Transferring from Performa 400 to New iMac!!

keredern

Hi! I have a VERY old Performa 400 which contains some Word docs & files and some voice recordings of my children that I would dearly love to move on to my new iMac.

Can anyone explain if this is possible?

Please note that I am techie illiterate:p...just know where the on/off button is!!!

If it's possible, please explain in language suitable for 3 year olds!!:o

Any help very much appreciated

Matt Bauer

This is a tough one, but I presume the Performa 400 has a working floppy drive? If so, the easiest way would be to buy a USB floppy drive for your new iMac:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/External-USB-Floppy-Drive-Black/dp/B00095KY7U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303899715&sr=8-1

This one is Mac compatible and will do exactly what you need.

whippet

Matt Bauer wrote: »

This is a tough one, but I presume the Performa 400 has a working floppy drive? If so, the easiest way would be to buy a USB floppy drive for your new iMac:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/External-USB-Floppy-Drive-Black/dp/B00095KY7U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303899715&sr=8-1

This one is Mac compatible and will do exactly what you need.

the PerForma would have a ADB Port not a USB port, you'd need a Serial to USB adaptor to even try to get that floppy to work.
(sorry just noticed that you are saying the performa has a floppy .. if it doesn't it will be tougher)

your best bet would be taking the actual SCSI hard drive out of the PerForma and finding someone who could take the data off for you?

K.O.Kiki

whippet wrote: »

the PerForma would have a ADB Port not a USB port, you'd need a Serial to USB adaptor to even try to get that floppy to work.
(sorry just noticed that you are saying the performa has a floppy .. if it doesn't it will be tougher)

your best bet would be taking the actual SCSI hard drive out of the PerForma and finding someone who could take the data off for you?

Matt's saying to put the data from the Performa ONTO a floppy, then copying that data to the iMac via the USB floppy drive.

Wow, this one's a toughie; never even seen a Performa myself.

ZENER

Does the Performa have a network port ? The spec doesn't mention it but one may have been added afterwards ? The other option is to email the files after compressing them. Might take a while though ?!

The other option is a USB to serial adaptor for the iMac and a null modem cable to the Performa. Would be faster than email. The technicalities can be found online.

Ken

Greentree_uk

not an easy one but would defo recommend the floppy route. it's definitely a performa 400 and not a 4400?

Abelloid

www.dropbox.com

Greentree_uk

JustinOval wrote: »

www.dropbox.com

HA HA, fat chance getting that to work on a performa 400, that would be lucky if it has ever been connected to the internet.

Owen

Finding an old SCSI Zip drive might be the best option, there are quite a few people with modern-ish computers who have Zip drives, musicians particularly who could take your zip disk from you, and dump the files onto a USB stick then.

Sad Professor

I think floppy is the easiest. You can get an external USB floppy drive for next to nothing. Trying to connect the machine to the iMac via cable would probably be too much hassle.

K.O.Kiki

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Finding an old SCSI Zip drive might be the best option, there are quite a few people with modern-ish computers who have Zip drives, musicians particularly who could take your zip disk from you, and dump the files onto a USB stick then.

Zip drives are not to be trusted, ever again.

Full horror available by Googling "Click of Death"...

Abelloid

Greentree_uk wrote: »

HA HA, fat chance getting that to work on a performa 400, that would be lucky if it has ever been connected to the internet.

Really? A Mac that pre-dates the internet?

muggyog

I'm assuming this is the item in question.

If its running OS 8 turn on filesharing, connect ethernet cable between Performa and iMac (believe iMac will auto sense and auto crossover), double click hard drive of iMac and Performa should appear in right column under shared. Double click Performa and you should have access to whatever files you have shared.

Sad Professor

^ OP said it's a Performa 400, not 4400. It would be a lot easier if it was a 4400.

muggyog

Thank you for the correction. Looks like its an external floppy drive for the iMac then. OS 7, that brings back memories!

keredern

Matt Bauer wrote: »

This is a tough one, but I presume the Performa 400 has a working floppy drive? If so, the easiest way would be to buy a USB floppy drive for your new iMac:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/External-USB-Floppy-Drive-Black/dp/B00095KY7U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303899715&sr=8-1

This one is Mac compatible and will do exactly what you need.

Hi again guys!!;)

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I purchased the above quoted floppy drive but unfortunately my iMac does not recognise it when I plug it in.:eek:

The driver disc is a mini so can't use it in the side slot but not convinced it would help anyway.

Have tried various USB ports but no joy.

It does say it's Mac compatible!!

Any ideas (again, in child friendly language!!!)???:o:o

muggyog

How do you know its not being recognised? Is there a floppy disk in it?

Go to the apple icon (top left corner) select about this mac (as you did in your first post), select more info., go to the USB section and see if it sees a floppy drive (will show other USB stuff like keyboard & mouse).

Looks like you'll have to buy a USB CD reader as well!:D

Sad Professor

You shouldn't need the mini disc. If you can't get it working with the Mac you could always try hooking it up to a Windows PC and transferring/burning the files from there.