Charlie,
>All Sys 7 & later Macs w/ b/i FDDs were 1.44 MB. I'm not certain a Mac 800 kb disk could be read by the Performa.
All Macintosh machines with built-in floppy drives for 1.44 MB can read/write/format both 1.44 MB (HD) and 800K (DSDD/2DD) Mac--formatted diskettes. Furthermore, as you know, one could work with both 1.44 MB (HD) and 720K (DSDD/2DD) PC-formatted disks, providing that the correct application or control panel is installed on the Macintosh side.
USB and PC floppy drives are not capable of handling 800K (DSDD/2DD) Mac-formatted diskettes, only 1.44 MB (HD). However, 1.44 MB (HD) and 720K (DSDD/2DD) PC-formatted disks may be used. All this providing that the necessary software (depending on computer/platform) is active.
>If we do hang onto the Mac, how do I delete mom's old datafiles securely? I've Norton's Disk Utilities installed. Maybe it has a file wipe feature.
I assume that you want to keep the Zip backup disks and put them in a safe place.
For the internal hard drive, look for a Wipe Info application among the Norton files on the computer (or on a separate disc/disk). You may want to put this utility program on a bootable floppy, if not already done. Check the erasure options under a preferences menu. After having moved certain files to the Wastebasket/Trash (and emptied the Wastebasket/Trash), use the Wipe Info utility to erase free space.
Burn 2.5 would be a freeware alternative to Norton's Wipe Info.
http://archive.info-mac.org/_Disk_&_File/
If you instead wish to erase the entire hard disk, it could help if you have the Wipe Info (or Burn 2.5) program on a bootable floppy before you start.
For a full disk erasure (if selling or giving the computer away), you should also choose to use "Zero all data" under the formatting options in Drive Setup (after having started from a bootable system CD or tools floppy containing a suitable version, such as download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_ American/Macintosh/Utilities/Drive_Setup/Drive_Setup_1.7.3.smi.bin). Then, a new operating system can be installed.
>Oh, and the settings backup battery should probably be removed. No?
It may be wise to remove the logic board battery in order to avoid any leakage damages during a long storage period.
Jan