2HD Floppy Disks

[geecee58]

What do I need to transfer data from my old 2HD floppy disks on to CDs I can use on my Mac El Capitan?

 

[pigoo3]

That is a bit of a task! But first it would be great to know what Apple computers you have access to…so we can come up with some solutions (which depend what hardware you have available).

- Nick

 

[geecee58]

I no longer have the computers, just the floppy disks I used to create the data. I am a retired music teacher and over the course of my teaching career when the school system I taught in purchased and began using Mac Computers we went through various models. The first were the LC I, II and III's. When we used these models of the Mac computer I used a music software called Finale Allegro 1993 to write and arrange songs for my choirs and instrumental groups. Then in the nineties we began using Mac Plus. With the Mac Plus I updated my Finale Allegro to the new version at that time, Finale 2007. Fortunately, the floppy disks I used to write music and arranged songs on the older macs and the older version of Finale worked on it as well. About three or four years before we went from macs to dell laptops, we used the Apple iMac GC 3. Again the floppy disks I used on the older versions still worked with this version as well.

I also have a Yamaha PSR 730 piano keyboard I purchased in 1997 that had a floppy disk drive. I'd like to transfer the data from those disks too. With this being an older keyboard, I'm concerned that once it gives up the ghost, the data I've created on the floppy disks will be gone forever.

The computers I have now are Mac Lion, and Mac El Capitan.

I appreciate any information you can give me... Thanks...

 

[pigoo3]

I no longer have the computers, just the floppy disks I used to create the data. I am a retired music teacher and over the course of my teaching career when the school system I taught in purchased and began using Mac Computers we went through various models. The first were the LC I, II and III's. When we used these models of the Mac computer I used a music software called Finale Allegro 1993 to write and arrange songs for my choirs and instrumental groups. Then in the nineties we began using Mac Plus. With the Mac Plus I updated my Finale Allegro to the new version at that time, Finale 2007. Fortunately, the floppy disks I used to write music and arranged songs on the older macs and the older version of Finale worked on it as well. About three or four years before we went from macs to dell laptops, we used the Apple iMac GC 3. Again the floppy disks I used on the older versions still worked with this version as well.

I also have a Yamaha PSR 730 piano keyboard I purchased in 1997 that had a floppy disk drive. I'd like to transfer the data from those disks too. With this being an older keyboard, I'm concerned that once it gives up the ghost, the data I've created on the floppy disks will be gone forever.

Yes…I understand all of this. But you didn't tell us what Apple computers you have/have access to.

The computers I have now are Mac Lion, and Mac El Capitan.

These are not computer models…they are OS versions.

Need to know what Apple computers you have currently…so we can assess what ports/hardware they have…and then suggest solutions.

- Nick

 

[chscag]

Just a quick answer here.... any USB floppy disk drive that can read double density disks (1.44 MB) can be use with a modern Mac. I currently have a Sony USB floppy drive (still being sold, check eBay) that works with my 2013 iMac running El Capitan. The same drive worked with an older iMac and MacBook that I previously owned. Be aware, however, that not all old floppy disks will be able to be read because of the way they may have been formatted and data written to them. It's a hit and miss thing. Just wanted to let you know that so as not to expect too much.

 

[pigoo3]

Just a quick answer here.... any USB floppy disk drive that can read double density disks (1.44 MB) can be use with a modern Mac. I currently have a Sony USB floppy drive (still being sold, check eBay) that works with my 2013 iMac running El Capitan.

That's the direction I was heading as well. Wanted to verify that the OP had a computer that had an optical drive…so floppy info can then be written to CD.

- Nick

 

[Slydude]

I can certainly attest to that Charlie. I have one of those USB-based floppy disk readers. The last time I tried it with my MacBook Pro couple of years ago it did not work. Since your experience seems to have been a little bit different I'm wondering if maybe the several disc I tried it with were bad.

