kurt188
Level 4 (1,335 points)

Q: I'm trying to move some files off my old PCI PowerMac.

But I've discovered that every time I try to copy to or from the flash drive, the system hangs on Mac OS 9.1 (the last officially supported version for this Mac) and I have to reboot, which is getting me nowhere.

 

I can't network two Macs together; I have no external drive I can connect to the other Mac, and I can't email files to myself. Any solutions, or am I screwed?

PowerMac, Mac OS 9.1.x

Posted on Nov 27, 2011 9:53 PM

by kurt188,Solvedanswer
kurt188 kurt188
Level 4 (1,335 points)
A:

Don Archibald wrote:

 

Have you tried copying the files in very small batches? Sometimes a slow connection (and USB 1.1 is very slow) can choke on a large-size copy process, whether the individual files are large or the group is large.

Yup, I tried even 1 file and it causes the whole system to freeze, requiring a restart. However, I did find a non-intuitive and puzzling solution:

 

1. On the Mac you want to transfer files from, install Stuffit if you don't already have it, and even if you do, launch it and set the Preferences for the Destination of unarchived files to be 'Ask'.

 

2. Use Stuffit to compress your files in either .sit or .sea format on the hard drive of the Mac you want to transfer the files from.

 

3. Once the compression is complete, double-click the .sit or .sea file and choose the USB flash drive as the destination; it should decompress and copy the file(s) or folder of files to the flash drive with no problem. Repeat the process for each file or group of files you want to transfer.

 

As for why this works, I can't explain it, but it does, so that's one less thing to cause anyone to throw their computer off the top of a building.

Posted on Nov 28, 2011 1:43 PM

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kurt188

Q: I'm trying to move some files off my old PCI PowerMac.

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Nov 27, 2011 10:01 PM in response to kurt188
    Level 7 (20,988 points)
    iPad
    Nov 27, 2011 10:01 PM in response to kurt188

    When OS 9 was coded flash drives didn't even exist, so it's not surprising.

     

    Does your old Mac have a CD burner? Can you borrow an external drive for the occasion?

  • by kurt188,

    kurt188 kurt188 Nov 27, 2011 10:06 PM in response to Rysz
    Level 4 (1,335 points)
    Nov 27, 2011 10:06 PM in response to Rysz

    True, flash drives didn't exist, but support for USB devices was included in Mac OS 8 and up, and my PowerMac has a USB card installed. So I can mount the flash drive, see the files, delete them, eject the disk and all that other stuff, but copying files to or from the device is the problem. I just can't believe that Apple would have been that sloppy in providing support for them, since a USB device should operate the same as any other USB device.

     

    And, no the PowerMac doesn't have a CD-R drive; only a CD-ROM drive, so that's not an option. Neither is borrowing an external drive, since nobody I know of has one.

  • by Don Archibald,

    Don Archibald Don Archibald Nov 27, 2011 11:10 PM in response to kurt188
    Level 10 (101,435 points)
    Nov 27, 2011 11:10 PM in response to kurt188

    This article may have info that will help -

    kmos9: USB PCI card under Mac OS 9.2.2: Apple Support Communities

     

    Ignore most of it except the list of extensions and their version numbers.

     

    *****

     

    What model is your new machine, the one you want to get the files onto?

  • by kurt188,

    kurt188 kurt188 Nov 28, 2011 9:30 AM in response to Don Archibald
    Level 4 (1,335 points)
    Nov 28, 2011 9:30 AM in response to Don Archibald

    All those extensions listed are already there, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. I need to transfer these to one of my "Sunflower" iMac G4 models. I did manage to "borrow" an external hard drive from a local company and tried connecting via USB since the only other method it supports is FireWire, and the same issue of freezing when copying files to or from the drive arose.

  • by Don Archibald,Helpful

    Don Archibald Don Archibald Nov 28, 2011 1:00 PM in response to kurt188
    Level 10 (101,435 points)
    Nov 28, 2011 1:00 PM in response to kurt188

    Have you tried copying the files in very small batches? Sometimes a slow connection (and USB 1.1 is very slow) can choke on a large-size copy process, whether the individual files are large or the group is large.

     

    If the source machine is a G3 B&W or a G4 PCI desktop machine, its firewire should be adequate for copying purposes provided no individual file is larger than 2GB.

     

    Such a model can also be used in Firewire Target Disk mode, but only as the Host machine; neither of those models can be set as the Target machine in a FwTDM setup.

  • by kurt188,Solvedanswer

    kurt188 kurt188 Nov 28, 2011 1:43 PM in response to Don Archibald
    Level 4 (1,335 points)
    Nov 28, 2011 1:43 PM in response to Don Archibald

    Don Archibald wrote:

     

    Have you tried copying the files in very small batches? Sometimes a slow connection (and USB 1.1 is very slow) can choke on a large-size copy process, whether the individual files are large or the group is large.

    Yup, I tried even 1 file and it causes the whole system to freeze, requiring a restart. However, I did find a non-intuitive and puzzling solution:

     

    1. On the Mac you want to transfer files from, install Stuffit if you don't already have it, and even if you do, launch it and set the Preferences for the Destination of unarchived files to be 'Ask'.

     

    2. Use Stuffit to compress your files in either .sit or .sea format on the hard drive of the Mac you want to transfer the files from.

     

    3. Once the compression is complete, double-click the .sit or .sea file and choose the USB flash drive as the destination; it should decompress and copy the file(s) or folder of files to the flash drive with no problem. Repeat the process for each file or group of files you want to transfer.

     

    As for why this works, I can't explain it, but it does, so that's one less thing to cause anyone to throw their computer off the top of a building.

  • by Don Archibald,

    Don Archibald Don Archibald Nov 28, 2011 2:01 PM in response to kurt188
    Level 10 (101,435 points)
    Nov 28, 2011 2:01 PM in response to kurt188

    Odd, but interestingly cool!

     

    Thanks for posting back with your solution.