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Any possible way to mount FAT32 volumes under OS 9?

LCGuy

LCGuy

LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
68LC040
One of my customers recently had their laptop crap out. Thing shows no signs of life at all, and with it hitting 8 years old this year, they've replaced it with a new PC. Trouble is, all their documents are still on the old computer, most of which of course aren't backed up. (Oops) As such, its my duty to figure out how to get their data off this thing. If this was a desktop, it'd be simple - I'd pop the drive into one of my PCs and copy everything over to one of my external drives. However, its a laptop, with a 2.5" drive. The only computer I have that can take a 2.5" IDE drive is my PowerBook 1400, which obviously can't run Mac OS X (which supports FAT32 out of the box).

From memory, OS 9 only supports FAT16, not FAT32. Is there any third party software that would allow me to mount a FAT32 volume under Mac OS 9? I don't care about writing, all I want to do is mount this drive so I can copy all their data over to one of my other machines over my network and save the day.

 
Yeah, unfortunately I have no credit card (meaning I can't buy anything online), and I live in a fairly rural area...if I can't get the data off the drive by Friday (when we go into town next) I'll stop by the only computer shop in my local area who is not dodgy and who sells things at reasonable prices and buy one of those or a 2.5" -> 3.5" IDE adaptor...I'm not exactly convinced that they'll have it though, or that it'll be cheap.

 
If you have a friend in a larger city then perhaps they can mail you one and the next time you see em you buy them a few beers or something?

:p

 
Hi MacJunky,

Here's a possibility, you need:

1. A G3 or later Mac with SCSI, i'll call this the host Mac.

2. A SCSI to PowerBook 1400 connector.

3. A version of Mac OS X which will install on the host Mac (e.g. 10.2 or 10.3 with xpostfacto).

Install Mac OS X on the host Mac. Turn off the PB 1400. Connect the SCSI between the Host Mac and PB 1400. Turn on the PB 1400 and put it in target disk mode (which appeared with the early SCSI PowerBooks, before firewire). Boot the Host Mac. The PB 1400's disk should mount I would think, since to the host Mac it just looks like a FAT32 disk over SCSI and the PB 1400 doesn't need to know anything about the drive's format.

-cheers from Snial @P

 
Egad...yeah, while that is a possibility, unfortunately the only Macs I have that are anywhere near capable of running OS X are an iMac G3 and a MacBook - obviously none of which have SCSI. Thanks anyway :)

 
I think that you are trying to do this the hard way. Surely the quick solution is to buy a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter and plug the drive into a relatively modern PC.

File Exchange in Mac OS 9 will read/write FAT32 disks, but it may be fussy if the drive has been partitioned.

 
Ideally, yes, the easiest way would be to just buy a 2.5" -> 3.5" IDE adapter and connect it to one of my PCs. However, I'm about an hour's drive away from the nearest computer shop, and I don't have a car, or any access to public transport.

Anyway, thanks for that bit of information about File Exchange...we'll find out tomorrow how I go.

 
So I did some experimenting this morning.

FACT: OS 9 supports FAT32 volumes on a USB device, as seen by my iMac's ability to use a FAT32 formatted flashdrive while booted into OS 9

FACT: OS 9 does NOT support FAT32 volumes on an IDE device.

FACT: HP are a bunch of annoying little so-and-sos for changing the plugs on their power adapters for no good reason. I borrowed a HP power adapter from a friend this morning....the machine's original power adapter, from 2002 is 18.5V, 4.9A, centre-positive. My friend's power adapter, from 2004 is 18.5V, 6.5A, centre-positive. Which means its electrically compatible. But not physically compatible. The plug on my friend's power adapter is slightly bigger. This is despite my Dad's new Toshiba Satellite from 2009 using the exact same power adapter as his Toshiba Tecra cicra 2003, and despite Apple back in their day allowing you to use the exact same power adapter on a 1992 PowerBook Duo 210 as you would on a 2000 Pismo G3. Screw you, HP.

 
...and despite Apple back in their day allowing you to use the exact same power adapter on a 1992 PowerBook Duo 210 as you would on a 2000 Pismo G3. Screw you, HP.
Click to expand...
Don't forget that in the meantime, Apple had three other power adapters. There was the 100-series simplicity, the 500-series monstrosity, and the 5300-series tragedy. Then they went and re-used the Duo on the 1400 on up through the G3 and clamshell iBooks.

But, Apple then got a bug up their behind and decided to make what looks nearly identical, but is slightly differently sized. Why they did that completely escapes me.

 
Yeah - I never understood why they gave the TiBooks and the iceBooks the smaller plug - like these HP adapters, those adapters are, from my understanding, completely electrically compatible with the earlier Duo -> Pismo adapters, just with a different plug. Just.....WHY???
vent.gif


Anyway, in any event I ended up borrowing a PC lappy and saving my customer's data, which I'll be returning to them tomorrow along with a nice little reminder to BACK UP.

 
FACT: HP are a bunch of annoying little so-and-sos for changing the plugs on their power adapters for no good reason. I borrowed a HP power adapter from a friend this morning....the machine's original power adapter, from 2002 is 18.5V, 4.9A, centre-positive. My friend's power adapter, from 2004 is 18.5V, 6.5A, centre-positive. Which means its electrically compatible. But not physically compatible. The plug on my friend's power adapter is slightly bigger. This is despite my Dad's new Toshiba Satellite from 2009 using the exact same power adapter as his Toshiba Tecra cicra 2003, and despite Apple back in their day allowing you to use the exact same power adapter on a 1992 PowerBook Duo 210 as you would on a 2000 Pismo G3. Screw you, HP.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I have to use an adaptor to use my laptop's power cable.

 
Yeah, I know, I live in a rural area, where these things are expensive. Not everyone lives in the big smoke where all these things are cheap. Anyway, the job's done now, so I'm done arguing the cost of this stuff in my local area - short of finding a job elsewhere and moving (which I'm already in the process of doing), there's really nothing I can do about it.

 
Osgeld, bear in mind that LC-Guy lives in the rough equivalent of rural Tennessee, and doesn't have a car.

 
Around AU$40 - $50 minimum, a fair bit considering its something I'm hardly going to use.

 
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