Didn’t read directions and appear to have corrupted my 6115CD’s HD by hot plugging BlueSCSI drive

[Policar]

Long story short, I didn't read the directions my first time using BlueSCSI.

When I plugged the device in, my Performa 6115CD running OS7.6 (I believe) crashed.

After restarting, the computer works and can boot off a CD, but I cannot boot off the hard drive and I get an error message that the hard drive is unreadable.

I have found a data recovery service that I was set to ship the drive off to, but before taking the computer apart I wanted to see if maybe I could fix it.

I'm told that this isn't a common problem, but it might be due to the BlueSCSI image and main drive having the same SCSI ID and not having things properly terminated. I had bought a terminator when I planned to use a SCSI CD-RW drive and not BlueSCSI but hadn't plugged it in. So I probably had overlapping SCSI IDs and improper termination.

Before I break the computer open and send the drive in for data recovery, is there any way I might be able to fix my computer at home?

Thanks!

-Matt

 

[eric]

When I plugged the device in, my Performa 6115CD running OS7.6 (I believe) crashed.

Did you plug the BlueSCSI in while the machine was running? SCSI on these machines is not hot pluggable and could cause issues.

BlueSCSI doesn't initiate or talk on the bus unless talked to - so I don't see how it would affect any other drive on the system (unless hot plugged).

An original hard drive in a 6115/CD is already around 30 years old - it could be that it did just die as well, happens quite often.

It sounds like you have a DB25, though if you had a 50pin version you could use initiator mode on the bluescsi to do a full copy of the drive.

 

[dgveedubbus89]

SCSI Termination is not too hard to understand, but I agree, in the beginning it can be quite daunting.

In essence the first and last SCSI device on the chain need to be terminated. With that said, adding a termination that is not needed will not damage anything in my experience. It will just fail to load the devices correctly.

Also, having two devices with the same SCSI ID is also not going to damage anything, the SCSI controller will just not be able to load the devices as stated before. This is similar to networking and having two devices with the same IP address on the same network, they will conflict until one is correctly set to a different address.

Every device on the SCSI line needs it own ID, so for example, the CD is usually ID3 by default and the HDD is usually ID0 so you can set your BlueSCSI image to ID1, ID2, ID4, ID5, ID6 and you should be ok. ID7 is the MAC's SCSI controller itself so that one is also off limits.

Back to the terminations, if you are using the internal BlueSCSI then remove the termination jumper and see if it boots. Even if you boot off of CD the MAC should now see three images on the desktop, one will be your original HDD and the other is the BlueSCSI. This is of course assuming all of them are connected at the same time. One last note to drive this home, if you remove the original HDD you can then indeed set the BlueSCSI image to ID0 as the HDD is no longer connected. If you still don't see the BlueSCSI when it is alone then simply power down, add the termination and try again, you will not hurt anything by trying. Just make sure to always power down before making changes to the SCSI bus.

Hope this might help resolve you issue!

 

[Ron's Computer Videos]

Long story short, I didn't read the directions my first time using BlueSCSI.

When I plugged the device in, my Performa 6115CD running OS7.6 (I believe) crashed.

After restarting, the computer works and can boot off a CD, but I cannot boot off the hard drive and I get an error message that the hard drive is unreadable.

I have found a data recovery service that I was set to ship the drive off to, but before taking the computer apart I wanted to see if maybe I could fix it.

I'm told that this isn't a common problem, but it might be due to the BlueSCSI image and main drive having the same SCSI ID and not having things properly terminated. I had bought a terminator when I planned to use a SCSI CD-RW drive and not BlueSCSI but hadn't plugged it in. So I probably had overlapping SCSI IDs and improper termination.

Before I break the computer open and send the drive in for data recovery, is there any way I might be able to fix my computer at home?

Thanks!

-Matt

To be so bold, what is actually on the drive (that doesn't exist in a backup) that would make paying thousands of dollars for data recovery look like the only option?

If it's just "Because that's the software that has the machine booting," there are a dozen ways to recover from that. System software can be replaced. Nearly any commercial apps can be replaced.

