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Level 1

18 points

Data transfer from - Powerbook Duo 2300

My friend has an old Powerbook Duo 2300, (in great condition!) with some ClarisWorks documents which he wants to try and transfer.

It is running OS 8.5.1

I've already found a solution for actually reading the documents on a current mac. So that's not the issue. It is moving the files.

At this point the only way I see is with the floppy drive. He has the original that works fine. It reads and writes ok. At least as viewed on the Duo.

A SuperDisk drive with a USB that takes 3.5 floppies was found in one of his boxes and it works reasonably well.

He has some 3.5 floppies ClarisWorks Documents already on them that also existed on the Duo. They were placed on those floppies a long time ago. The SuperDrive can read them and transfers to his macbook. LibreOffice is able to read those files! Kudos to them. So I know it is possible to read the files.

Back on the Duo I began transferring some documents to a blank floppy. I erased to be sure. They clearly exist on the floppy when I transferred them. When I popped the floppy into the SuperDrive it would not read them. Or even mount. Tried ejecting and reinserting, etc. Nothing. It tried to read it but did not work.

I then took one of the floppies that did work as mentioned above over to the Duo. In the Duo it showed the same files that were there when it worked via the SuperDrive. I added a two files to that floppy and switched over to the SuperDisk. The floppy in the SuperDisk make an effort but could not mount, even though it worked before. I took that floppy back to the Duo. Deleted the two files from the floppy. Switched back to the SuperDrive and it was able to mount. Tried this a few times with the same results.

It seems when a file from the Duo is copied over now to the floppy it will not recognize it on the SuperDisk. It feels has something to do with the files itself? They work fine on the Duo.

In the past he had backed up a few files from the Duo. Those were in the floppy that works fine on the SuperDrive. Not sure why those work but at least those do.

I'm stuck it seems. So close!

I know this may be a shot in the dark but what the heck.

Any thoughts from old-schoolers?

thanks!

Posted on Jan 28, 2016 1:48 PM

17 replies

boilerfan97 Author

Level 1

18 points

Feb 3, 2016 2:00 PM in response to boilerfan97

>I did find some other old 1.4 disks. Any thoughts perhaps using those? Maybe a different starting point?

To begin with, verify the hard disk by running Disk First Aid on the Duo. Next, restart with the Shift key depressed (Extensions Off). Insert an HD floppy (preferably new and empty) and reformat it (1.44 MB Mac format) via Erase Disk under the Special menu. Drag-copy only a few small files to the floppy. Run Disk First Aid again and verify the floppy. If OK, eject the floppy by dragging it to the Trash, and lock it (write protect). Move to the USB (SuperDisk) drive at the MacBook. Any change?

I will see what I get with this in the next day or so.

Well it seems I can't get to the Utilities folder on the Duo. Finder crashes when trying to open the hard drive.

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,261 points

Feb 3, 2016 6:51 PM in response to boilerfan97

>here is a photo of the Duo and apple drive i'm working with.

Since it has a trackball and not a trackpad, this appears to be an earlier Duo upgraded with a 2300 logic board. This should not be of importance in this case, though.

>The macbook has El Capitan. Do you mean format disk in SuperDrive as OS 8.5.1 ?

I do not know how, or if, the USB SuperDisk drive would let you format a 1.44 MB floppy when connected to an El Capitan MacBook.

A Macintosh computer (like the Duo 2300) running Mac OS 8.1 or later can format/write/read HFS (Mac OS Standard) or HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) disks. For floppies, plain HFS is normally used.

Also, a Duo can read and write 1.44 MB PC-formatted HD floppies, providing that PC/File Exchange is active. You may want to carry out a transfer test with a PC-formatted 1.44 MB floppy.

A Mac with an operating system Mac OS X 10.6 or later can read but not write HFS (can write HFS+ only).

>I might have access to an old candy colored iMac, but it has a CD drive.

I was thinking about a somewhat older Mac, with a built-in floppy drive. However, you could perhaps make an attempt to connect the USB SuperDisk drive to this iMac instead, and then try to transfer files. Operating system version? Extra driver software may or may not be needed for the drive.

This iMac should have an internal modem. That could perhaps make a modem-to-modem transfer possible (see my reply above). Does the Duo have an internal modem, or an external serial modem?

>it seems I can't get to the Utilities folder on the Duo. Finder crashes when trying to open the hard drive.

Do you mean that it is not possible at all to boot from and access files on the internal hard disk? If so, is there an appropriate Disk Tools floppy available, that would allow you to boot from the Duo's external floppy drive?

Data transfer from - Powerbook Duo 2300