Getting files moved between OS9.1 and Ventura (13.6.4)

[keithiepoo]

Hi folks,

Wondering here what the best way would be to transfer files between my 2020 MacBook Pro running MacOS 13.6.4 and a Rev A iMac running MacOS 9.1?

I've looked at a thread about networking, but it was over my head.

I was using floppies, but it seems that the latest version of Ventura has dropped floppy support (I was able to mount floppies until this latest version).

Thanks peoples.

[Knezzen]

A hard nut to crack indeed. I have a NAS on my network that I use as a sort of middle man between my old machines and my MacBook Air running Sonoma. I'm not sure what the best solution is nowadays. Not sure if the newer versions of macOS works with NFS all that well either.

[keithiepoo]

Well guess what? My floppy drive IS interfacing now with my MacBook Pro running Ventura. I changed the floppy drive's USB port on my CalDigit dock, and now the Mac has decided to "see" it. This other port that seemed to be failing is working with another device entirely. I don't get it, but for the moment, I can exchange files.

Thanks 

[keithiepoo]

And you know what? The best solution might just be to get a Mac that was made, say, 10 years ago and see if that couldn't be used as a "bridge" between the latest and the oldest systems... maybe??

[ssp3]

Is there any specific reason why you're using floppy drive? What about USB thumb drive or smallish external ATA/SATA drive on USB adapter?

[Bolkonskij]

You might use a good ol' fashioned FTP server for transfering files between the machines? You could use e.g. Transmit on OS 9 for FTP and a client on your modern machine and push files to and from the server.

If you've got a webspace somewhere, you can use it for that. If not, I think fogwraith at the Mac Garden offers a free hosting which you could use to FTP. Although it's limited to 100 MB, so moving "big" CD images might be out of the question.

[V.Yakob]

keithiepoo, I once wrote about it here.
A lot of time has passed since then and you can use the original netatalk project.
All this time I've been using these methods of file transfer. It works great. Now it works on my AppleSolicon-Based Mac with macOS 14.

If you do not use the network, then the easiest way is to use a USB drive or CD-RW, but this is inconvenient.

Knezzen, NFS works well on Mac. Now I'm trying to use NFS on SSW7, but I can't do it yet.

[refinery]

And you know what? The best solution might just be to get a Mac that was made, say, 10 years ago and see if that couldn't be used as a "bridge" between the latest and the oldest systems... maybe??

I don't know if this still works with Ventura, but I know it does with Monterey... I have VMware fusion running with an install of osx 10.5 leopard on an Intel Mac. Set up file sharing and tell VMware to share your home folders. It's transparent after that. You just want to give the VM a fixed IP address so it stays consistent.
The only catch is it won't show up in OS9 chooser so you have to connect via tcp/IP. Once it's connected you can create an alias and just open that when you need to connect.

[keithiepoo]

You might use a good ol' fashioned FTP server for transfering files between the machines? You could use e.g. Transmit on OS 9 for FTP and a client on your modern machine and push files to and from the server.

If you've got a webspace somewhere, you can use it for that. If not, I think fogwraith at the Mac Garden offers a free hosting which you could use to FTP. Although it's limited to 100 MB, so moving "big" CD images might be out of the question.

Really. That's an interesting solution.

[keithiepoo]

Is there any specific reason why you're using floppy drive? What about USB thumb drive or smallish external ATA/SATA drive on USB adapter?

Because I never thought of that??

[keithiepoo]

keithiepoo, I once wrote about it here.
A lot of time has passed since then and you can use the original netatalk project.
All this time I've been using these methods of file transfer. It works great. Now it works on my AppleSolicon-Based Mac with macOS 14.

If you do not use the network, then the easiest way is to use a USB drive or CD-RW, but this is inconvenient.

Knezzen, NFS works well on Mac. Now I'm trying to use NFS on SSW7, but I can't do it yet.

Thank you! Wow. All of these options. I love this site 

[keithiepoo]

And you know what? The best solution might just be to get a Mac that was made, say, 10 years ago and see if that couldn't be used as a "bridge" between the latest and the oldest systems... maybe??

I don't know if this still works with Ventura, but I know it does with Monterey... I have VMware fusion running with an install of osx 10.5 leopard on an Intel Mac. Set up file sharing and tell VMware to share your home folders. It's transparent after that. You just want to give the VM a fixed IP address so it stays consistent.
The only catch is it won't show up in OS9 chooser so you have to connect via tcp/IP. Once it's connected you can create an alias and just open that when you need to connect.

Thank you sir. Good to hear from you again!

[keithiepoo]

Hey folks, thanks for all the thoughtful suggestions.

I tried the simplest and most direct suggestion I received first: trying a thumb drive. For crying out loud, this works!! For nostalgic reasons I enjoy using floppies, but they lack the capacity to move files the way I want to here. This 16GB thumb drive works like a charm.

Thanks!!