 

[Mac84]

I believe we spoke on Reddit. The BlueSCSI alone wouldn't cause the symptom you are describing. Sadly the hard drives on those systems are already nearly 30 years old. They weren't the highest quality drives, so it wouldn't be a surprise at all if the drive stopped working. Especially after years of not being used and it was only recently turned on again.

I've successfully recovered a dozen or so old Mac hard drives over the years and on my YT channel. I'd be happy to take a look at yours if you want. If I can't recover anything, you just pay shipping to and from New Jersey. I can determine if your drive is suffering a mechanical issue or if some period-appropriate software can recover anything important off the drive. Feel free to direct message me here if you'd like to go down that route.

 

[Ron's Computer Videos]

Long story short, I didn't read the directions my first time using BlueSCSI.

When I plugged the device in, my Performa 6115CD running OS7.6 (I believe) crashed.

After restarting, the computer works and can boot off a CD, but I cannot boot off the hard drive and I get an error message that the hard drive is unreadable.

I have found a data recovery service that I was set to ship the drive off to, but before taking the computer apart I wanted to see if maybe I could fix it.

I'm told that this isn't a common problem, but it might be due to the BlueSCSI image and main drive having the same SCSI ID and not having things properly terminated. I had bought a terminator when I planned to use a SCSI CD-RW drive and not BlueSCSI but hadn't plugged it in. So I probably had overlapping SCSI IDs and improper termination.

Before I break the computer open and send the drive in for data recovery, is there any way I might be able to fix my computer at home?

Thanks!

-Matt

Also, you REALLY need to change the name of this thread. It implies the BlueSCSI did something to your machine... when it's really "I didn't read the directions."

 

[Policar]

Thanks for the help, everyone.

I changed the name of the thread to better reflect what happened. I may have even done multiple things wrong, but the drive did stop working when I hot plugged (one of the things I did wrong) the BlueSCSI device in.

The files on the drive have sentimental value.

Eric got this 100% right. I plugged in the BlueSCSI device while the 6115CD was on. I did have a DB25.

Here is everything that happened:

1: I bought a pre-built BlueSCSI device and 4GB micro SD card.

2: I formatted the card, using my Apple silicon laptop, to FAT32.

3: I downloaded and (probably incorrectly) copied over a disk image I found online and (possibly incorrectly) named it “CD3 Mac OS 7.6.1.iso”.

The log.txt file identifies some issues. I’m not that technical so I don't understand them.

4: I booted my 6115CD off its internal drive. It worked as normal.

5: I plugged in the BlueSCSI device while the computer was on (oops) and without terminating anything. (Still not sure how termination works.)

6: The 6115CD froze.

7: I hard restarted the frozen 6115CD using the power button on the front of the computer.

8: Now, when I boot (currently I can only boot off the old system software CD), I get the following message:

This disk is unreadable by this Machintosh.
Do you want to initialize this disk?
Name: untitled
Format: Macintosh 516.4MB

 

[eric]

3: I downloaded and (probably incorrectly) copied over a disk image I found online and (possibly incorrectly) named it “CD3 Mac OS 7.6.1.iso”.

The log.txt file identifies some issues. I’m not that technical so I don't understand them.

No, you go this right - log looks fine. The log gives a link to the explanation of the warning and what you could do about it (but you can ignore it too as it is just a warning)

5: I plugged in the BlueSCSI device while the computer was on (oops) and without terminating anything. (Still not sure how termination works.)

6: The 6115CD froze.

No SCSI devices in this erra (outside some server and high end stuff) are hot pluggable. In consumer electronics before USB/Firewire you have to assume bad things will happen if you plug it in while the computer is on. Unfortunately doing this probably messed up a write or something to the drive, which makes it unreadable to the system now.

If you care about the data _do not format or initialize it_.

The data is still likely on the drive, just not readable enough to be valid to boot from. I agree a data recovery will cost an arm and a leg, where someone like @Mac84 or even myself could try to help you recover it by reading the raw data off the disk with Initiator mode or a second computer.

Let us know, sorry you learned this lesson the hard way but we're here to help if you need us.