[WinMac] Confocal microscopy [Was: Jaz disk problem]

Dan Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Tue, 01 Sep 1998 22:16:42 -0400

        When I saw Confocal Microscope, that got my attention! :)

        First off, the 8600's need to be running System 7.6.1 -- The 7.5 series
sucks on PCI Macs. Run MacOS8/8.1 at your own risk -- It's faster, but not
as stable.

        Second, PC Exchange puts the hidden Desktop Folder(s) & FINDER.DAT files
onto DOS disks so it can store icons & Resource forks. These work fine in
DOS-based machines (including win 95); but for more exotic OS' -- Including
OS/2, NT, OpenVMS and *nix -- sometimes things get fouled up. [Those of us
who have allowed NT's Disk Administrator to write a "safe" signature onto a
disk know what I'm talking about!:) ]

        Easiest workaround: Mount the JAZ disk on a 95 machine and then transfer
the data across your 100Base-TX LAN... You *do* have a 100Base-TX LAN,
don't you?!

        Cheers!
        Dan

At 09:59 PM 9/1/98 -0400, Paul Lucente wrote:
>Hi folks-
>
>I'm supporting a handful of users who have Mac desktops (8600/200, system
>7.5.5) with Jaz drives attached. These folks use a confocal microscope in a
>lab that runs OS/2. There is a Jaz drive connected to this computer as
>well, and the images generated by the microscope are loaded onto FAT16
>formatted Jaz disks.
>
>When we put these disks in the Jaz drives connected to the macs, most of the
>time they work fine. But, on occassion, we come across serious glitches, in
>some cases, losing data. Several things can happen:
>
>1. The disk mounts on the desktop, and all of the folders are visible,
>however, some contain a folder called Desktop Folder, and are empty, as is
>this Desktop Folder. If I put the disk in an NT 4.0 box, there is no
>Desktop Folder, and I can retrieve all the data, reformat and dump the data
>back on the disk.
>
>2. The disks will mount on the desktop, but the files will all have
>disappeared. The only thing that appears to be left on the disk is an empty
>folder called "Desktop Folder" and for some reason, it looks like a blessed
>System Folder. Inside this folder is another folder called Desktop Folder,
>and in there another, and so on, ad infinitum. In this case, the data was
>not retrievable.
>
>2. On occassion, the disk will freeze the OS up solid when it tries to mount
>it upon insertion into the drive. If I load this one onto the NT 4.0 box, I
>get the same results as example #1 above. Once the disk is reformatted, it
>can be mounted on the Mac again.
>
>I don't think this has much to do with OS/2, since the disks are being
>formatted on an NT box before being used on the OS/2 machine. Plus, on a
>few occassions, after retrieving the data in NT 4.0, and reformatting the
>disks, we've encountered the same problem all over again, before even using
>them on the OS/2 machine.
>
>I'm perplexed, anyone ever come across this problem?
>
>Paul
>
>
>* Windows-MacOS Cooperation List *
>* FAQ: <http://www.darryl.com/winmacfaq/> *
>* Archives: <http://www.darryl.com/winmac/> *
>* Subscribe: <mailto:winmac-on@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
>* Subscribe Digest: <mailto:winmac-digest@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
>* Unsubscribe: <mailto:winmac-off@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
>
>
>

 -----------------------------------------------------------------

        <mailto:expresso@snip.net>

                Webmaster for <http://www.faulknerstudios.com>

 -----------------------------------------------------------------

* Windows-MacOS Cooperation List *
* FAQ: <http://www.darryl.com/winmacfaq/> *
* Archives: <http://www.darryl.com/winmac/> *
* Subscribe: <mailto:winmac-on@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
* Subscribe Digest: <mailto:winmac-digest@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
* Unsubscribe: <mailto:winmac-off@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Tue Sep 01 1998 - 19:23:51 PDT