When I first got involved in the wonders of computing many years ago, I opted for the Apple IIC+. This was a proDos based machine and I must say that it served me well as an introduction to computing. Now that was a really simple machine. No hard drive, each disk had to be bootable etc etc. I am getting carried away here with my wistful reminiscing... Anyway, I started the great American novel on that system and now, after a ten year hiatus I want to finish it. Problem: how do I access these old apple (apple not MacIntosh) files? I have about twenty diskettes on prodos formatted diskettes, a masterpiece in the making and no way to access it. I know that there are emulators which are supposed to do the job but I must say, after having tried one or two, that they don't amount to much, not very efficient. Of course that may be due to my ineptitude and not the fault of the program! Which would be easier apple to mac or apple to pc. I would prefer apple to pc. Any ideas?

Call me an arse - but I would look on EBay and by an old Apple IIc - this would be a great "About The Author" line on the back... :) - in reality, a tough question..

on system 7 there was the option of formatting a floppy or hd in prodos format. I have never had one of those machines... but I guess if System 7 let you format the disks, it shoul let you read it... right? Try system 7 because 8 does not support it anymore (I think)

Send the disks to a data recovery center they can do just about anything will cost you about $200 but if it's truely worth it to you then the money would be well spent

I have an old Apple IIgs, a Mac 6200CD, and a new Toshiba (Windows 98) laptop. Try this method for resurrecting your novel... find a friend with a Mac that is running System 7, open your Apple ProDOS data files using ClarisWorks (ironically now called AppleWorks), and save them in a format that is compatible with a PC word processor (Word, WordPerfect, etc.). Or, you can save it as ASCII text. If your old data files were AppleWorks (for the Apple IIc/IIe), ClarisWorks should have no problem opening them. If you opt to get an old Apple IIc/IIe or a discontinued Mac, the place to go is Shreve Systems, which you can find at: http://www.shrevesystems.com Good luck.