MacSD Product Review [SCSI to SD]

Like SSDs in modern computers, MacSD is a flash drive replacement for spinning platter SCSI hard drives in vintage Macs. Usage, benchmarks and brief comparisons with competing SCSI2SD products are presented.
🔍 INDEX
0:00 Intro
1:56 Key Features
3:40 Compatibility
4:32 Mounting Bracket
8:19 SCSI Termination
11:02 Disk Images
13:25 Composites
14:06 Configuration
19:53 File Fragmentation
22:14 Firmware Updates
26:07 Enhancing MacSD
28:54 General Usage
38:16 Benchmarking
49:02 Windows Support
49:37 Pricing & Purchase
51:32 Closing Thoughts
💳 BUY
Don't forget to watch the end of my video for a MacSD Discount Code!
• MacSD: bit.ly/3x9JUZl
• Multi-colored wire: amzn.to/3srYO9P
• RGB LEDs CLEAR (Common Cathode): amzn.to/2QvGPSF
• RGB LEDs FROSTED (Common Cathode): amzn.to/3ec7rAd
• Sony Tough 64GB V60 SD Card: amzn.to/2RKqfPE
• Kingston 32GB V90 SD Card & Reader!: amzn.to/2RAReNl
(Slower than the Sony V60 in MacSD.)
• Torx T15 with "T-grip" & 9" neck: amzn.to/3ceQqWk
• Torx T15 with 18" neck: amzn.to/2ScAskx
• FloppyEMU: www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-...
• Anti-static pad with Wrist Strap (16x24" / 41x61cm): amzn.to/3bfAE9Z
• Wall socket Ground adapter for banana-jack Wrist Strap: amzn.to/2Yvq5ge
💵 NOTE: Your price on Amazon (US only) is the same even if you don't click the "amzn.to" Affiliate links above, but if you do kindly click and purchase within 24 hours, Amazon may pay me a small commission on all qualifying items in your Cart (even items not linked above).
💾 SOFTWARE
• My Benchmark Results (ScreenShots & DSK image): bit.ly/2QQOMC4
(I added screenshots as well as new benchmarks to the DSK on April 24, 2021.)
• Bootable Drive Images: www.savagetaylor.com/download...
• Mini vMac Blanks: bit.ly/3dxQRvK
• Mini vMac Download: bit.ly/3swZkU9
• Basilisk II Download: bit.ly/3aqOY1P
• SD Card Formatter (FAT32 MBR part 12, 0x0C): bit.ly/3gq6uHk
• Make B&W bitmaps from your photos: 29a.ch/ditherlicious/
(Resolution of your submitted photos is key to a good result. Try 640x480 to start.)
📚 REFERENCE
• MacSD Manual, Firmware, etc.: macsd.com
• Mac Classic install: bit.ly/3xepui4
• MicroMac DiiMO 50MHz 68030 PDS Accelerator info (photo is wrong): bit.ly/3n8havI
• Photos of my boxed DiiMO kit: bit.ly/3xbD8m1
• Photos of my Daystar Turbo 040 PDS Accelerator: bit.ly/3vb5dYX
• Retro Guy Blog (Mac Plus Diode): bit.ly/2QFQ0A8
• Mac Plus Schematic: bit.ly/2Qa6bWy
• Format SD as 0x0C using the Terminal: bit.ly/3go5Nhz
NOTE! Apple's Disk Utility formats FAT32 MBR as part 11, 0x0B.
• To get crisp pixels in Basilisk II on a Retina Mac, install and find hidden file ".basilisk_ii_prefs" in your Home folder. CMD-Shft-. to show/hide hidden files. Edit prefs file in TextEdit to add "scale_nearest true". LOCK prefs file to prevent your changes from being deleted. Use SwitchResX to change your 5K iMac's resolution to 1920x1080 (not HiDPI) to get the cleanest full screen results, or consider adding a second line to the prefs to Double the pixel size: "scale_nearest true". More info here: bit.ly/3x8dBtL
🎬 My Sony Tough SD Card Review: • Sony TOUGH 128GB SD Ca...
🗣 Helpful Groups:
• 68kMLA: 68kmla.org
• Apple Macintosh Enthusiasts: bit.ly/2QCtbgL
• Vintage Apple Macintosh Enthusiasts: bit.ly/2YgpDRb
• Vintage Macintosh Restoration & Preservation: bit.ly/2XKFzfK
💁‍♂️SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL💰
www.paypal.me/supportJDW
📺 SUBSCRIBE:
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#macsd #scsi2sd #macintosh #JDW

