volume name in Disk Utility in El Capitan to create the disk image from it?
Do you mean when I did it in Catalina?
No, when you did it in El Capitan.
I tried to make the image, even though it was greyed out, but it said operation cancelled.
Yes, in Catalina it is not possible to make a disk image from a HFS volume using Disk Utility. It should be possible in El Capitan. Did you select the name "PADI O/W Disc 1" in Disk Utility in El Capitan?
Last edited by Ronald P. Regensburg on Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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