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Mac Daniel's Advice

Mac Daniel Feedback

Manuel Mejia Jr - 2001.06.11

Low End Mac is at its best when it can gather information that would otherwise become lost to history. Items such as software and hardware vanish as people forget things or throw valuable books and disks away when they are no longer needed.

Those Mac users who work with the LEM Help Desk try to answer questions to the best of our knowledge. However, we do not know everything. What saves us from the depth of ignorance is feedback from our readers.

Feedback: Old Files on New Macs

In terms of transferring and transforming old files for use in new Macs, Mel of the Aloha State (Hawaii) wrote, "If you are lucky enough to have a SCSI and a USB Zip drive, you can connect the SCSI drive to any old Mac through the SCSI port and transfer the files to a Zip disk. You can then move the file to the new Mac through the USB port." This is a very good point. I myself have never used a Zip drive.

Low End Mac reader Tod Abbott noted, "ever since the original iMac (Blondi) came out, I run across an article maybe once or twice a year that implies that 'sneakernet' (floppy disk transfers) is the only way to get data from an old Mac to a new one." He always sends a comment to the writer noting other options.

One option that Tod Abbott proposes is a transfer of data from old Mac to new by direct modem-to-modem transfer. For more information on this technique, refer to Apple's Knowledge Base (registration required) and search for article #22229. People using this method will need to have the freeware program "ZTerm" installed in order to transfer the data, since the latest versions of AppleWorks no longer provide a terminal application for file transfer. Abbott even puts in the suggestion that one use ethernet to transfer old files to the modern Mac.

Respectfully, I disagree with Abbott's suggestions in this instance. His techniques work quite well if the Mac user is moving whole hard drives worth of information or entire applications. However, if the Mac user is just trying to get a copy of an old resume or draft of a will off a backup disk that he or she has had in storage for several years, setting up a modem-to-modem transfer or an ethernet system in order to move that file is overkill. The Mac user that originally proposed the question bought a $15 Classic II off eBay just to get his data off an 800k floppy. He is probably not going to go through the trouble of setting up modems or ethernet adapters just to move his data to his iMac. Floppies are the best way to handle small documents.

Feedback: Emulating the Apple Menu Under System 6

A LEM reader who goes by the handle "oldtricksagain" reported that there was a desk accessory that mimics the System 7 Apple Menu Items. It was a shareware item call On Cue. I have not heard of this disk accessory before and I do not know where one could find it. For a System 6 user, On Cue may have it uses.

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

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