Trying to access MacWrite ll document

Hi,

Which computer was used to create the document (and is the machine still available, even if not working)?

Are they HD or DD diskettes? An external USB floppy drive can handle 1.44 MB Mac and PC floppies (720K PC-formatted disks should also be OK), but not the special 800K Mac format. An older (approx. 1991-1997) desktop Mac with a built-in floppy drive could read all types. Which desktop model do you have?

Before you continue, ensure that the diskettes are write-protected (locked). This is especially important when trying to read the floppies on a more modern computer (there is always a risk that the newer operating system may corrupt the contents). Do NOT initialise the diskettes.

Be careful, old diskettes can quickly become unreadable. It is very wise to try to backup the files as soon as possible.

Which word processing applications do you have access to on the more modern computers?

Jan

A 1999 desktop would be a Mac without a built-in floppy drive. Since the diskettes are 2DD/DSDD (800K when Mac-formatted), you really need a pre-1998 Macintosh computer (preferably one with an operating system that would allow you to directly run the MacWrite II program). A USB floppy drive cannot be used in this case.

Perhaps someone in an Apple user group in your area could help you.

http://www.apple.com/usergroups/

Jan

I have quite a lot of old Macs and don't mind playing to see what can be done.

I am in Bedfordshire in the UK.

If you are not near me you could post the floppies if they are not too confidential.

If you want my help you should know that I may not have MacWrite so will need both floppies.

I am sure you will think of a way to find my contact details.

As indicated earlier, the Macintosh computers between approx. 1991 and 1997 do have (built-in) floppy drives that can handle both 800K (DD) and 1.44 MB (HD) Mac-formatted diskettes. You can find additional information via the web page below.

http://lowendmac.com/profiles.htm

A suitable intermediary could be almost any machine from the mentioned era. It would of course not be bad if that computer has Ethernet capabilities and can be connected to the Internet (but it is not absolutely necessary).

I do not know the system requirements for MacWrite II, but I guess that a System 7.5.x machine would still be OK (and maybe even Mac OS 8.x and possibly 9.x).

What you do to begin with in a situation like this is to copy the diskettes onto the hard disk, and then onto 1.44 MB Mac-formatted (HD) diskettes (as backup copies). After that, you could try to install and run the MacWrite II program, and open the document. Look under the Save As menu for a list of file formats. Now, re-save (a copy of) the document in a generic file format (like plain Text, or/and Rich Text Format = RTF). Copy the document in the generic formats to 1.44 MB Mac-formatted floppies, too. If possible, send all applicable files to your email address as attachments. Also, if available, use a SCSI Zip 100 drive and copy the files to a Zip 100 disk (that disk can later be read by a USB Zip 100 drive connected to a more modern computer).

If files on your document disks for some reason cannot be opened by the MacWrite II program, the old computer may have ClarisWorks/AppleWorks that perhaps could be used instead.

If nothing else works, you may have to try to open the document on a modern computer. A 1.44 MB floppy can be read by a USB floppy drive (or you have been able to transfer the files in another way, as suggested above). For some details about the handling of MacWrite files under Mac OS X, the following discussion may be of interest to you.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3028054

Jan

Addendum

Another useful application could possibly be a printer driver called PrintToPDF, which may be used on an intermediate computer to "print" documents to PDF files. Those files can then be transferred to a more modern machine.

http://www.jwwalker.com/pages/pdf.html

"I need to get this little project done in the next 2 weeks."

Are there any thrift stores in your area that sell donated computers/peripherals? I know that there are some Goodwill "Computer Works" stores in California (one is in Santa Ana), but the vintage Mac that you need is well beyond what they sell today. Nevertheless, if you can find a 1995-1998 beige Power Mac or Performa, any of these will have the "SuperDrive" FDD that has the variable speed needed to read 800K-formatted disks. I'll point out that a formerly-working floppy disk drive can become non-functional, after sitting in storage for a long time, so hopefully, you can find one that still works. As I recall (when this question was previously raised in the Forum), I think that ClarisWorks v. 2, 3, 4, and 5 - as well as AppleWorks v. 5.x - can read MacWrite documents. AppleWorks v. 6.x cannot open/read MacWrite documents.

springboardB wrote:

I have a 3.5mb floppy disk with the MacWritell program...

A 3.5 mb floppy disk???

The Sabrent will probably only read 1.4MB HD floppies.

Here is some more information:

http://siber-sonic.com/mac/newmillfloppy.html

I have been searching eBay for years for the Kennect 1200 and 2400 floppy drives and ironically both separately became available and I purchased them for possible use with my older Mac.

While springboardB indicated that the MacWrite program is on a 3.5 MB disk, the 450-page document seems to be on 1.4 MB disks: "The disks are DS.DD - 1mb (3M disks)."

3.5"?

While springboardB indicated that the MacWrite program is on a 3.5 MB disk, the 450-page document seems to be on 1.4 MB disks: "The disks are DS.DD - 1mb (3M disks)."

More confusion: those discs were typically the 800K precursers to the 1.4 MB HD diskettes.

3.5"?

Yes: Macs innovated the 3.5 " floppy drive after the industry used 5-1/4" floppys that had a smaller capacity.