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Old Mac Performa date has been going backwards

I have an old Mac Performa which has a CD drive from the 90’s. Each time I turn it on I notice the date has been going backwards. Why is it counting the date backward there were no computers back then. Last time I turned it on the year was 1964. The only reason I have kept this computer is because it contains my family genealogy book in it. What will happen if I reset the date to the 90’s when I was in college & when I created the project. The software in the computer still works. I created it in QuarkXpress. I had got a newer computer many years ago early 2000’s & had transferred the book to that computer but then it wouldn’t turn on years after I got it. B4 that happened I had transferred the book onto my iMac but a few years ago that computer died to. So now all I have is the old Performa which has my book in it. So I’m afraid of putting the date back to the 90’s incase something happens to stop the computer from turning on. I realize I won’t be able to do anything such as email or print the document but I can still access it for reference. I’m afraid if I change the date I won’t be able to access the document or the computer won’t turn on.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Dec 7, 2023 8:32 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 10, 2023 10:06 AM

Thank you for the information.


>To do as you mentioned print to PDF would that require a printer?


No, the idea behind printing to PDF is to create/save a PDF file from a document. This PDF file can then be transferred to a more modern computer and read or printed there. The aforementioned PrintToPDF acts as a printer driver but outputs PDF files. For details, please have a look at the PrintToPDF FAQ (https://www.jwwalker.com/pages/pdf-faq.html). Whether the printer driver in question is suitable for your project is another matter (depending on single or multiple pages, original file format, fonts, original or created file sizes, et cetera).

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19 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 10, 2023 10:06 AM in response to MoSuzMaK

Thank you for the information.


>To do as you mentioned print to PDF would that require a printer?


No, the idea behind printing to PDF is to create/save a PDF file from a document. This PDF file can then be transferred to a more modern computer and read or printed there. The aforementioned PrintToPDF acts as a printer driver but outputs PDF files. For details, please have a look at the PrintToPDF FAQ (https://www.jwwalker.com/pages/pdf-faq.html). Whether the printer driver in question is suitable for your project is another matter (depending on single or multiple pages, original file format, fonts, original or created file sizes, et cetera).

Dec 10, 2023 10:26 AM in response to MoSuzMaK

Re: Part 3 reply.


>I have a G4 which I had made the 1st transfer of the doc to. But it doesn’t turn on anymore.


If the G4 (exact model and Mac OS X version?) still has an internal ATA/IDE hard drive, this drive could be removed. You could then try to connect the now external drive to a universal USB bare drive adapter (such as the example at https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NV2SPATA/). It may be possible to read the contents of the drive with the adapter connected by USB to another Mac (compatible with the drive's file system) or PC (using appropriate software for Mac disks).

Dec 8, 2023 8:53 AM in response to MoSuzMaK

Hi,


Before you do anything, (if possible) make at least three backup copies of your data.


Yes, an old Mac with a weak battery (or without one) may show a date with a year like 1904, 1938 or 1956. The date can be set to a more recent one via the Date & Time control panel (and the computer should work anyway).


The battery for a Performa 6200 would be 4.5 V:

Macintosh Performa 6200CD:Technical Specifications


However, it is worth noting that the Date & Time control panel in operating systems typical for the Performa 6200 will/may have a problem with dates after 2019:

https://lowendmac.com/2019/the-looming-y2k20-bug-and-how-to-protect-your-system/

The utility mentioned in the article will solve this.


Depending on the size of the document, different methods can be used for a transfer of a copy. If the file is smaller than 1.4 MB, you could copy it to a 1.4 MB floppy disk (HD diskette). It may be difficult to read data from a Macintosh-formatted floppy disk in more modern computers, so a PC-formatted (MS-DOS) floppy is often better for transfers. The PC Exchange control panel on the Performa 6200 should allow this. A USB floppy drive connected to a more modern computer (Mac or PC) would be needed, unless you have access to another Mac or PC with a built-in floppy drive.


