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the external floppy disc drive I just bought is not recognized by either my mac book pro nor my apple air. Both have the system Catalina 10.15.7. Is there a chance/way to still read / transfer the content of my floppies ?
MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.15
Yes, reading a PC-formatted (FAT) 1.44 MB HD floppy containing data files (such as .xls) on a modern Mac should work fine.
However, the problem in the OP's case is that it appears to be a Mac-formatted (HFS) floppy, already containing data files. HFS readability is limited to macOS 10.12 Sierra or macOS 10.14 Mojave according to the tests in the aforementioned article.
Reading Mac data files from an HFS floppy on a Windows computer may be possible via an appropriate (early) version of a PC utility similar to TransMac or MacDrive.
Generally speaking, especially if Mac applications are involved, the best way to read HFS floppies is to locate a pre-1998 Mac computer with a suitable system version, and a built-in floppy drive and Ethernet. If necessary, data files may then be transferred to a more modern Mac or PC (for example) on PC-formatted HD floppies or via a network.
Yes, reading a PC-formatted (FAT) 1.44 MB HD floppy containing data files (such as .xls) on a modern Mac should work fine.
However, the problem in the OP's case is that it appears to be a Mac-formatted (HFS) floppy, already containing data files. HFS readability is limited to macOS 10.12 Sierra or macOS 10.14 Mojave according to the tests in the aforementioned article.
Reading Mac data files from an HFS floppy on a Windows computer may be possible via an appropriate (early) version of a PC utility similar to TransMac or MacDrive.
Generally speaking, especially if Mac applications are involved, the best way to read HFS floppies is to locate a pre-1998 Mac computer with a suitable system version, and a built-in floppy drive and Ethernet. If necessary, data files may then be transferred to a more modern Mac or PC (for example) on PC-formatted HD floppies or via a network.
I have a purpose-built, Mac-compatible, 3.5 inch 1.44 MB SmartDisk VST floppy drive that was purchased for my 1999 iMac DV SE. I just mounted a FAT32 disk formatted on Windows 95 with project files from 1997 onto the Desktop of my M2 Mac Mini Pro running Sonoma 14.5. I just opened an old .xls spreadsheet in Excel v16.84.
No drivers were necessary, and having a Mac-compatible floppy drive is important.
Thank you for the update.
First of all, some USB floppy drives (even though intended for a direct USB connection) may actually need an external, powered USB hub.
OK, so we can assume that the floppies are 1.44 MB Mac-formatted (HFS) HD disks. You could perhaps have a look at the article https://siber-sonic.com/mac/newmillfloppy.html (these tests include compatibility information up to macOS 10.12 Sierra, or macOS 10.14 Mojave, only). Do not expect macOS 10.15 Catalina to work.
If absolutely necessary, you could perhaps check whether it would be possible to connect the USB floppy drive to an earlier Windows computer with one of the PC utilities capable of handling Mac-formatted (HFS) disks. This would be entirely experimental.
Remember to lock the floppy disks before attempting to read them.
>I also had my Powerbook 540C at home.
Just as a by-the-way, this is exactly the type of computer that could be very useful here. It has a floppy drive, built-in Ethernet (only an external AAUI to RJ-45 transceiver required), and a SCSI port. It can also be equipped with a PCMCIA expansion module, allowing the use of CompactFlash or SD memory cards in a corresponding adapter for transfers (and even a few wireless PCMCIA cards if the module is rev. C).
Thankyou for the detailed info! Based on it I was successful to make a connection. I recalled still having an iBook pc G3 that had system osc 10.2.1 as well as system p.s. 9.2.2 .
opening 9.2.2 allowed reading the floppy discs , copying the files into a usb stick and the opening it again in the 10.2.1. system…. There was only one drawback: the computer shut down completely after transfer and I had to reinstall the system via the original system cds. Hours of trying and trusting however ….
still, thanks to your advise I could make it work, but only by still having an old computer with a system prior to OSX. Thankyou again!
Hi,
It is not only a question about the ability to recognise a floppy drive. This may or may work with different USB floppy drives, Mac computers, operating systems, and possibly driver availability.
The floppy disk is what is supposed to be recognised. The type of diskette (HD or DD) and its file system would be of importance. For example, an 800K Mac-formatted DD diskette cannot be read by a USB floppy drive.
Additional details about what you have to work with could be of help.
See also the discussion Read/write HFS floppy disks with model ma… - Apple Community .
These are HD discs that are marked for system 7.5.5 or higher. I recall being able to read those on a previous apple laptop computer bought in 1990s - that I no longer have. The external drive from mougerk model:NO.FLP-EXTA was indicating that it could be used for Mac. In the accompanying description it says "you will need to have the device driver for it installed on your computer". However, I can't find this driver. Thank you for your input !
Those work-related FAT32 formatted disks were because I carried a dual-boot Toshiba laptop at the time (1997) running Solaris X86 and Windows 95. No HFS entered the picture, though, at that time, I also had my Powerbook 540C at home.
I understand the island those HFS formatted disks pose now.
Thank you for the report. Glad to hear that you could read the floppies. Good work!
external floppy disc recognition