[@JDW-]

Folks, YMK just confirmed that all MacSD units shipped after the release of my video include boot-loader v.0.6.0 while allows Firmware Updates from SD card partition types 0x0B or 0x0C, so what I said in 22:14 Firmware Updates has now been addressed. Simply put, if you purchased MacSD after the release of my video, you can format your SD card with Apple's Disk Utility as FAT32 MBR and later do MacSD firmware updates without any special card formatting.

[@Historicaldancer]

Bought a MacSD using the discount code. Had some problems backing up the original card to a new SD card to start with (Using Windows 10 PC). Discovered that a foolproof method is to image the original card using Rufus to a VHD file. Then use Rufus to image a new card using that VHD file. If the new card is bigger than the original MacSD card, then you can use Easeus Partition Manager to expand the usable space to restore the original capacity. In this way I created a 128Gb MacSD card (after creating useable 32Gb and 64Gb cards). Very pleased with the product.

[@MacEffects88]

What an awesome video! It is an exciting time with so many SCSI devices being made. I think the MacSD is my favorite. While not the cheapest, it is feature rich and I find the setup much easier. I'll have to upgrade my Firmware. It seems like the Firmware is always being updated which, while tedious, it is much like getting a new set of features without having to buy something new. Thanks for the speed test, I had no idea that SD card performance mattered so much. I enjoyed the background music at the end of the video as well. Going into an overview, setup, and review like you've done here is sure to help many others that are overwhelmed by all the SCSI choices. Another fine video!

[@Tom2112Tom]

I have a couple SCSI2SD (both v6) and a MacSD. I prefer the MacSD for it's ease of use/configuration on a modern Windows PC. Between that and the CD-changer function, you really can't beat it. I'm even more excited now that I know about overclocking the SD card interface to speed up disk transfers. Thanks JDW!

[@JDW-]

Thanks for watching and for your comment, Tom!

[@LaConan2027]

tom have you tried macsd on a retro pc computer? like a 486 ? with mixed mode cd images data + audio tracks?

[@Tom2112Tom]

@@LaConan2027 No. I have very little use for SCSI on x86 machines.

[@michaelmullett7327]

Ok very informative and just a wealth of how to set up and troubleshoot, FANTASTIC! Oh by the way I will be getting one, Thanks for thinking of us and the discount!

[@JDW-]

Thank you for watching and for your kind comment, Michael. By the way, I am continuing to test other SD cards (not shown in my video) in MacBench 3 and will report back on those before the end of this month. But so far, the Sony Tough V60 card used in my video remains on top. Even so, the stock 16GB card included with MacSD is more than adequate for a stock SE/30 and perhaps other Macs too. If you have something other than an SE/30, I would recommend you run a MacBench 3 benchmark on it with MacSD set to the base 33MHz speed, then another benchmark at the 57MHz overclocked speed so you have a good baseline to compare with. Then if you have other SD cards sitting around, you can test them at the base speed and overclocked to see if you get an improvement.

[@drywinddotnet]

So happy to see competition in the retro marketplace! Great review JDW of a very flexible and configurable solution.

[@Naturalbeachbum63]

This is a very comprehensive and informative review, well done, thanks

[@JorgeRuizGonzalez]

Another great quality video. Very informative and clear in explanations. I have an SCSI2SD as external device to be able to take advantage of it in several Macs,... but this one seems to be better and with more useful features. Managing partition images and act like a CD-ROM is VERY useful.

