Mac OS Classic forum: How can I convert System 6.1 disks to System 10.5?

What is converting a disk?

If it just are text files (which doesn't include files from a word processor!) there's no need for converting the files. They will be readable in Notepad on any Windows PC that has a diskette reader that can read those diskettes (and, by the way, any Mac also).

So maybe your question is: how to read a diskette on a machine that doesn't have a diskette drive? That's easy to answer: you can't.

Just to console you: I lost some info I only had on 5-1/4" floppies when my last 5-1/4" drive died back in 1998 or so. Not so smart: I should have taken the precaution to copy that files to a 3.5" diskette, of course, but I postponed it too long.

And a warning: I also lost some information I only had on 3.5" diskettes because they degraded after 5 years and gave read errors.

Diskettes never were (and never will be) a good way to store information. Just for temporaray storage and a nicd way to move them between different machines. Surprisingly, that's the same with external hdd's at the moment, although they are slightly more reliable then diskettes.

Kees
Kees

That makes it even easier. Any Mac or PC with a diskette drive and either MS Office or Open Office installed could be used to read and print those documents. In fact, any Mac or PC with a diskette drive will be able to copy them to a USB-stick for further processing on your new iBook, even without an office program installed.

I don't think it's needed to buy a USB connected diskette drive for a one time use like this. You might find a PC somewhere (friend, family, work, public library) that still has a diskette drive.

Kees

While it is true that any Mac with a diskette drive attache should be able to pull the files off the disks and have them read with MS Word, the same cannot be said for any PC.

The Windows machine will not recognize the disk format, same as a Windows machine cannot recognize the current Mac format.

P