The exact file format may also be of importance in this context.


If necessary, you may want to try a printer driver called PrintToPDF in order to create PDF files:

https://www.jwwalker.com/pages/pdf.html


If files are larger than 1.4 MB, you would have to use something like a SCSI Zip 100 drive with 100 MB Zip disks, or transfer data via a serial cable/modem to another computer. If so, please post back with details about what you have to work with at this time.


By the way, do you still have the two faulty computers with the earlier copies, or at least the internal hard drives?


http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/desktops/0308236APRF626300CDUG.PDF

Dec 10, 2023 9:07 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Hi: I was thinking of setting the date back to when I was I College in the mid 90’s. I was thinking it might help in some way to put the date to when I 1st bought the computer. I have in the Performa a copy of the book in which I manually linked & relinked all the pages of the book after both the G4 & the iMac stopped working. The Performa has a floppy drive in it & I have over a hundred 1.4 mg disks with a 2 copies of the book & over a hundred 1.4 mg scans saved as .TIFF.


To do as you mentioned print to PDF would that require a printer? Because I got rid of the Epson printer I used with the Performa when I got the G4 there was no way to get it to work with the G4 & I had to buy a newer printer for the G4. It’s an HP photosmart printer. Likely I couldn’t get ink cartridges for that Epson today anyways. I kicked myself for getting rid of it when I got the G4 because I could have at least printed the book from the Performa to have another fixed copy of the book once I linked & relinked the document pages to flow correctly.


If I remember correctly the project is small enough to fit on 1 diskette. But how do I transfer the doc from a 14 mg disk to a newer computer? I had removed all the photos & design elements so the most recent copy of the book on the Performa would be small enough to fit the 1.4 mg disk. At the time we had to supply a disk of the project to have a back up of the project but also have a 2nd copy to accompany the final hard copy of the project. The project was supposed to be a complete printed book via a Heidelberg printing press & be bound as a final book for grading. End of part 1 of my reply.


Dec 10, 2023 9:14 AM in response to MoSuzMaK

Apple response old computer 


Part 2 reply

Something went wrong with my document just B4 I was supposed to output to film. From there the films would be used to make the printing plates for the project to be printed on a printing press. But I didn’t make the film or printing plates. We were told at the begging of 2nd year if our thesis project wasn’t printed & bound ina book format we would fail the whole Program. So when the problem happened & I could fix it in time for making the film & printing it in the press I just didn’t go back to classes. Because I believed I failed my 2 year Graphics Technician Printing program. The coordinator of my program & the higher ups told me to hand in a laser printed copy of the project which should be cut & bound. They decided they should have kept a closer eye as students projects progressed but they didn’t. So they decided they were partially to blame for the problem. They should have indicated the final project should have been a smaller project & my book was to big. My book was 200 pages saved as 1 file. Before graduation I asked what I should have done & they told me each chapter should have been saved each in a separate file so that if 1 of the files went wrong I would have still had all the other chapters that were not messed up. Somehow my project pages didn’t flow correctly like a book should so even the laser printed book was all mixed up. I didn’t have time to manually unlink & relink all the 200 page book back in the correct order to fix the problem in time. So I hand in the laser printed book, cut & bound as it was. End of Part 2





Dec 10, 2023 9:21 AM in response to MoSuzMaK

Part 4 Reply

My son did a diagnostic of the iMac & found it has 22 errors. From what he could find out from the sources he used for help in trying to get the iMac to turn on they told him it would be useless to try to get the iMac working as it was with all the errors. They recommend we reset the iMac back to factory settings. So I would loose my only newest copy of the book. I didn’t want him to do that until I found out more info in case I could find a way to take it somewhere to get a more resent backup of the iMac’s HD. 


I have older copies of my scans that were saved to a SyQuest drive. But I do not have a syquest drive & those files are likely not able to be accessed. I do have a backup of the iMac computer which was dated about 6 months B4 it stopped working. So there is a copy of the book & scans on the drive from around 2012 I think. 


