Reading old files

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Level 1

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Reading old files

I have some old files on an Iomega Zip disk that I cannot read. I have a 100mb Zip drive which opens up the files but they all say : "cannot execute binary file". Any suggestions?

Imac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 24, 2010 9:11 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 24, 2010 10:49 AM in response to Tallyforth

Do you have software that you know will open the files? The executable error is because the Mac cannot figure out the type of file. Try opening it from the software that should be able to understand it.

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Answer 2

a brody

Level 10

82,965 points

Sep 24, 2010 12:57 PM in response to Tallyforth

It would help if we knew the suffix of the filenames in question.

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Answer 3

Sep 24, 2010 2:30 PM in response to a brody

Since he is getting the "unix executable" error they probably don't have extensions.

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Answer 4

Tallyforth Author

Level 1

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Sep 25, 2010 3:02 AM in response to Tallyforth

The message I get is this:

Last login: Fri Sep 24 17:56:35 on ttys000
/Volumes/ZIP-100/Little\ Willie\'s\ Blues/Blues\ Connections ; exit;
[Bob-Bibbys-Computer:~] bobbibby% /Volumes/ZIP-100/Little\ Willie\'s\ Blues/Blues\ Connections ; exit;
/Volumes/ZIP-100/Little Willie's Blues/Blues Connections: /Volumes/ZIP-100/Little Willie's Blues/Blues Connections: cannot execute binary file
logout

[Process completed]

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Answer 5

Sep 25, 2010 5:20 PM in response to Tallyforth

What type of files are they? If they're documents then you could try dragging them on to an application that supports the document type.

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Answer 6

Tallyforth Author

Level 1

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Sep 26, 2010 3:18 AM in response to Tallyforth

Thanks for your answers. Have now resolved problem by dragging documents (yes, they were part of an aborted novel I now want to revisit), into Microsoft Word for Mac and hey presto! all are revealed. Thanks again.

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