Old Mac SE & external hard drive

[pastorpaul]

I bought a Mac SE back in 1988 with a whopping 20 MB hard drive, and it still works! Even with the 9" b/w screen, I love it!! After a few years, I thought I might be approaching the HD's capacity, so I purchased (online from MegaHaus) a huge 270 MB external hard drive with a SCSI interface. Now that I've moved into the 21st century with my new MBP, I'd love to be able to access all of my old files on my old SE and the 270. How can I connect these two devices to my MBP and import my files? Is it even possible?

 

[pigoo3]

Now that I've moved into the 21st century with my new MBP, I'd love to be able to access all of my old files on my old SE and the 270. How can I connect these two devices to my MBP and import my files? Is it even possible?

First it really depends on what files you are talking about. If by "files" you mean documents from programs such as:

- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Excel
- Photoshop
- other programs that have "modern" versions

You may have some luck importing these files into your new MBP.

But...there are definitely other hurdles to overcome. Such as:

- how to get your old files from a SCSI hard drive...into a MBP which has ethernet, firewire, and USB
- your files may be too old for even newer versions of the same programs (such as Microsoft Office) to even import directly.
- Mac OS issues. Your SE is probably running a version of Mac OS 6 or 7. This is something like the 1988-1992 time frame...and the Mac OS has come a LONGGGG way since then.

The first thing I would suggest...if by "files" you mean documents from programs...is try to get the "files" onto a USB thumb or flashdrive so you can import it into your MBP. This really is not as easy as it sounds.

What you really need is an "intermediate vintage" Macintosh computer from like the late 1990's...that can access a SCSI hard drive...and at the same time have USB ports.

I would also mention that if by "files" you mean "Programs or Applications"....forget about it! You're not going to be able to get a program or application from the 1988-1992 timeframe to run on a MBP.

If you have additional specific questions please ask away...since this post is more "general" in nature.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

Another way might be using FTP.

Let me ask you a few questions. Do you have a modem on the SE? There was I believe a Network Card available for the SE also. Is there one installed in your SE?

If both the above are no this will not work, but if you have a modem and can connect to the internet and have an old version of Fetch FTP on the SE, you can transfer the files to a FTP server and then get them FTP on the new Mac. I have done that in the past with my old Plus and SE.

Also another way might be a USB floppy on the new Mac and use floppies. I wonder if your SE has the Superdrive that reads and writes 1.44MB Floppies?

Edit: I just tried my USB Floppy drive on my iMac G5 running 10.5.8 Leopard. Reads all my old Mac diskettes just fine from the SE. Here is a old Mac OS 7 install floppy.

 

[harryb2448]

Files would be well before Photoshop, Office etc. and SE ran OS 6 generally. OS 7 came in with the later LC model with the internal 160MB HDD and wait for it, 8MB memory. Boy was it fast.

 

[pigoo3]

Another way might be using FTP.

Let me ask you a few questions. Do you have a modem on the SE? There was I believe a Network Card available for the SE also. Is there one installed in your SE?

Just to add...on many of these older Mac's...what was generally or more commonly used was an external modem via a serial connector on the back of the SE.

So certainly file transfer via FTP...could be an option.

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

Agreed. Every Plus or SE I have ever owned used an external. I used a USR with a High Speed modem cable. Worked great.

My SE with 4MB ram runs OS 7 quite well BTW.

 

[pigoo3]

Files would be well before Photoshop, Office etc. and SE ran OS 6 generally.

Harry,

You're probably right about Photoshop. Version 1.0 didn't come out until around 1990...but both Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel were available for older Mac's. I have each program on a floppy disk that I used to use with my 1986 Macintosh Plus.

The "OP" may also be talking about transferring "files" from really old programs such as:

- MacPaint
- MacDraw
- MacWrite
- etc.

Which don't have modern equivalents.

- Nick

 

[pigoo3]

My SE with 4MB ram runs OS 7 quite well BTW.

Yes it is always fun to see how fast older Mac's run...when using software that was "vintage" to the computer.

I really like running my "dual-bootable" 933mhz Quicksilver G4...booting it "natively" into OS 9...then running OS 9 software that was designed to be run on 180-200mhz PowerPC CPU's!

Pretty amazing how fast software designed to run on a 180mhz PowerPC...runs on a 933mhz G4!

That would sort of be similar to taking software meant to be run on one of today's 3.0ghz Core 2 Duo processors...and all of a sudden running it on a 15.3ghz Core 2 Duo processor!!! Whoa would that fly!

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

I figure if he can get the files over to his modern Mac, then he can deal with them and try and find applications to open them.

Nick, agreed. I love doing that also. I have OS 9.2.2 installed on my Quicksilver 733 and it flys!