Active7 years, 11 months ago
  1. Related: floppy disk drive floppy disk reader mac floppy disk reader for mac floppy disk reader windows 10. More Format Format. All Listings - Current page Auction Buy It Now Classified ads. 61 results for floppy disk reader Save this search. Shipping to 98052: Items in search results. 3.5' USB External Floppy Disk Drive Reader 1.
  2. The original Mac floppy disk format was MFS, for Macintosh File System, and it is only used for 400K single-sided floppies – the only kind of floppy drive supported by the original Macintosh, the Mac 512K Fat Mac, and the Lisa 2 (a.k.a. Macintosh XL).

For fun, I'm trying to use an Apple PowerBook 5300c (Mac OS 7.5.2) to do some programming. I've found the software I want to use (thanks to some answers on SO) but I'm unfamiliar with these formats (I've always been a PC guy). I've searched for things like 'Windows Mac write floppy', but I only really see pages about reading Mac format on PC (not exactly what I need).

My first thought is to buy a USB floppy disk drive and some floppies -- is this what I need to buy? I have no idea what I'm doing really. Did PCs and Macs use the same floppies? Do I need write in Mac format? Should I use maybe dd or something like that to write .bin files? Maybe if the Mac can read PC format? I also see some .sit (Stuffit) files; will the Mac recognise these? How do I use a .hqx file? Some advice would be very handy.

Community
Nick Bolton

Amazon.ca: floppy disk reader. Neoteck USB Floppy Disk 3.5' 1.44 MB FDD Floppy Disk Drive External Portable USB Floppy Disk Reader Plug and Play for Laptop PC MAC Windows 10 Windows 8 7 VISTA XP ME 2000 SE 98. CDN$ 20.99 Prime. Eligible for FREE Shipping. 3.9 out of 5 stars 65. My family’s first computer was the original 128k Mac. Black and White. 512 x 342 pixels. And a floppy drive that managed to squeeze 400k onto a disk that normally holds 360k.

ReaderNick Bolton
2,0067 gold badges30 silver badges49 bronze badges

2 Answers

You can accomplish this with specialty software such as MacDisk. The are many other programs that can accomplish this if you look around the internet.

ADmitMac PKI replaces the older ADmitMac for CAC and ADmitMac for PIV software which are end of life (EOL). Not sure which current Thursby Mac CAC or Mac PIV product best meets your needs? All of our Mac OS X, iPhone and iPad iOS Common Access Card and Personal Identity Verification Card software cover all card versions. I have a Mac and use my cac card reader when need be. Militarycac as someone mentioned earlier can tell you what you need to do to make it work. Also chrome is one of the only browsers that works for me. Software necessary for mac cac reader. Cac reader software free download - Foxit Reader, Midea CAC, Cac Mobily, and many more programs. Best Video Software for the Mac How To Run MacOS High Sierra or Another OS on Your Mac.

KibbeeKibbee
1,2621 gold badge10 silver badges18 bronze badges

Windows cannot write to a Mac formatted floppy disk (without help), but Mac can read a Windows formatted floppy disk if it's formatted in FAT and not NTFS. While Macs and PCs use the size floppy disks, the file system format is different. So what you can do is download the files using your PC and put them onto a FAT16 floppy disk. The Mac should be able to read the disk and you can copy them off from there.

Another option might be if you can find an Ethernet internal expansion card for the 5300c (if it doesn't already have one) and you could attach it to a network and grab the files off a shared drive.

BBlakeBBlake
5,0601 gold badge22 silver badges31 bronze badges

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged macfloppy or ask your own question.

Presentation

MacDisk is an utility for reading, writing and formatting Apple Macintoshmagnetic media on an IBM compatible PC, without any hardware modification ofthe computer and without any add-on.
MacDisk is a 32-bit application and runs under all recent versions of Windows(Vista and 7/8 included, even 64 bits).

Supported Media

  • HD (High Density) floppy disks (1.44 MB),
  • Plain hard disks without any capacity limit (see also our page onDisk Interfaces and on Hugedisks). Caution, Thunderbolt disks are not supported yet.
  • CD-ROMs, pure HFS, hybrid (HFS/ISO 9660) and evenISO 9660 CD-ROMs with Apple extensions
  • DVD-ROMs, which are in fact just huge CD-ROMs
  • Iomega Zip cartridges, 100 and 250 MB
  • Iomega Jaz removable disks, 1 and 2 GB
  • External hard disks connected on the USB or FireWire (IEEE 1394) bus
  • SyQuest cartridges, all capacities
  • Bernoulli disks, all capacities
  • USB media (keys, drives, token)
  • Magneto-optical cartridges of 128 and 230 MB (3.5') and of 300, 350, 600, 650 MB (5.25').