 

[chscag]

Most of the time it's the way the disks were written as to whether or not they can be read. Commercial 3.5" floppy disks are generally no problem; it's the ones that I originally wrote to with the various PCs that I've owned over the years. And to what Nick stated - as long as the data from the floppy disk can be read, it can be burned to a CD either from an internal drive or external. I've copied data from my old floppies on to CDs with my external optical drive.

 

[Rod]

Yep, agree with the above, I'd have a look at eBay for an old mac USB external floppy drive. They were expensive when new but now i think they would be fairly cheap, for example; http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...Drive.TRS0&_nkw=Mac+USB+Floppy+Drive&_sacat=0

 

[geecee58]

Yes…I understand all of this. But you didn't tell us what Apple computers you have/have access to.



These are not computer models…they are OS versions.

Need to know what Apple computers you have currently…so we can assess what ports/hardware they have…and then suggest solutions.

- Nick

Mac OSX 10.7.5 Desktop

 

[geecee58]

also Mac OSX 10.4.11 and OSX 10.11.4 they are all iMac Desktops.

 

[pigoo3]

also Mac OSX 10.4.11 and OSX 10.11.4 they are all iMac Desktops.

Again. This info is not specific enough. iMac's were first released in 1998…and 18 years later iMacs are still in production. There have been almost 100 different iMac models. Thus very difficult to know exactly what you have. OS

- OS 10.4.11 probably = old iMac
- OS 10.11.4 probably = much newer iMac

This still doesn't tell us what the hardware configuration is of each.

There have been suggestions made above how to proceed:

- Locate/purchase an external USB floppy disk drive.
- Plug it into the Apple computer you have that has an internal optical drive.
- Copy the floppy data to the iMac.
- Burn the data to CD.

* Nick

 

[geecee58]

Again. This info is not specific enough. iMac's were first released in 1998…and 18 years later iMacs are still in production. There have been almost 100 different iMac models. Thus very difficult to know exactly what you have. OS

- OS 10.4.11 probably = old iMac
- OS 10.11.4 probably = much newer iMac

This still doesn't tell us what the hardware configuration is of each.

There have been suggestions made above how to proceed:

- Locate/purchase an external USB floppy disk drive.
- Plug it into the Apple computer you have that has an internal optical drive.
- Copy the floppy data to the iMac.
- Burn the data to CD.

* Nick

Okay, Thanks. We'll leave it at that. I guess I just don't understand what you mean by model?. Appreciate your feed back.

 

[nickyr]

If you click on the Apple logo in the top left of your screen then About this Mac from the drop down menu, a window will show up which will show the model of mac you're using. E.g. mine says iMac 27" late 2012

 

[geecee58]

Thank you nickyr. I did that, I just didn't realize I needed to include the date. Mine says iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015). I may not be on the cutting edge of computer lingo, but for the most part, I do okay for myself when trying to figure things out(when I can't I come here). Mostly by accident, but hey, that's what makes life interesting.

 

[pigoo3]

Mine says iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015).

With this iMac you have no builtin optical drive. Thus you either need to use an external optical drive…or maybe use the other iMac you mentioned that's running 10.4.11.

- Nick

 

[geecee58]

I stopped in at local computer repair shop to see if they had anything I could purchase to transfer data to a CD. He said he would do it for me for $20.00. I didn't have to think twice about it; they'll be ready on Friday.

 

[geecee58]

Nick, I have an external optical drive. with the iMac Late 2015, but as mentioned above, I found someone in the area that is doing it for me. It was less expensive doing it this way than going to eBay and purchasing all the extra things I would only nee to use one time and then have laying around my home office with nothing else to use it for.

 

[pigoo3]

...I found someone in the area that is doing it for me. It was less expensive doing it this way than going to eBay and purchasing all the extra things I would only nee to use one time and then have laying around my home office with nothing else to use it for.

A great solution. Especially if this is one-time need.

- Nick

 

[geecee58]

A great solution. Especially if this is one-time need.

- Nick

Amen to that!!! Thanks for hanging in there with me. Greatly appreciated.