[@JDW-]

I think so too, Jorge. From what I understand, MacSD is the only SCSI to SD product currently available which handles Volume or "Partition" images (i.e., those images used by Mini vMac or the FloppyEMU, or raw floppy disk images). The other products like your SCSI2SD handle only "Drive" images. And the CD-ROM features are icing on an already lovely cake.

[@smiccick]

Thank you for this informative review. I ordered one right away for for SE and my SE/30.

[@JDW-]

I think you made a great choice, Salvatore. MacSD is really a very unique product. Let me know how you like it after you've had a chance to test.

[@RetroTinkerer]

Even tough I don't have a single Apple computer in my collection, and was just looking for info about the MacSD and if its possible to use it under MS-DOS, Windows 98 and XP, I find your style and review super informative, useful and entertaining, thanks!

[@JDW-]

Thank you for your kind words, Alberto! Although I didn't test MS-DOS or Windows compatibility, the good news is that the developer seems to have added that compatibility: macsd.com/news.php

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

You can also jam in a Red Rock Technologies SCSI SSD.

[@JDW-]

Curious if I actually can. I Googled that name just now, and while I can find the manufacturer's website, I cannot find a dealer or any clear indication of pricing. Suffice it to say, if the cost of one of those is significantly higher than MacSD, it would not be appealing to very many vintage Mac enthusiasts. True, we do tend to pay a lot for certain EBAY finds, but drive replacement upgrades are aplenty these days, so savvy shoppers tend to flock to (a) what is readily available and (b) what is reasonably priced.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

There is also an old Norton Utilities defragment app.

[@JDW-]

You seem to be referring to 19:53 in my video. But it's important to keep in mind this is not fragmentation of the Mac drive images saved on MacSD, but rather fragmentation inherent to the FAT32 file system. Norton Utilities for Mac can defragment Mac drives, but defragmenting the FAT32 file system must be done outside the Macintosh environment, and as I mentioned in my video, MacSD will do that automatically, if you give it sufficient time to do so. It even lights an LED to tell you there is fragmentation of FAT32 files and defragmentation is under way. I then mention in my video about how to avoid fragmentation of files stored on the SD card (FAT32).

[@phantasiaPT]

Great video. I'm searching for something like this to use on my ms-dos based retro builds. Seems this could work as a complete cd-rom drive replacement! Is there any chance you could do even a mini review of this working on a ms-dos based machine? =)

[@JDW-]

Unfortunately, I don't have an MS-DOS computer to test MacSD on. However, if you go to the MacSD website, and click the MANUAL button, then scroll to the COMPATIBILITY section, you will see these platforms as working fine with MacSD: Windows 98, Windows XP, MS-DOS 6.22 / MSCDEX 2.23

[@hollywoodmark]

Is there an external version of this product that resides in a case?

[@JDW-]

Hi, Mark. Thanks for your question. I don't work for YMK Devices, so I cannot say what they might have in the works, but at the time I did the video review of their MacSD product, it was only sold as an internal drive and included an appropriate 3D printed mounting bracket. You are absolutely right in thinking this would be a great product as an external drive solution, and toward that end I would strongly recommend that you send YMK your question as a suggestion. You can do that by simply clicking the "Contact Store" button here: www.tindie.com/stores/ymkdevices/

[@Phoenixesper1]

Between this and the floppy emu, at long last the entire mac line classic computers can function with modern storage capacities. The Hardrive sword of damocles is finally gone!

[@JDW-]

Exactly! Not only the Mac though, but also the Apple II. My forthcoming Part II video on the Apple IIe Card for the Color Classic should be out within a week. It focuses on the amazing usefulness of the FloppyEMU. MacSD's usefulness with the IIe Card will be discussed in Part III. :-)

[@wishusknight3009]