Macintosh CD-ROMs are managed as read-only volumes. If you want to createMacintosh CD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs on your PC, please checkMacImage.
All kinds of Zip cartridges are supported(be it on SCSI bus, on USB bus, on IDE/ATAPI bus or on the parallel port).
Under Windows 2000 and higher, we don't use the Aspi layer any more, but a servicelaunched under the local system. See the MacDisk datasheet and the Lsdiorw page. Mac smart card reader software.

File System Compatibility

MacDisk manage the old HFS volumes (classical magnetic Macintosh media)and the recent HFS+format (also called Extended Mac OS, journalled or not).
MacDisk, when launched from a Windows partition created by the boot managerBootcamp on a Macintosh with Intel processor, can access the Macintosh partitionto copy files back and forth.

Why MacDisk?

MacDisk is aimed at all users needing to exchange data files between theMacintosh and the PC.
MacDisk is an indispensable tool for data exchanges between sibling applicationsthat exist in both Macintosh and PC (Windows) versions, like MS-Word, MS-Excel,PageMaker, Quark Xpress as well as transfering compatible data formats (Ascii,graphical files).
To get a better understanding of MacDisk features, you can download theHelp File.

MacDisk Version 8.0

MacDisk is a 32-bit program. The latest version for Windows 2000 and higher addsmany new functions: it now supports all CD-ROM drives (SCSI, USB, IDE/ATAPI),all kinds of CD-ROMs (HFS, HFS+, hybrid, even multi-session ones). The 32-bitversion is much faster than former ones. For an example, a 80-MB file is copiedfrom the CD-ROM drive to the hard disk in less than a minute!
More, the new interface offers an Explorer bar to navigate the Macintosh volumeand a listview which allows to sort the items according to the name, to the type,to the data or resource length, to the creation/modification date and to thesignature.

This feature is very interesting, for an example if you get an USB token withboth Word and Excel files. A sort according to the signature will allow you tocopy selectively the Word files in a specific subfolder and the Excel files inanother one. Likewise, if you do DTP, you'll be able to copy selectively theTiff pictures, the EPS files and the layouts.
See our Preview Page on its newfeatures and its new user interface (with numerous screen captures).

Reader

And What About DD Floppy Disks?

MacDisk cannot read Apple Macintosh DD (400 KB or 800 KB) floppy disks.Apple chose to implement the GCR coding (Group Coded Recording) witha variable spindle speed to squeeze more data on the outer tracks of the medium.There are no software solutions to mimic that on the PC, and the existing hardware solutions become more and more of 'historical nature' (Central Point Option Board DeLuxe, Apple external floppy drive connected to a MicroSolution controller).
However, I recently learned that one of those cards is still available: theCatweasel board can read DD imageswith a normal PC-floppy (connected to it) as well as many other formats.
For the time being, the only practical solutions is to find a working Macintoshwith a floppy drive to copy the files onto another floppy (HD) or anothermedium.

MacDisk Features

MacDisk manages the Macintosh signatures and addsa corresponding extension to the files copied from the Mac to the PC.Conversely, MacDisk gives a signature to the files copied on the Macintoshvolume to make 'double-clickable' icons. The lookup table is freely editable(with the SignEdit utility).
MacDisk is a low-level disk utility and not a conversion program. It doesn'tmodify the contents of the files (to avoid yet another source of problems). Itis bundled with MacText, a little text converteraimed at some Macintosh text formats.

Cross-Platform Compatibility

Most big applications existing on both platforms open the files created onthe other platform. That is, Word for Windows opens Word Mac files. This holdstrue also for Excel, PageMaker, Xpress and many others. See ourHints & Tips for more information about convertingand transferring data files between Macintosh and PC.

Font Transfers

From version 4.5, MacDisk offers certain features to transfer and convertfont files between the Macintosh and the PC.

How to Buy MacDisk?

Please see our Price list and ourOn-line Order Desk. The on-line order processing isdone on a secure server (SSL) and offers all the security you want and need (inparticular, your credit card information never travels on unsecured links).
As soon as your credit card is charged, you are redirected to the downloading page,where you can download the full version of the program. A confirmation messageis also sent by email with a downloading link.
If you encounter problems, don't hesitate to write us, we'll answer as soon aspossible to help you.

To Go Further..

  • Download a demo package to check yourself whatthe program may do for you
  • Testimonials Page (a few sentences may say itbetter than thousand words..

Updates and Upgrades

External Floppy Drive

If you're a registered user of one of our products (including our discontinuedproducts MacCD, MacSQ orMacScuzzy), see our Upgrade &Update Page. We also offer a competitive upgrade for users of similarproducts.