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Moving programs from a MacBook Pro to a Mac SE with no superdrive

O

oldmaclover

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 5, 2010
12
0
I need Help!
I have an old Mac SE with a floppy 400/800k drive (so no super drive), and I downloaded from the net some programs (e.g. Columns). I want to move these programs from the MacBook Pro to the mac SE. How can I do it?
 
I think you'll need one more computer in your collection. One which you can connect to internet and use floppy drives at the same time. You can probably find an old powermac for 20 or 30 bucks.
 
Thank for the hint. I seem to have found an other way: there's a program for windows that allows to move files to a floppy disk without making it a DOS floppy. I'll try this and if it doesn't work i'll buy an other computer. Some suggestions for the new computer?

EDIT: Are you italian?
 
The problem is that you're not going to be able to write to 800K disks from either a PC or a USB floppy drive for a newer Mac. You're going to need an in-between Mac for this. Like Angelo95210 said, you should be able to find a cheap older PowerMac for next to nothing these days. A beige G3 or earlier will be just fine. You can even network the PowerMac to your SE via LocalTalk - negating the need to deal with floppies.
 
A final option is to get an Ethernet card for the SE. Of course, unless it's an Apple-made Ethernet card, you'll still need to get drivers for it on the system somehow.....
 
oldmaclover said:
What about a floppy-drive for Mac OS X? :confused:
:apple:
Click to expand...

Unfortunately because your SE isn't one with a high density (1.4MB) drive, it won't work. All USB floppy drives only support the 1.4MB format - not 800K. To further complicate things, Apple removed support for your SE's file system in 10.6, so regardless you'd need to use 10.5 or older.
 
I do not recommend buying an ethernet card to connect your SE to internet. It will be very slow. And a floppy drive for Mac OS X will be expensive, probably more than a used beige powermac...

Enjoy your vintage mac, I am like you. I like to spend time with them :)
 
Angelo95210 said:
I do not recommend buying an ethernet card to connect your SE to internet. It will be very slow.
Click to expand...

But ftp will be just fine. In fact, that's a good way to transfer files from OS X to your SE. The trouble is getting the System, ethernet drivers, TCP/IP, and an FTP onto the SE to begin with.
 
Yep, and now here comes the same problem: how can I move stuff from my MacBook Pro to my Mac SE? :D
:apple:
 
Thank you David! I've ordered a copy of System 1.1 with Mac Write and Mac Paint, and then i'll move them to my HD and I'll run them with Sys 6!
 
Angelo95210 said:
I do not recommend buying an ethernet card to connect your SE to internet. It will be very slow. And a floppy drive for Mac OS X will be expensive, probably more than a used beige powermac...

Enjoy your vintage mac, I am like you. I like to spend time with them :)
Click to expand...

Direct Ethernet to the SE would be the fastest method. There is no faster connection available. And it would be a single-step, direct from OS X machine to SE. (As dmr727 mentions, FTP works just fine.)

"A floppy drive for Mac OS X" is cheap: $13 from Amazon. "A floppy drive that works with Apple DSDD floppies in OS X", on the other hand..... That is insanely expensive, yes. (There are only a couple out there, both "prototype quality" hand made jobs - that aren't "floppy drives" in the conventional sense in that they don't mount the floppy to the OS, they merely provide raw read/write access, so you can image a disk, or restore the image to disk.)
 
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I'd get an old mac that can get online and network to these old machines.

For example, my PowerBook G3 networks to my Mac Plus, and the plus can run programs straight off the G3.

It should work with an SE too.

See if you can pick up a wallstreet G3 for cheap.
 
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