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Getting Files Off Old Macs

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If you have a built-in disc drive, power on your Mac so you can insert the OS X installation disc into the slot. Now power off your Mac from the menu or by holding the power button. Briefly press the power button, then immediately hold the option key while your Mac boots up. Keep holding option until a disc appears on the startup selection screen. To do this, you’ll want to turn off your Mac, and then turn it back on while holding down the Command + Option + P + R keys. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup. To get the latest features and maintain the security, stability, compatibility, and performance of your Mac, it's important to keep your software up to date. Apple recommends that you always use the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. Learn how to upgrade to macOS Big Sur, the latest version of macOS.

As someone who works with vintage Macinti I get contacted occasionally by people who still have files on the hard drives of their old Macs but aren’t sure how to move them to a newer machine. These are typically SCSI-based systems with floppy drives. They might also be early iMacs or other models without FireWire.

Sometimes the old Mac is still working, sometimes not. As long as the hard drive itself isn’t damaged you will be able to get your files but the method will vary.

Assuming the old Mac still works and has ethernet, copying across your local network can be the easiest solution. File Sharing will work between Macs as long as they have compatible versions of AppleShare. The older system needs AppleShareIP, which means it must be running Mac OS 8 or higher at least System 7.5.3. For more on how to network across generations, see Vintage Mac Networking and File Exchange.

FTP is another option which works across a wide range of Mac OS versions. Mac OS X has a built in FTP server, which you can enable under System Preferences –> Sharing; turn File Sharing on, then click on the Options… button to enable FTP access. Alternately, you can connect over the Internet to an FTP server you have access to.

On the old Mac you can use Fetch, Anarchie or other FTP software to post to the server. Versions of these programs go back to the earliest days of Mac System Software and work over ethernet or dialup modems. Good things to have around.

Using the Internet you may also be able to transfer your files with a web browser to a site that has upload/download capability. The limiting factor here is likely to be whether the browser on your old Mac will support this feature – it sometimes requires plugins or versions of Java/Javascript that the old software can’t run. The newest browser you can run on your system is recommended for best results, but its worth a try with whatever you have if necessary. UPDATE: Classilla is a port of the current Firefox web browser and is recommended for Mac OS 9 users trying to get online.

If network transfers aren’t an option Zip disks make a good interchange medium. Internal Zip drives were offered as options on Macs for years, and external drives are available in both SCSI and USB flavors. Simply copy your files to a disk from the old machine, then read them on the newer machine.

I’ll bet you or somebody you know has an unused Zip drive in their closet or bottom desk drawer right now!

For Macs that have USB ports (original iMacs, old PowerMacs with USB PCI cards, etc.) you can copy data to a USB hard drive or flash drive for the transfer. However these are likely going to be the original USB 1.1 format which is rather slow, so expect to wait a while (possibly hours) if you have a lot of data.

When none of the above work or if the old Mac won’t start up, and if you feel comfortable working inside your computer, another option is to open up the machine and pull out the internal hard drive. The drive can then be installed in an external enclosure and connected to another Mac.

For SCSI drives you’ll need another SCSI based Mac, preferably one with network access or a Zip drive to serve as a bridge machine. This can be an obstacle unless you have multiple old Macs lying around (or are crazy enough to be a collector…) You can also try using a PCI SCSI card in a PowerMac, or a USB to SCSI adapter (these are a bit rare, but some were made).

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Internal IDE drives (G3 iMacs, Beige G3 PowerMacs, etc.) can be installed in external enclosures with FireWire and/or USB ports for direct connection to modern machines. They can also be installed internally in a G3 or G4 tower. Since they are about a decade newer in the Mac timeline IDE drives are typically much easier to work with than SCSI drives, and can often be reused with the newer machine.

Some additional tips thanks to reader feedback:

Dan Knight at Low End Mac writes: You can also transfer up to 1.4 MB of data at a time using floppy disks. All Macs produced since 1989 support high density floppy drives, and external USB floppy drives let you access the disks from your modern Mac. It’s not fast and doesn’t hold a lot of data by modern standards, but it works. Note that USB floppy drives cannot read 800K Mac floppies, they are compatible with high-density Mac and PC floppies, as well as 720K PC floppies.

Steve Lubliner writes: One method to consider to transfer files from older Powerbooks with card slots (e.g. 5300 series) is to use a card slot adapter and a Compact Flash card (or similar memory card). The older Mac files can be transferred to the memory card and the card read by a newer Mac (or PC) with a USB card reader.

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The Vintage Mac Museum offers file transfer & conversion services for those who need assistance moving their Macintosh files or converting the data into more current formats.
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1. Wow, well thanks for this resource. A little more elaboration would be really appreciated though. I mean, I have an old Powerbook 145B. I turn it on, there are files on it. How do I get them off? Local network/file share/ftp … The thing doesn’t connect to the outside world, so saying “use FTP” isn’t really helpful ….

2. Hi.

   I hope you can help me. I have a power pc g3 300 mhz.. manufactured dec 1998.

   I think it has 2 usb ports. I dont know if they are 1 or 2. I have been working on this right up untill the screen went black last week. It was only then that I realized that my computer is obsolete.

   I am an artist so could not afford the updates I have 2 years worth of illustrator / photoshop files on there. They add up to about 9oombs.
   I want to know if I can plug my old G3 into my new mac os10.6 snow leapard.

