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Storage Devices for Older Macs
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Manuel Mejia Jr - 1999.12.31
Q. What is a good medium for early Macs to store programs and data ?
A. For the early low end Macs like the Mac Plus, SE,
and the Mac II, the best storage devices are
still 
the ones that the machines used when they were new: hard
drives and 800K floppies. For those Macs, software (including the
System) was small enough to fit onto a floppy.
If you use a hard drive, even better - the System will load and run even faster. If you happen to have a Mac without a hard drive, get one. Used Mac vendors and auctions like eBay will offer up 100-1000 meg drives for as little as $20. You may even get software preloaded on them.
Floppies are the best way to store backups of your files with smaller hard drives. One never knows if and when a hard drive will malfunction and render the data it stores beyond reach. With the advent of the iMac, the art of making backups may be dying - now that external data storage devices like a floppy are accessories that have to be purchased separately from the computer.
For more recent low-end Macs (anything built since August 1998), one has the option of storing data on 1.4 MB floppies rather than 800K floppies. This is a better option. The 800K floppies are becoming a rarity these days. The main supplier of these disk in North America, Radio Shack, has just discontinued the sale of their 10 pack preformatted double-density (DD) floppies. Other office supply vendors will likely follow suit. Radio Shack will still sell DD floppy disks in three-packs. This will probably continue as long as there are new DD floppies to fill the packs. (Radio Shack still sells the old 5-1/4" floppies from the very early days of personal computers.)
In contrast, the 1.4 MB floppies will probably still be on sale in large quantities for another ten years or so. For small documents like memos, spreadsheets, and electronic slides, the 1.4 MB floppy disk is still the best way to carry them around in a physical form that does not require the use of paper.
Most older Macs can also use more modern storage devices like CD-ROM and Zip drives. Early models of the Apple CD-ROM drive (1x-4x speed) operated with machines that used System 6.0.7. In the case of the Zip drive, it can be used on the Plus with a driver that is no newer than version 4.2. According to noted "Macnologist" JAG, Zip drives can be used to boot up the Mac Plus! The chief caveat that needs to be observed is that the Iomega driver software must be "unpolluted." "Polluted" drivers cannot be used for bootup; they can only be used for storing data on Macs that have been already started up using a floppy or a hard drive.
For many old time Mac users, Zip drives may be be overkill in terms of storage, given the fact that the typical Zip disk holds 96 MB of data. Ninety-six megabytes is an enormous archive for a System 6 Mac. It is pretty big for even a System 7 Mac. Even today, with the G3 Macs being the standard, the typical Zip drive user is still the graphic arts person creating multimegabyte 3D art renderings using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Whichever media one uses to store data, keep an eye out for the cost
of that media. Floppies and hard drives are inexpensive. CD-ROMS and
Zip drives, while more up to date, cost more - sometime more than the
value of the computer and monitor. Floppies and hard drives will also
allow you to store information without the need for special drivers.
Keep these facts in mind as you happily compute into the 21st century.
Manuel Mejia Jr is familiar with Mac IIs, LCs, and older PowerBooks. He uses his Mac LC, PowerBook 145B, and PB 100 with System 7.1 on a regular basis and recently added a Mac Plus running System 6 to his collection. He's quite familiar with both System 6 and System 7. He also owns the Pina books on repairing compact Macs from 128k through the SE.
You can read more about Manuel's computers in Manuel Mejia Jr's Four Old Macs.
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.
Recent Mac Daniel columns
- Bringing G3 iMacs and other G3 Macs into the Tiger Age, Dan Knight, 12.07. Tips on hard drives, memory, WiFi, and getting Mac OS X 10.4 installed on G3 iMacs and other older G3 Macs.
- Multiple users on the same Mac at work, Dan Knight, 11.15. How to set up a Mac so multiple users can log in and use it - and use the same pool of work files.
- 1 working eMac from 2 broken ones, Dan Knight, 11.14. A pair of matching eMacs, each with a different failure, results in one working eMac and lots of leftovers.
- More in the Mac Daniel index.
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Time Machine can now backup to a shard hard drive, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 07.08. Earlier versions of Leopard didn't seem to allow backup to a shared drive on another Mac, but the 10.5.4 update allows it.
- More air: Expectations for future MacBook and MacBook Pro models, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 07.08. Next generation 'Books are expected to include Intel's next generation Montevino processor, but wireless power and wireless USB could give Apple a leg up on the competition.
- Safari 3.1 Is the best browser for Macs and for Windows, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age, 07.08. Apple's Safari browser is fast, lightweight, and compatible with pretty much any website that doesn't require users to run Windows and Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.
- Best iBook G3 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used clamshell, $100; 500 MHz CD, $169; 700, $279; 600 CD-RW, $240; 900 Combo, $299; 14" 700, $300; 900, $449.
- Best Power Mac G4 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used 450 MHz ACP, $79; 533 DA, $100; 867 QS, $200; 1.25 GHz MDD Combo, $375; 867 dual, $325; 1 GHz, $395; 1.25, $529; 1.42, $619.
- Best classic iPod deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.08. Used 20 GB, $100; 30, $120; 40, $150; 60 color, $175; 30 video, $160; 80, $200; refurb 80 classic, $209; new, $229; refurb 160, $299; new, $319.
- Mac of the Day: 'Lombard' PowerBook G3, June 1999 - 'bronze keyboard' model is first PowerBook with USB, reaches 400 MHz, trims almost 2 lb.
- List of the Day: PowerList for those using Power Computing Mac clones.
- July 9 in LEM history: 01: Anti-spam measures marginalize low-end Macs - Color Classics on eBay - DSL diary - The 25th Anniversary Mac - 02: eMac test drive - Women in IT - 03: A week with an eMac - Are Apple's applications helping or hurting? - 04: Hardware failure, that rare Mac headache - Radeon Enabler unlocks video features
- Macintosh reliability improving since the shift to Intel, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 07.07. For a while in the G3 and G4 era, Apple was plagued with logic board failures and analog board problems, but they seem to be a thing of the past.
- 1.8 GHz, SSD MacBook Air price cuts; Samsung vs. Hitachi notebook drives; Centrino 2 preorders; and more, The 'Book Review, 07.07. Also MacBook shipments up 61% over Q1 2007, Apple notebook redesign rumored, Santa Rosa MacBook Pro video failure, Mopar in-vehicle wireless Internet, bargain 'Books from $150 to $2,749, and m
- iPhone 3G service more costly in States, outrageous in Canada, and more, iNews Review, 07.07. Also long fingernails and the iPhone, future iPhone may include keyboard and Intel Atom CPU, voice control for iPods, Ringtons Studio for the iPhone, and more.
- Best MacBook deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Used 1.83 GHz Combo, $819; 2.0 SD, $975; refurb 2.1 GHz Combo, $949; 2.4 SD, $1,099; black, $1,299; new 2.1 Combo, $1,005 a/r; 2.2 SD, $1,205 a/r; more.
- Best eMac deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Used 700 MHz CD, $140; CD-RW, $150; Combo, $170; 1 GHz, $200; 1.25 GHz SD, $230; 1.42 GHz Combo, $300; SuperDrive, $439.
- Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.07. Mac OS X 10.0.3, $40; 10.1, $49; 10.2, $60; 10.3 DVD, $80; CD, $160; 10.1 Server, unlimited users, $80; 10.3 Server, unlimited, $130.
- More links in our archive.
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