Salvaging files from old (OS9.1) iMac

Hi

I'm new to this forum and need some help accessing files on an old (2001 OS9.1) iMac. The USB connections are not working so I can't connect a mouse, or keyboard but other than that everything still seems OK.

My wife has recently purchased a shiny new MacBook Pro; is it possible to connect this to my old iMac via Firewire and access old files? Has anybody done this, or does anyone have any suggestions how I might download these files to a CD, or other computer?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Jonathan

radleyainley said:

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My wife has recently purchased a shiny new MacBook Pro; is it possible to connect this to my old iMac via Firewire and access old files? Has anybody done this, or does anyone have any suggestions how I might download these files to a CD, or other computer?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Jonathan

Click to expand...

You could try using ethernet.

- Nick

Kinda strange that the USB is out. Do you have a Mac keyboard and mouse? Try pluging like a microsoft mouse into the usb. Like Pigoo3 says you could try to network the Imac..you need to go throw a hub. But with being able to turn on file sharing it may not work. Take out the drive and get a USB to IDE adapter.

You'll get no joy from OS 9 and USB without standing on your head and chanting a mantra of some sort. OS 9 and USB drivers caused numerous headaches. It was one of the most compelling reasons for the move to OS X.

Other than using the internet as suggested, and that could take hours, perhaps you'd care to remove the hard drive from the iMac - not an easy job I admit. Then, using a USB-ATA(IDE) adaptor, like this: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/U2NV2SPATA/ , hook that old drive to your new MacBook and transfer the files with good ol' drag 'n' drop. I've done it successfully using a variety of used bare hard drives, which are very cheap.

If the file transfer is successful, and you want to put the G3's drive back in, a 2001 iMac is still a useful computer (he says with complete bias). It will run Panther with no problems - even Tiger, 'tho a tad slowly. Bump the RAM to its maximum of 1 Gb to get smoother performance.