Transferring files from a 1994 Power Mac

[Chap]

Hi, My dad has an ancient Power Mac 7100/66, and after 19 years he is ready to make an upgrade. He also wants to transfer his Claris Works 2.1v3 files to his new computer (once he gets it).

So far we have tried putting the files on a floppy disk and using a USB floppy drive plugged in to my mom's iMac, but the file format was not recognized, and we were only given the option of formatting the disk.

I have read this thread but we haven't been able to find the AAUI cable. We could get one online but I want to make sure that is the best route to go before trying it. They suggest using AppleTalk, but it appears that has been phased out as of OS X v10.6.

Another idea I have is to get one of these and just plug the old hard drive into it.

Does anyone know what disk format the old Power Macs use? And what is the best way to transfer files from a format of that type to a modern computer?

Does anyone know if Apple Works can open these old Claris Works files?

Open to any suggestions! Thanks!

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Old Computer (picture)
Power Mac 7100/66
Mac OS 9.0.4
Power PC 601, 48 MB Memory, 500 MB Hard Drive

New Computer:
iMac 21.5"
Mac OS X v10.6.8
3.06 GHz Intel Core i3

[chipz]

I'm not sure I can offer too much help, but I believe AppleWorks may not be able to open those Claris Works files. The word processing files can be saved to plain text files - these files can be opened by almost any word processor including Pages which is available for download from the App Store. I'm not sure if you can save any spreadsheet files. Any database files would have to be saved to ASCII files and then imported into a word processing files. You will lose any formatting and the files would require much work to convert to a new or useful format.

[Mikef]

The prefered method of transferring data/files across to a new Mac is with the Migration Assistant program. The only options available within this program is via Time Machine (not available for your Dad's old Mac) or the network. You don't need a crossover cable for this, just any plain network cable assuming you/he has a network hub. Given the age of the old Mac it is questionable how much of the old filing system will be recognised/accessable by the iMac. I'm also assuming that his old drive is a SCSI which further complicates matters.