Any suggestions how to go about this? Are there services where I can send the disks? I can't find that old of a Mac lying around in 2020!
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I need to get data off some variable spin rate floppy disks
- Thread starter cameronjpu
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I'm sure there are nice forum members that would do it for you.
Just say where you are located.I'm sure someone will chime in.
Another tip is to post it in the collector Subforum.
Just say where you are located.I'm sure someone will chime in.
Another tip is to post it in the collector Subforum.
They are 3.5", but they are variable spin rate, which is why any floppy drive will not work. It has to be a drive capable of reading the variable disks. Modern drives are constant rotation, which apple also switched to after their brush with financial death in the 80s.
If you don't mind mailing them to Kentucky, I'm happy to take care of them and drop them onto a USB.
There is a commercial service that does just this and convert your old files into modern equivalents.
https://retrofloppy.com/
There's nothing wrong with using a commercial service, but there are a lot of hobbyists around who maintain systems that can handle these disks with no problems and spit them out to whatever format you want.
I have a PM 9600 sitting next to my Mac Pro 5,1 that has a USB/FW card, a CD burner, and a ZIP drive. I'm sure I'm not the only one with a similar set-up.
Also, to be clear on the variable spin rate thing-that was one of Woz's brilliant ideas to squeeze a bit more information onto a disk(400K and 800K vs. 360K and 720K for IBMs). On the original Macintosh, this was all handled through a specialized chip called the "IWM" or Integrated Woz Machine.
When Apple started using 1.44mb "high density" drives, they used the IBM standard constant speed drives. The key, though, is that the drives were still routed through an IWM or later a SWIM chip, which maintained the ability to vary drive speed when a 400/800K disk was inserted.
ALL Macs with internal floppy drives, right up to the beige G3s, can handle old Mac 400K/800K disks. In fact, some early "new world ROM" computers like the iMac G3 had a SWIM chip, and folks have hacked floppy drives into these.
I mention all of that because the hardware to read these disks isn't as rare/exotic as it seems. Late beige era computers(G3s are favorites of many, but the pre-G3 ones like the 8600 and 9600 too) in fact are ideal for this sort of stuff because many have ZIPs, CD-RWs can be added easily, and a PCI card gives FW and USB to transfer to external mass storage devices. The key is this all has to be done in OS 9 or earlier, as the floppy drives don't work(easily) in OS X.
I have a PM 9600 sitting next to my Mac Pro 5,1 that has a USB/FW card, a CD burner, and a ZIP drive. I'm sure I'm not the only one with a similar set-up.
Also, to be clear on the variable spin rate thing-that was one of Woz's brilliant ideas to squeeze a bit more information onto a disk(400K and 800K vs. 360K and 720K for IBMs). On the original Macintosh, this was all handled through a specialized chip called the "IWM" or Integrated Woz Machine.
When Apple started using 1.44mb "high density" drives, they used the IBM standard constant speed drives. The key, though, is that the drives were still routed through an IWM or later a SWIM chip, which maintained the ability to vary drive speed when a 400/800K disk was inserted.
ALL Macs with internal floppy drives, right up to the beige G3s, can handle old Mac 400K/800K disks. In fact, some early "new world ROM" computers like the iMac G3 had a SWIM chip, and folks have hacked floppy drives into these.
I mention all of that because the hardware to read these disks isn't as rare/exotic as it seems. Late beige era computers(G3s are favorites of many, but the pre-G3 ones like the 8600 and 9600 too) in fact are ideal for this sort of stuff because many have ZIPs, CD-RWs can be added easily, and a PCI card gives FW and USB to transfer to external mass storage devices. The key is this all has to be done in OS 9 or earlier, as the floppy drives don't work(easily) in OS X.
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