Great review of the product and it is already really thorough and very understandable as well, This isn't intended to be a critique or complaint i any way, just more for curiosity. A couple things I would have liked to see though, 1 flip through the expanded Mac bench 3 result charts for the accelerator tests like you did for the stock se30. The low access time is what really tells the story there, and it only needs to be a few seconds, as I can pause to read them. 2 perhaps included boot times from the power on. As initialization for different drives takes different times and can be a big factor. Maybe perform each boot a few times to get an average result. And I had a third but ended up forgetting before writing this.. oh well.. I am very impressed with this. I have a scsi2SD (a few years old model) and it has always been a bit of a fudge to use. Especially when wanting to use it for a couple of different computers. And I have not bothered to really use it much as of late. And I also have a floppy EMU and it has been a real godsend for my old macs and the floppy drives starting to break. I wish it could have done perhaps CDROM images or what not, but that is a limitation of the macs themselves. It is especially amazing for my old apple 2 though, so I can see perhaps not needing to always swap its firmware when I go back and forth now.. I am sold.

[@JDW-]

Thank you for watching and for your kind comment. To see Boot times, please watch from 47:54. I did not make time to show every single test in MacBench3 as that would have extended the total length of the video beyond 1 hour, which is the limit I wanted to set. But to make up for that, I put a link in the text description to a 1.44MB DSK image which contains all the benchmark data, including results other than MacBench. To see the detailed MacBench Results files in that DSK image: launch MacBench 3, either on a vintage Mac or emulator, and then mount my DSK and then open the individual results files within MacBench3. That way you can selectively compare individual Results files in numerous ways that I could not possibly present in a video. To save you the trouble though, I just accessed that very DSK image linked in the text description (bit.ly/3dxft7A​), launched Basilisk II and then MacBench3, then opened all the "STOCK" SE/30 results files I created, then made screenshots of all the pages that you requested. A zip file containing those screenshots is available for download here: cutt.ly/AvZ9wEs If you access my DSK image, you will find 50MHz '030 DiiMO & 40MHz '040 Turbo040 accelerated Results files too, in addition to the STOCK SE/30 files. Those show significant speed gains over the stock SE/30, especially with fast SD cards. The FloppyEMU really is great, isn't it? It's drop dead easy to use. MacSD is almost as convenient because of Composites, which works like the FloppyEMU. The biggest difference is MacSD as an internal drive, not portable like the FloppyEMU. And instead of using the LCD on the FloppyEMU to select your Volume images, you need to setup the MacSD INI file in order to have them mount on the Desktop. But MacSD basically like the FloppyEMU - just much faster! If you need interaction with CD-ROM images, then MacSD really is the way to go, because it handles those quite well. The CD-changer feature is vary nice. And you can even have multiple CD-ROM "drives" mount on the Desktop if you want. That way you can have 2 or more CDs open at any given time. If you need any other info, I'm happy to help share my knowledge where possible.

[@wishusknight3009]

@@JDW- WHOA!! That is awesome! thankyou so much! One of my mac's is an SE/30 with the daystar 040/33mhz overdrive with 128k cache option. So it is very meaningful data to have. I have kept the 540mb scsi drive in it that I bought for it 25+ years ago and it is still working but either it was my imagination or its louder the last time I dug the machine out not so long ago. So a good internal replacement is needed. And i have never really been happy with my older rev SCSI2SD for it. Again thankyou so much for your detailed and helpful content.

[@JDW-]

@@wishusknight3009 If you ultimately do buy a MacSD, I'd love to review your MacBench 3 results file when you've had a chance to run benchmarks. But I have little doubt that you'll be satisfied with performance, especially if you overclock MacSD. Best wishes!

[@LaConan2027]

Hi JDW, i have so many questions about this product but for an actual owner that has tested it fully, but sadly you are a MAC person and i am a PC DOS 6.22 person, and i was interested in using it only on a DOS PC. I got a feedback from just 1 PC owner and the feedback was bad. Are you only a MAC user or you have a lot of knowledge on PC and did you try the product under a DOS PC ?

[@JDW-]

Please click on my "@JDW-" name. When my KZbin channel page opens, do a keyword search for "Welcome" which should highlight that word to the right of the round logo. Click Welcome. Scroll down to the Channel Details section to access my email address. Simply copy/paste your comment in a new email to me. I will then reply back to you with the email of the creator of MacSD who has PC experience.