The project was created in QuarkExpress so to open the doc I would have to buy a newer version of that software. It’s very expensive around $1000.00. When I bought the iMac it had InDesign on it & I was told it could open QuarkExpress documents. But it wouldn’t open the doc. I thought I would use the Performa document as reference & I would recreate the whole project manually in InDesign. I found out later when I was learning InDesign before recreating the book that the software was a trial version & I couldn’t save or print any project I created. That feature of the software was disabled by the manufacturer.


I used to have a backup of the G4 but I’m not sure what happened to it. End of part 4



Dec 10, 2023 9:32 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Apple response old computer 


Part 1

I was thinking of setting the date back to when I was I College in the  mid 90’s. I was thinking it might help in some way to put the date to when I 1st bought the computer. I have in the Performa a copy of the book in which I manually linked & relinked all the pages of the book after both the G4 & the iMac stopped working. The Performa has a floppy drive in it & I have over a hundred 1.4 mg disks with a 2 copies of the book & over a hundred 1.4 mg scans saved as .TIFF. 


To do as you mentioned print to PDF would that require a printer? Because I got rid of the Epson printer I used with the Performa when I got the G4 there was no way to get it to work with the G4 & I had to buy a newer printer for the G4. It’s an HP photosmart printer. Likely I couldn’t get ink cartridges for that Epson today anyways. I kicked myself for getting rid of it when I got the G4 because I could have at least printed the book from the Performa to have another fixed copy of the book once I linked & relinked the document pages to flow correctly. End of Part 1



Dec 10, 2023 9:36 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Apple response old computer 


Part 3 reply

I have a G4 which I had made the 1st transfer of the doc to. But it doesn’t turn on anymore. It has a Zip drive in it & I have some 100 mg disks which have old copies of the project & all the photos. I had transferred each doc & photo scans to the G4 that were saved to 1.4 mg floppy drives using a small piece of equipment daisy chained to the G4. I had put each floppy drive in the Performa & transferred all the files for the book & likely over 100 photo scans that were saved as .TIFF to the G4.


I had a working copy of QuarkExpress software on the G4 computer when I bought it 2nd hand. After a few years went by the software stopped working I couldn’t keep working on the doc. Since it was a used computer bought from a friend of friend who bought it from a graphics design company I didn’t have the CD’s of the software to reinstall the program. 


If I remember correctly I had emailed  everything from the G4 to my iMac or I had saved them to USB stick to transfer the whole project & photo scans to the iMac but won’t turn on either. Also when I transferred the photos to the iMac the folders with the scans saved to them were black folders & at the top left corner of the folder the letters EXE was written on all of the folders which contained the doc & all the photos & clipart for the book. End of Part 3 

Dec 10, 2023 9:47 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Part 4 Reply

My son did a diagnostic of the iMac & found it has 22 errors. From what he could find out from the sources he used for help in trying to get the iMac to turn on they told him it would be useless to try to get the iMac working as it was with all the errors. They recommend we reset the iMac back to factory settings. So I would loose my only newest copy of the book. I didn’t want him to do that until I found out more info in case I could find a way to take it somewhere to get a more resent backup of the iMac’s HD. 


I have older copies of my scans that were saved to a SyQuest drive. But I do not have a syquest drive & those files are likely not able to be accessed. I do have a backup of the iMac computer which was dated about 6 months B4 it stopped working. So there is a copy of the book & scans on the drive from around 2012 I think. 


The project was created in QuarkExpress so to open the doc I would have to buy a newer version of that software. It’s very expensive around $1000.00. When I bought the iMac it had InDesign on it & I was told it could open QuarkExpress documents. But it wouldn’t open the doc. I thought I would use the Performa document as reference & I would recreate the whole project manually in InDesign. I found out later when I was learning InDesign before recreating the book that the software was a trial version & I couldn’t save or print any project I created. That feature of the software was disabled by the manufacturer. 


