I have a bunch of old floppy disks with papers and other junk on them. I don't need most of it, but I don't want to lose it either.
So I need a computer with a floppy drive and HD that can read both DD and HD disks.
(And, preferably, one that I can install my old software on, in case I need to export data as I did with the MIDI programs from one of the songs I recorded a couple of years ago, but had originally programmed back in '92 on Deluxe Music Recorder.)
I had a Power Mac 7100/66. I figure I can copy to it, then move over the network. But alas, the clock battery leaked all over the motherboard. $10 to drop it off at the dump.
Next up: an LCII. I can copy to its internal HD, and then move to high-density disks, which my USB floppy drive will read, and I can then copy to my server for archival. That would suck, but I could always connect my PowerBook G3/400 (which runs Mac OS X 10.3) to it as a SCSI drive (making sure I use the correct cable), since it has a SCSI port.
Ah, but then, I remember I have a Syquest EZ135 SCSI drive. So even better: copy data from floppies to EZ135 cart, then to PowerBook from there. I forgot I also had archived stuff on those carts, so I first test it on the PowerBook, copying off all the carts (some of which are temperamental). Then I go to the LCII. And it works great ... until the LCII stops working. Restart. Death chime.
Ow. But it still sorta works, for a few minutes, so last resort, I can try to use the LCII anyway.
Next up: a Quadra 610. It works OK ... except no video. Argh. Video card just plain doesn't work. $10 to the dump.
Not wanting to waste any more time, I find a IIsi on eBay for $20.50, shipping included. It says it all works fine. So, I get it, it arrives, and I plug it all in. No video. I forgot the IIsi video is a little wacky. But I have some video adapters, and one of them actually works.
That obstacle hurdled, I pop in some floppies. The first two work, then ... the next dozen don't. The floppy drive doesn't work properly. This was not mentioned on the eBay page, except for a little item about having to load the OS from an external hard drive. Figures.
But I still have the LCII. And a SuperDrive is a SuperDrive (at least, it was circa the early 90s). So I switch them, and ... happiness. (And the LCII will cost me another $10 at the dump.)
Among my floppy archives were tons of games. And now I have a IIsi in great condition to play them on! Mmmmm, Falcon. I have only 9MB in it, maybe I should try to max it out to 65. It also has over 100MB of HD space.