[@TaijanDean]

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is older Macs, such as the MacPlus, do not supply power to whatever is connected to the SCSI drive. So to use a device like the MacSD, would adding that resistor correct that issue and make MacSD usable by the Mac Plus? (I purchased a MacPlus recently and I'm looking for solutions / extra storage in case the external SCSI Hard Drive or Floppy Drive dies, which has been a common issue with these older Macs, apparently.)

[@JDW-]

While I cannot speak from firsthand experience because I do not own a Macintosh Plus, I do know that if you look closely on the motherboard, you will see a place where a 1N4004 or similar diode can be soldered in. From my understanding, adding that diode will solve the problem and allow SCSI to SD card solutions to be powered.

[@TaijanDean]

@@JDW- Wow! That was quick! Thanks! Also, would you know whether or not externally powered drives, such as external hard disk drives that run on mains power, would work as normal or would the power coming from the SCSI port potentially mess with something, powerwise?

[@JDW-]

@@TaijanDean If you put a MacSD, BlueSCSI, etc. inside something like an HD20SC enclosure, in theory, you should be able to connect only the SCSI cable to your Mac, leaving the power cord entirely disconnected (power switch OFF), and the drive should work because the MacSD would get power from the SCSI bus.

[@TaijanDean]

@@JDW- Cool! Thanks! So if adding the resistor/ diode fixes that issue, would I still be able to connect a normal external Hard Disk Drive with no issues?

[@JDW-]

@@TaijanDean I believe so, but since I have no Plus to test that on myself, I cannot speak from first-hand experience. There is a discussion thread on TinkerDifferent with video about the diode install at the URL below. I would recommend that you post your question there to obtain confirmation that the folks there who added the diode have zero issues with normal spinning platter hard drives. tinkerdifferent.com/threads/mac-plus-with-bluescsi-db25-scsi-hard-drive-emulator.751/#post-4648

[@mauroacciaccaferri3016]

To me this cards doesn't work for all classic Mac like they said in their website, just only works for motherboards with SCSI. If a person isn't savvy enough with all the Classic Macs configuration will buy it and waste his money. Many thanks for a detail explanation how to use and configure it. Cheers.

[@JDW-]

Thank you for watching and for your kind comment, Mauro! I apologize for my delayed reply. The MacSD website top page, which shows the large product photo, shows that it has a "SCSI2 Interface." All of the major SD card products (e.g., SCSI2SD, RaSCSI, BlueSCSI, etc.), are in fact SCSI. None work with IDE. That's because until the Quadra 630 (the first Mac with IDE), all Macs since the Plus had SCSI only. So when we think of "Classic" Macs we most often think of the Compact Macs like the Plus, SE and Classic series -- all of which have SCSI, and therefore are compatible with MacSD. Even the Color series like the Macintosh II or IIfx use SCSI. Also, in the thumbnail of my video, I show "SCSI to SD" text, and I put that text in the Title of my video too, to ensure the viewer is not confused and sees very clearly MacSD is for SCSI Macs only. I hope this explanation clarifies matters. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask anytime.

[@mauroacciaccaferri3016]

@@JDW- one more thing, why in your patron you don't have a monthly charge by paypal, I only see one time donation or I am wrong. cheers.

[@JDW-]

@@mauroacciaccaferri3016 Correct. I do not have a Patreon at all. I only have PayPal. The reason is because Patreon is made for full-time KZbinrs who usually upload at least two videos a month. So it makes sense for people to contribute monthly in that case. But I am not a full-time KZbinr. If I setup a Patreon but something happens and I am unable to upload any videos for a given month, that probably would upset Patreon contributors. So to solve that problem, I have PayPal. That takes a lot of pressure off me, and it allows people to contribute whatever and whenever they like. The amount of money PayPal takes from contributions is less than Patreon too. Of course, the down side is that most people only contribute ONE TIME by PayPal and then never again. So I do see the merits of Patreon. But again, it would put a lot of pressure on my to please those monthly contributors. Also, with Patreon, I would need to offer "tiers" and incentives, but I'm not sure what extras would really please people, nor do I know if I have time to even create those extras. This is why I've never setup a Patreon to date.