I have an immaculate Power Macintosh 7100/80 running 7.5 that I just dusted off after MANY years and it works very well. Have been trying to research how best to get files off the machine (including other files from floppy disks, SyQuest cartridges, and Zip and Jaz disks) through old drives that boot up and connect well. I have a few different macs I can use to try and connect to, from a MacBook Pro running Ventura to an iMac running Catalina (10.15.7) to a PowerPC running OS X (10.5). Other than rattling those things off, I'm pretty much a neophyte. I've tried connecting the machines to my router and messing with AppleTalk and Ethernet connections using an AAUI Transceiver to connect them to my router (along with a crossover cable to two machines directly), but have reached the limit of my limited abilities. I've read about creating FTP servers and things like Netatalk but I'm out of my league. I'm not even sure how to assign IP addresses, etc. Am I close to getting this to work, or is there a lot more involved that puts it out of reach for a novice? Any guidance GREATLY appreciated.
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How can I transfer files from a Power Macintosh 7100/80 to a more modern mac?
- Thread starter Briganti
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First, welcome!
Second, you do have a bit of a dilemma there. If you had OS X 10.3 or 10.4, you could connect to that with the 7100…but that is not possible if running 10.5. I believe 10.5 does have built-in FTP sharing in the Sharing preference pane. You could try turning that on, and then using an FTP client on the 7100 (if you have Fetch or the like) on there. That would get you going as far as straight file transfer.
However, the files won’t be transferred with their resource forks. That may not matter if you are transferring text files and the like. What specific files are you trying to get off?
If you need help with the network settings on each machine, I’m sure either myself or someone else can help there.
Alternatively, if you have a working Zip drive as you stated, you could also pick up a USB Zip drive and shuttle the files across that way. It will cost a few bucks, but the one advantage is it will preserve the entirety of your files.
Again, welcome, and please ask for clarification on any of these things.
Second, you do have a bit of a dilemma there. If you had OS X 10.3 or 10.4, you could connect to that with the 7100…but that is not possible if running 10.5. I believe 10.5 does have built-in FTP sharing in the Sharing preference pane. You could try turning that on, and then using an FTP client on the 7100 (if you have Fetch or the like) on there. That would get you going as far as straight file transfer.
However, the files won’t be transferred with their resource forks. That may not matter if you are transferring text files and the like. What specific files are you trying to get off?
If you need help with the network settings on each machine, I’m sure either myself or someone else can help there.
Alternatively, if you have a working Zip drive as you stated, you could also pick up a USB Zip drive and shuttle the files across that way. It will cost a few bucks, but the one advantage is it will preserve the entirety of your files.
Again, welcome, and please ask for clarification on any of these things.
The easiest hassle free way is a usb zip drive on your modern machine and scsi Zip drive on you old one. Or CDR’s which is cheaper but a little less direct.
I am also using with success PISCSI which has a built in file server that can be accessed both from a modern Mac and a legacy machine (in my case a power Macintosh G3 beige desktop) but it needs to be setup from the terminal which can be intimidating
I am also using with success PISCSI which has a built in file server that can be accessed both from a modern Mac and a legacy machine (in my case a power Macintosh G3 beige desktop) but it needs to be setup from the terminal which can be intimidating
Hi there... what a wonderful community! Thank you for the warm welcome, prompt response, and helpful advice.
I'm a design guy so the old files are mostly Adobe-type creations for clients I'd like to preserve, or resurrect – instead of recreating. So, hearing that a file can't be copied over without losing some major attributes is a bummer. No way to avoid that if moving over through a network? Not zipping or compressing or something similar?
Didn't think to look for a USB Zip drive because I've purchased two USB floppy drives that seemed to be busts; but can certainly look into that, thank you. I'd have to look for a Jaz drive too, and I think I'd be out of luck with any files living on SyQuest cartridges I presume, ha. So I thought networking was by best option so that I could save files galore from all these devices to the 7100 and then move them over to another machine. Wishful thinking I guess
With regards to the other advice, I've tried messing with the File Sharing settings on the 10.5 machine, but didn't have an FTP client on the 7100. I can look into that for sure. Silly question: If I were to try and (re)install the operating system on that machine and dial it back to 10.3 or 10.4, is that a possibility? Thanks again for your amazing help!
EDIT: After @Imartu brought up the USB Zip drive too, I realize more fully what you meant, d'oh! In theory I should be able to copy files from the SyQuest cartridges to Zip disks through the 7100 (and their respective SCSI interfaces), and then plop those Zip disks into a newly-purchased USB Zip drive and onto one of the modern Macs. Sorry, took a bit to process that, no pun intended.
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Thanks Imartu! So since I have a SCSI Zip drive on the 7100, your suggestion is to copy files to disks there and then buy a USB Zip drive and plop the disks into that drive and copy to a newer machine that I connect via USB. Heh, never even occurred to me to do that, sadly!
As for your other suggestion, I wouldn't mind exploring the setup of another machine(?) to run something like this PISCSI idea, but your first suggestion, either the USB Zip drive or CDR might be just rudimentary enough to work well for me! As "@LaPorta" mentioned above, would there be any kind of data loss do you think if I'm just moving and copying these files over like that? Thanks for your help and ideas, super appreciated!
