How to Generate Floppy Disks for Old Macintosh Computers

Generating 400 KB and 800 KB Floppies on the PC

We are assuming that you have installed the necessary utilities previously described.

First, you need to expand the disk image files; right click them and choose “Extract All Here.”

Run TransMac, insert a blank 1.44 MB floppy into the PC’s floppy disk drive, and right click on the “A: Floppy” icon. Choose “Format Disk for Mac,” selecting “Mac OS Standard HFS (old version).”

Now you have a floppy that you can use to transport Disk Copy and the operating system images from the PC to the Mac that you will use to generate the floppies. On TransMac, click on “A: Floppy” and then on “Untitled” (or the name you gave to the disk when formatting it). Simply drag the Disk_Copy_4.2.sea.bin file and the expanded disk image files to the TransMac working area, and the program will store the files on the disk. Of course, depending on the size of the files, you won’t be able to store all of them on the same floppy. You can either use several floppies or wait until you transfer the current files on the floppy to the Mac to re-use the same floppy.

On the TransMac window, you must check if “Type” and “Creator” fields of the image files are filled with “dImg” and “dCpy,” respectively. Otherwise, Disk Copy 4.2 won’t recognize them. If this is your case (see Figure 11), then you need to right click the image file on the TransMac window and choose “Properties,” adding this configuration. See Figures 12 and 13.

Figure 11: The “Type” and “Creator” fields are blank

Figure 12: Fixing the “Type” and “Creator” fields

Figure 13: “Type” and “Creator” fields correctly configured

After the files were copied to the floppy, you can eject the floppy and read the floppy on a Mac with a 1.44 MB floppy disk drive that you will use for generating the disks. The Mac may complain that the floppy needs minor repairs. This is normal; simply click “Ok” and continue.

Copy Disk_Copy_4.2.sea.bin to the Mac’s hard drive, and double click this file so Disk Copy 4.2 is installed.

Create a folder on the Mac’s hard drive (e.g., “OS-6.0.8”) and copy the image files to this folder. After the files are copied to the hard drive, if they have the “.sea” extension, you will need to double click each file so they will be expanded. This process takes a while, so you might want to get another floppy disk and copy the other image files to it, using the same procedure as previously described.

Repeat this process until all images are on the Mac’s hard drive and expanded.

Now, run Disk Copy 4.2 and click on “Load Image File,” selecting the first image. Eject the 1.44 MB floppy used to transport the files from the PC. Click on “Make A Copy,” insert a blank 800 KB floppy, and click on “Duplicate.” After you are done with the first disk, repeat the process for the next disks. You will now have all 400 KB/800 KB operating system disks required to operate your old Macintosh.

You can now test these disks on your old computer.