Article Title: Transferring Classic Mac Files from Floppy Disks to Mac OS X
Article Year: 2019
Article Status: Static
Author: Robert Walliczek
Author E-mail Contact: galaxyverge+how2@pm.me

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Summary
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The goal is to put older Mac files from their backup floppy disks onto a hard drive on a newer system. The instructions can be adapted for use with Windows, but Windows software typically does not handle Mac resource forks. Use Disk Utility to create a DMG image from the floppy disk, use Terminal to convert the DMG to IMG, use SheepShaver to run Mac OS 9, use Disk Copy to mount the IMG, and drag the files from the mounted disk image to the host drive.

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Instructions
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) Prepare a workspace:
	) Download a Mac OS 9 SheepShaver build. Edward Mendelson provides the following. You can optionally read his instructions. Download, unzip, install, and run the Mac OS 9 application.
		- For Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite and newer: http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/macos9osx.html
		- For Windows: http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/macos9win.html
		- If there is a problem during its startup, force quit SheepShaver using command-option-escape. Try running it again. During startup, holding shift disables extensions and holding space opens the extensions manager. Disabling extensions will speed things up dramatically. This example Conflict Catcher test report shows that a particular combination of extensions and control panels prevents boot completion: https://how2.galaxyverge.com/-resources/Conflict%20Test%20Report.txt
	) In Mac OS X, open Disk Utility.
	) In Mac OS X, open Terminal.
	) In Mac OS X, your user's Documents folder is linked within Mac OS 9 as the Unix drive on the Mac OS 9 desktop. Therefore, make a new folder inside your Mac OS X user's Documents folder. In these instructions, the new folder is called "floppy disks". Make a new folder inside that folder. In these instructions, the new folder is called "transferred".
	) In SheepShaver (Mac OS 9), open the Unix drive found on the desktop, and you should see the contents of your Mac OS X user's Documents folder. Open the "floppy disks" folder. Leave that Finder window open; resize it from the bottom right corner and drag it to the side.
	) In SheepShaver, open the main hard drive found on the desktop, probably called "MacOS9". Open Utilities. Run Disk Copy. Close those Finder windows.
	) In SheepShaver, open Unix and browse to the "transferred" folder you created. Leave that window open.
	) In SheepShaver, arrange the "floppy disks", Disk Copy, and "transferred" windows so they are all fully visible and arranged (stacked) in that order.
	) In Terminal, issue:
	cd "~/Documents/floppy disks"
) Repeat this workflow with each floppy disk:
	) Insert a floppy disk into the floppy disk drive.
	) In Disk Utility, click the floppy disk, and then press command-option-n or go under the File menu to create a new image from the disk.
		- You will see a save dialog. Change to the "floppy disks" folder inside your Documents folder. Disk Utility should remember this directory henceforth as its most recent directory.
	) Save As "a", for convenience. Set the format to read-only, although that is not imperative.
	) Enter your administrative user password when Disk Utility asks.
	) When Disk Utility is done, click "Done".
		) Optionally erase and reformat the floppy disk using Disk Utility.
	) With the floppy disk still selected in Disk Utility, click the menu item File -> Eject.
	) In Terminal, where your session is still within the "floppy disks" directory, issue:
hdiutil convert "a.dmg" -format RdWr -o "a.img"
		- In subsequent cycles of this workflow, use the up and down arrow keys to re-enter this command into Terminal. Your Terminal command history is stored as line entries in the invisible .bash_history file in your user (home) folder.
	) In SheepShaver, you should see in the "floppy disks" folder two new files: a.dmg and a.img. Drag a.img onto the Disk Copy window. Disk Copy will briefly show a window while it mounts the disk image to the Mac OS 9 desktop.
	) In SheepShaver, open the mounted disk that is shown on the desktop. Click the menu item Edit -> Select All or otherwise select all the files from it and drag them into the "transferred" folder window.
		- At this point or sometime later, if you transferred any files of a format unique to Mac OS 9, use the appropriate Mac OS 9 application to convert it to a more standard format. You can download more Mac OS 9 applications from the Macintosh Garden web site, place the downloaded applications into your Mac OS X user Documents folder, switch to SheepShaver, and copy those application files from the Unix drive located on the desktop to the Applications folder located on the MacOS9 drive.
		- Your "floppy disks" folder now contains the files from the floppy disk. Use the Mac OS X host system when deleting files from the Unix drive, because it's actually your Documents folder. Within Mac OS 9, if you try to move a file from a subdirectory of Unix to the Trash on the desktop, you will get a permissions error message saying that the file cannot be found.
	) In SheepShaver, close the mounted disk image's window and dismount / eject it.
		- Using Finder in Mac OS 9, you can eject the disk that you selected on the desktop either by dragging it to Trash, pressing command-E, or clicking the menu item Special -> Eject.
	) In Mac OS X, move a.dmg and a.img from the "floppy disks" folder to the Trash. Empty the trash.
		- In the Mac OS X Finder, pressing command-backspace moves selected files to the trash, and command-shift-backspace empties the trash. In Mac OS 9, one empties the trash by clicking the menu item Special -> Empty Trash... . Dismounting disk images by dragging them to the trash icon places nothing in the trash.

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Notes
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- The two most common 3.5-inch floppy disk designs are Double-Sided Double Density (DS/DD) which has a rectangular hole in one corner of the case and is typically formatted to store 720 KB, and Double-Sided High Density (DS/HD) which has a rectangular hole in two corners of the case and is typically formatted to store 1.44 MB.
- Most contemporary floppy disk drives only read DS/HD floppy disks. Most other floppy drives are no longer manufactured or are expensive.
- Classic Mac stores resource forks within the RESOURCE.FRK folder; note the 8.3 file name format. Mac OS X has moved away from using resource forks to store substantial file data, and stores it inside the __MACOSX invisible folder.
- ZIP files do not store resource fork data. To consolidate files that use resource forks, use BIN on Classic Mac OS and use TAR on Mac OS X.
- Mac OS X does not recognize DS/DD 720 KB floppy disks. With old Mac-formatted DS/DD floppy disks, use a Mac system older than OS X. Windows would have you reformat the Mac-formatted floppy disk upon insertion, but that erases its files.
- Floppy disks may contain items in their invisible trash or desktop folders. If so, then after you have mounted the IMG with Disk Copy, the Mac OS 9 Trash would change its icon to a full trashcan and the files recorded as being on the desktop would show on the Mac OS 9 desktop. Keep an eye out for that as you are going through old floppy disks.

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Links
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SheepShaver: https://sheepshaver.cebix.net/
E-Maculation wiki: https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php
Macintosh Garden, Mac abandonware archive: http://macintoshgarden.org/
Floppy Disk Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk
Iomega SuperDisk LS-120 Wikipedia article, example of a discontinued drive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperDisk