Help Reading Floppy Disk Originally Used on 128k Macintosh

[Cloud909]

I have a single sided, 3.5" floppy disk that was regularly used 1985-1990. When it was last used on the 128k Macintosh, it was fully functional. I now have a Mac SE (released in 1986); when I insert the floppy disk, a prompt tells me the disk is unreadable and asks if I would like to initialize it. As a test, I took a different floppy disk, initialized it, and it functions just fine so this shows the machine has no defects.

So I have a few questions and will greatly appreciate the help:

1.) Assuming that a floppy disk was stored in a safe environment free of magnetic fields, heat/cold, moisture, etc., is it reasonable to expect that it some cases it may still work after 27 years?

2.) What are some things I can do to troubleshoot this issue, assuming that the disk functions.

If I need to provide more info, just ask and I'll reply in a timely manner.

Again, thanks for your help!

 

[DeltaMac]

Assuming your 128k Mac had the normal 400k floppy drive, Apple dropped support for the MFS 400k floppy in Mac OS 8.
You should be able to read those 400k floppies if you are running Mac OS 7.6.1 or older.
You can both read and write to the old MFS floppy if you are running System 7.5.5 or older.

 

[Cloud909]

Assuming your 128k Mac had the normal 400k floppy drive, Apple dropped support for the MFS 400k floppy in Mac OS 8.
You should be able to read those 400k floppies if you are running Mac OS 7.6.1 or older.
You can both read and write to the old MFS floppy if you are running System 7.5.5 or older.

The disk I boot from has a label which reads,
"Macintosh
Systems Tools
Disk # 1 of 2
Version 5.0"
I also can read this when going to file>get info.

Can you tell anything about what OS I am running based off of this?

 

[DeltaMac]

If you boot to that System Tools disk, what version is it?
Go to the Apple menu, then About this Mac. That window will tell you what version you are using.

 

[Nermal]

As far as I can remember, you can't run OS 8 on an SE so that's unlikely to be the problem.

When did you last use the disk? I believe that they can slowly lose their magnetism as time goes on.

 

[Cloud909]

If you boot to that System Tools disk, what version is it?
Go to the Apple menu, then About this Mac. That window will tell you what version you are using.

I wasn't able to locate the Apple Menu.
[doublepost=1504102353][/doublepost]

As far as I can remember, you can't run OS 8 on an SE so that's unlikely to be the problem.

When did you last use the disk? I believe that they can slowly lose their magnetism as time goes on.

I believe the disk I want to read was last used 25 years ago. If the disks slowly loose their magnetism overtime, then why is it that the system tools floppy still work, which was last modified on Mon, Oct 12, 1987 8:04 AM. Does using a floppy disk somehow help preserve the magnetism? Definitely interested in more information about this.

 

[Cloud909]

Hey guys, turns out that the particular disk I was using in someway is corrputed. The others work just fine. So now the question is, how does one move these text files on to something more modern like windows 7?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

The boot disk you mention is an OS that should be able to mount a 400k floppy disk just fine. Sounds like it is definitely a bad floppy disk.

To move them to something more modern would need some way to actually move the files first. A few questions:

1. The Macintosh SE was released in two versions. One with 800k floppy drives, and one with 1.4M floppy drives. This later model was often badged "SuperDrive" on the front panel next to "Macintosh SE" or on the rear panel sticker. Which model do you have?

If you have the "SuperDrive" / 1.4 MB drive version, then with a newer OS (Mac OS 7.1 or later,) it can read and write PC-formatted 1.4 MB floppy disks. You could move the files to a PC formatted floppy disk, then load that disk in a modern PC using a USB floppy drive. (Sadly, Apple used a different drive mechanism for their 400k and 800k disks that are not compatible at all with PC floppy drives. Only the 1.4M floppy drive can read/write PC floppy disks, and there is no easy workaround for this. If you have an 800k-drive Macintosh SE, this becomes significantly more difficult.)

 

[Cloud909]

The boot disk you mention is an OS that should be able to mount a 400k floppy disk just fine. Sounds like it is definitely a bad floppy disk.

To move them to something more modern would need some way to actually move the files first. A few questions:

1. The Macintosh SE was released in two versions. One with 800k floppy drives, and one with 1.4M floppy drives. This later model was often badged "SuperDrive" on the front panel next to "Macintosh SE" or on the rear panel sticker. Which model do you have?

If you have the "SuperDrive" / 1.4 MB drive version, then with a newer OS (Mac OS 7.1 or later,) it can read and write PC-formatted 1.4 MB floppy disks. You could move the files to a PC formatted floppy disk, then load that disk in a modern PC using a USB floppy drive. (Sadly, Apple used a different drive mechanism for their 400k and 800k disks that are not compatible at all with PC floppy drives. Only the 1.4M floppy drive can read/write PC floppy disks, and there is no easy workaround for this. If you have an 800k-drive Macintosh SE, this becomes significantly more difficult.)

My Macintosh SE has two 800k floppy disk drives. The floppy disks I want information off of were originally used on a machine that had a 400k drive. Would I be able to read this disks on a SuperDrive model?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

You would. Any Macintosh that shipped with an Apple-supplied floppy drive can *read* 400k floppy disks. (The later ones can only read, and some later OSes won't mount the disk, but you can make a disk IMAGE of it using Disk Copy and mount that image.)