To answer your questions:
1. Compressing on the 7100 will preserve everything in an FTP copy, but more to the point…
2. Yes, using the Zip transfer method will preserve everything: you don’t even have to worry about that. It will be as easy as copy what you want to zip on 7100 -> copy from zip onto 10.5 machine. The reason I suggest to the 10.5 machines and not the newer ones is that Zip disks are rarely in HFS+ format (your 7.5-based 7100 wouldn’t be able to read them anyway), is that your newer machines won’t be able to read regular HFS formatted Zip disks, as the ability was stripped out some time ago. Your best bet would be to do the above, and then once everything is on the 10.5 machine, then just ferry them all to your newest machines for backup or however you are doing this.
1. Compressing on the 7100 will preserve everything in an FTP copy, but more to the point…
2. Yes, using the Zip transfer method will preserve everything: you don’t even have to worry about that. It will be as easy as copy what you want to zip on 7100 -> copy from zip onto 10.5 machine. The reason I suggest to the 10.5 machines and not the newer ones is that Zip disks are rarely in HFS+ format (your 7.5-based 7100 wouldn’t be able to read them anyway), is that your newer machines won’t be able to read regular HFS formatted Zip disks, as the ability was stripped out some time ago. Your best bet would be to do the above, and then once everything is on the 10.5 machine, then just ferry them all to your newest machines for backup or however you are doing this.
Nice alternative. Are SCSI-SD adapters readily available for cheap? I may have been missing out on something...
I understand BlueSCSI and ZuluSCSI use SD cards.
ZuluSCSI - A hardware SCSI HDD & CD-ROM emulator
ZuluSCSI™ is a SCSI computer storage emulation platform, which speaks both SCSI-1 and SCSI-2. It uses file-based SCSI HDD & CD-ROM images, similar to RaSCSI and BlueSCSI. It represents a fusion of firmware and concepts from both SCSI2SD V6 and BlueSCSI. Hard drive and CD-ROM drive images are...
zuluscsi.com
As the maintainer of Netatalk, I of course encourage you to give Netatalk ago, despite the perceived difficulty curve.
If you have a spare Linux box or RPi sitting around, you can even spin up a pre-configured Docker container that... should "just work" out of the box with AppleTalk and everything (knock on wood.)
Your old and new Macs can then access the same shared volume with resource forks intact and everything. It's beautiful when it all works.
If you have a spare Linux box or RPi sitting around, you can even spin up a pre-configured Docker container that... should "just work" out of the box with AppleTalk and everything (knock on wood.)
Your old and new Macs can then access the same shared volume with resource forks intact and everything. It's beautiful when it all works.
I recommend persevering with the network option. You will need to find some guides and spend the time to get it going, but it's very convenient once it's going. I use a Synology NAS which I'm pretty sure uses netatalk, and can connect to it from all my old Macs as well as my modern stuff. It's great.
AFP in Synology hardware is indeed Netatalk under the hood. They used to be a big patch contributor to the project until they dropped AFP support some two years ago.
Is this System 7.5 (with a system enabler), or perhaps 7.5.3/7.5.5?
Have you tried only classic networking (the MacTCP control panel), or (if applicable) Open Transport (TCP/IP)?
With the 7100/80 (and an AAUI to RJ-45 transceiver) wired to one of the LAN ports of your router, it should not be too difficult to gain access to the Internet. However, this would require at least one appropriate old web browser already installed on the Mac, as well as a compatible version of StuffIt Expander. Also, you would have to visit one of the few remaining web sites allowing plain http connections (one example would be knubbelmac.de). Modern, secure (https) sites will not work. This way, it should be possible to download and install further files needed for local networking (such as the now free NetPresenz server).
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I guessed from the nifty icon that the old Macs show when connected. Shame Synology dropped support, hopefully I can manually keep it going - I was thinking I should see about getting the latest versions installed if I can.
Thanks again LaPorta. It's been a hectic few days and took me a bit to track down a USB Zip drive with all things in working order (I hope), so it's on its way. Lots of other great advice was added here, but gonna try that route first (and report back). Thanks again!
Thanks for this. I'd like to get a more "proper" setup, so this has been on the list of things to try. Going to see if the more rudimentary path works for me, but will definitely circle back, and maybe humbly ask for your guidance if needed?As the maintainer of Netatalk, I of course encourage you to give Netatalk ago, despite the perceived difficulty curve.
If you have a spare Linux box or RPi sitting around, you can even spin up a pre-configured Docker container that... should "just work" out of the box with AppleTalk and everything (knock on wood.)
Your old and new Macs can then access the same shared volume with resource forks intact and everything. It's beautiful when it all works.
Thanks!Thanks for this! Need to triple-check the system version (update: it's System 7.5, but not sure what an enabler is), but tried using MacTCP and a few other things. I'm fairly sure I didn't have the right settings though. Everything on the machine works superbly, EXCEPT for Netscape 3.0 which crashes the machine on launch. Was going to look into that, but am currently avoiding playing with fire. Stuff Expander is on there too, and I assume it's a compatible version. I will look into those sites/items you mentioned, as I *do* have an AAUI to RJ-45 transceiver (and a crossover cable), but so far haven't been able to use it to successfully connect to the other Macs. If the USB drives work for me, that would be the lame-but-familar route. If they don't, I'll be back here asking more questions about how to configure things based on some of these suggestions
Thanks again!
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