Accessing old Power Macintosh 6400 data

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Had a question from a friend: he has some files he needs off the HDD and floppies of an old Power 6400

If I somehow connect the HDD to my Macbook (or a PC or a Linux machine) - will I be able to access the drives/files? What is the drive format of that HDD most likely to be?

Any suggestions are welcome!
 

pigoo3

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Any suggestions are welcome!

Purchase an old Macintosh computer...similar in vintage to Powermac 6400...then extract/copy the necessary files. An old computer like this is very inexpensive. I'm talking like $20-$25 or less (many times free if you get lucky).

- Nick
 
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That was one idea I had, but I was hoping there is an easier way ....
 

pigoo3

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Most Macintosh computers before 2000 had a SCSI interface. Macintosh computers from about 2000-2005 had an IDE/PATA interface. Finally...Macintosh computers from about 2006 thru today have an SATA interface.

If you don't know what all this means...it mostly has something to do with the cabling and connectors that connect the hard drive to the computers logic board.

I haven't searched...but it may be possible to find an external hard drive enclosure for SCSI hard drives...and has USB cabling to connect to say your more modern MacBook.

The 6400 computers hard drive is most likely setup to use old OS 8 or OS 9 (from the mid-late 1990's). To read these files/older setup...an older computer (prior to say 2005) may be best to use. I'm not 100% sure newer Intel Mac's can read files from an HD this old (I haven't tried).

So another option could be. Install the old 6400's HD into an external HD enclosure that accepts SCSI HD's...but also has a USB cable interface...so it can be plugged into a more modern computer to be read.

The problem is...this external HD enclosure for an SCSI HD is probably pretty hard to find (if it still exists)...and will almost definitely will cost than an old used computer similar in vintage to the 6400.

- Nick
 

pigoo3

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So another option could be. Install the old 6400's HD into an external HD enclosure that accepts SCSI HD's...but also has a USB cable interface...so it can be plugged into a more modern computer to be read.

What I forgot to mention with this 2nd option is...IF...you can find an external SCSI HD enclosure with a USB interface to plug into a more modern computer (say 2000-2005)...AND "the friend" is willing to pay the price for it. Then if you know someone with such a computer (2000-2005 vintage)...then you could plug this external SCSI HD enclosure into it to be read & files transferred.

- Nick
 
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Did it come with an optional ethernet port?
 

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According to this page the internal drive in that beast is an IDE drive. If so, this should let you connect to the drive. It did not ship with ethernet so that's out unless it was added later. It could also be fitted with an Airport card but that was not stock either.
 

pigoo3

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According to this page the internal drive in that beast is an IDE drive.

Thanks for clarifying Slydude. I guess I got my Early Powermac 1996 "genre" mixed up. An IDE interface would certainly make things a bit easier to work with than SCSI.:)

- Nick
 

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Thanks for clarifying Slydude. I guess I got my Early Powermac 1996 "genre" mixed up. An IDE interface would certainly make things a bit easier to work with than SCSI.:)

- Nick

I wasn't sure about the internal drive. This is probably one of the earlier machines with an IDE drive. That spec page mentions SCSI (25 pin) so it probably has a connector for external SCSI drives. Useless in this case.

@OP The device I linked to is probably best for this project. When you are done it can be used any time you need to temporarily connect a drive.
 

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