   The ones mentioned on various websites dont seem to have usbs but mine has ..I think.. Im a bit behind technologically speaking.. The added complication of my screen having died means that I am wondering if I need to let some tech person loose by taking the innards out of my computer. Im terrified if he/she doesnt know what they’re doing I will lose two years worth of design work.
   Hope you have some advice. I would greatly appreciate it .
   Thanks Jan

3. Hi Adam,
   Thanks. Appreciate your advice.
   Jan

4. Hi,

   I am trying to recover files from my Macbook 1400c, fully working.

   My question is; can I use a USB 2.0 PCMCIA Cardbus PC Card, to connect to my MacBook Pro to exchange files? And what cards if so will do the trick. Thanks.

5. Hi Adam
   First, a really great website. Really useful and something that contains such helpful information. Will bookmark this and spread the word if people have any queries.

   And a question – I’m now running OS 10.6.3 and have a number of old mac files I’ve copied across from my old mac sometime ago – running Mac OS 9 and earlier. I can’t open the files and wonder if you have any advice.

   Some maybe were Quark 4-5 documents, some maybe text or .doc, perhaps even photoshop, but when I add the prefix (.qxp, .txt, .doc etc) they still don’t open. Is there a way or do you know any software that allows people to go back and open old mac files from earlier systems?

   Many thanks
   Sean

6. How about a way to connect an old Apple Disk ][ directly to a modern OS X Mac via a USB cable and driver?

7. how do I find and delete photos from os9 mac ibook? the photos pop up when you log in. Before I can try to delete them I must first find them and I am stumped. please help!

8. Hi,

   I don’t know if your site may provide recommendation on my quest. Anyway, thank you very much for your reaction. Here is my quest.

   = = = = = =

   Question

   Is there adapter/cable that can be used to transmit my MS-Excel & MS-WORD files from my Mac SE-30 to a modern Mac machine?
   = = = = = =

   Details

   I’ve Mac SE-30 with an external Zip Drive with its disks and there original cables/connections/mouse/keyboard, etc… in good conditions. The MS-Excel and MS-Word files that I worked on for years (under my Mac system OS 6.0.7 on Mac SE-30) are stored on the Mac SE-30 hard-disk and on Zip-disks.

   I’d like to copy those old files to a new Mac laptop since I urgently need to work on these files on a new Mac machine and to finally work on them under Windows on modern PC laptop.

   It seems that such transmission is feasible (through certain hardware, e.g. adapters and cables), am not in the IT business, I’m a simple user.

   However, I do not know where to buy the required hardware in question.
   Can any body help.

   The Apple dealers at Cairo, Egypt (including Apple Trade Line and its maintenance services center, at the Sheik Zaid City to the west of Cairo are incapable of providing me any help. Those dealers say that there is “no way to do that since Mac SE-30 is a SCSI machine that apple has abandoned and make obsolete forever”.

   Simply, I do not believe those local dealers.

   For sure there is a way, but I must buy the correct adapters/cables to do that transmission job without Internet.

   I’m grateful to anybody who may help through providing the names/addresses/sites of dealers who may have the required hardware.

   = = = = = =

9. Thanks for your tips Adam. I managed to connect my old 1998 Power Macintosh G3 Beige to the internet and a FTP-server. I am now uploading all the files from the Mac and all files from the Zip discs (using the internal Zip drive). And it’s fast!

   Nothing else worked. I mean nothing due to different problems and errors. I even consulted a PC expert.

   Hello from Stockholm

10. I have an old pre-usb macintosh computer (operating system 8) that has some files >100 mb that I would like to install on a newer macintosh computer . The problem is, I only have a 100mb zip drive that is obviously too small (capacity wise) and also a newer usb zip drive that has 250mb that won’t connect (no usb ports). Is their an adaptor for the newer zip drive that will allow it to connect to the older port or should I search out a different solution? If so, any ideas?

11. I’m trying to retrieve date from an old IBook 4 hard drive on a pc. At first (after hooking it up to my pc) I could only see it in control panel (computer management). I gave it a letter and made it active. I can now see it if I go to my Computer. I have downloaded HFSExplorer have followed their instructions but the files cannot be found. I’m running out of ideas. I don’t want to buy a program only to find out that it doesn’t work. I have done that too many times. Does anyone know what I could do? Please?

12. If you want to surf the Internet and do file shareing have a look at my web site: http://www.macip.net
    Out of the box solution. Easy to setup and run.

13. Hi all mac users,

    I looking for an old magnet optical disk drive 3,5 that can read old MO-230 rewritable discs, in my country it is impossble to find this type of old drives.

    So people out there, anybody?

14. Hi,

    I’m wondering if there is a way to transfer the files off of an external hard drive (Apple 20sc) using a Powerbook 190 that I happen to have lying around?

    I purchased an adapter that connects the DB25/SCSI cable coming out of the 20sc to the SCSI port on the back of the 190 (https://www.ebay.com/i/221392628813?chn=ps&dispItem=1) and attempted to connect the two. In the Drive Setup application, the 20sc shows up, but says “not supported”.

    Am I at a complete loss here in terms of only being able to recover the data if I connect it to an earlier Apple? Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.

15. I’ve got an old Blue & White PowerMac G3 with an internal zip drive. It’s running MacOS Tiger but the zip drive doesn’t seem to do anything. I’m thinking it needs drivers but I can’t find them anywhere. Any idea where I can get my hands on them?

16. Do you also offer the service of transferring a database on a Mac OS9 Classic to a format that can be read as a database on a windows machine (or even flat text files, excel, or any type of file – windows format to get the data to a windows machine) ?

17. I have Word and WordPerfect documents on a System 7 machine. I want to convert the files to PDF and embed the fonts, is this possible with Acrobat under System 7?

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