I used to have a backup of the G4 but I’m not sure what happened to it. End of Part 4

Dec 10, 2023 11:51 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Ok I’ll check it out. I think I sent part to the wrong person so here it is.

Apple response old computer 


Part 2 reply

Something went wrong with my document just B4 I was supposed to output to film. From there the films would be used to make the printing plates for the project to be printed on a printing press. But I didn’t make the film or printing plates. We were told at the begging of 2nd year if our thesis project wasn’t printed & bound ina book format we would fail the whole Program. So when the problem happened & I could fix it in time for making the film & printing it in the press I just didn’t go back to classes. Because I believed I failed my 2 year Graphics Technician Printing program. The coordinator of my program & the higher ups told me to hand in a laser printed copy of the project which should be cut & bound. They decided they should have kept a closer eye as students projects progressed but they didn’t. So they decided they were partially to blame for the problem. They should have indicated the final project should have been a smaller project & my book was to big. My book was 200 pages saved as 1 file. Before graduation I asked what I should have done & they told me each chapter should have been saved each in a separate file so that if 1 of the files went wrong I would have still had all the other chapters that were not messed up. Somehow my project pages didn’t flow correctly like a book should so even the laser printed book was all mixed up. I didn’t have time to manually unlink & relink all the 200 page book back in the correct order to fix the problem in time. So I hand in the laser printed book, cut & bound as it was. End of Part 2.  


Dec 10, 2023 11:53 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Part 3 reply

I have a G4 which I had made the 1st transfer of the doc to. But it doesn’t turn on anymore. It has a Zip drive in it & I have some 100 mg disks which have old copies of the project & all the photos. I had transferred each doc & photo scans to the G4 that were saved to 1.4 mg floppy drives using a small piece of equipment daisy chained to the G4. I had put each floppy drive in the Performa & transferred all the files for the book & likely over 100 photo scans that were saved as .TIFF to the G4.


I had a working copy of QuarkExpress software on the G4 computer when I bought it 2nd hand. After a few years went by the software stopped working I couldn’t keep working on the doc. Since it was a used computer bought from a friend of friend who bought it from a graphics design company I didn’t have the CD’s of the software to reinstall the program. 


If I remember correctly I had emailed  everything from the G4 to my iMac or I had saved them to USB stick to transfer the whole project & photo scans to the iMac but won’t turn on either. Also when I transferred the photos to the iMac the folders with the scans saved to them were black folders & at the top left corner of the folder the letters EXE was written on all of the folders which contained the doc & all the photos & clipart for the book. End of Part 3 

Dec 10, 2023 11:54 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Just in case I sent the info to wrong person I’ve Re copied my reply.


Part 4 Reply

My son did a diagnostic of the iMac & found it has 22 errors. From what he could find out from the sources he used for help in trying to get the iMac to turn on they told him it would be useless to try to get the iMac working as it was with all the errors. They recommend we reset the iMac back to factory settings. So I would loose my only newest copy of the book. I didn’t want him to do that until I found out more info in case I could find a way to take it somewhere to get a more resent backup of the iMac’s HD. 


I have older copies of my scans that were saved to a SyQuest drive. But I do not have a syquest drive & those files are likely not able to be accessed. I do have a backup of the iMac computer which was dated about 6 months B4 it stopped working. So there is a copy of the book & scans on the drive from around 2012 I think. 


The project was created in QuarkExpress so to open the doc I would have to buy a newer version of that software. It’s very expensive around $1000.00. When I bought the iMac it had InDesign on it & I was told it could open QuarkExpress documents. But it wouldn’t open the doc. I thought I would use the Performa document as reference & I would recreate the whole project manually in InDesign. I found out later when I was learning InDesign before recreating the book that the software was a trial version & I couldn’t save or print any project I created. That feature of the software was disabled by the manufacturer. 


I used to have a backup of the G4 but I’m not sure what happened to it. End of Part 4


Old Mac Performa date has been going backwards

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