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I have also found a working 1978 Apple II. Now my dad wants me to transfer its data to another device without using fancy Apple II exclusive hardware and if possible, through a cassette port.

Now, how else can I transfer the data from the Apple II to another device like my computer without using specially design hardware for the Apple II? If possible, let the method include using a cassette port.

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Assuming your data is on floppy disk and you have a functioning disk drive it is pretty easy to transfer files from an Apple II via cassette port. The program that I recommend using is called ADTPRO. http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/

You will need to first bootstrap ADTPRO using the following tutorial: http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/bootstrapaudio.html

Once the ADTPRO program has been loaded you will use it to send the disk images from the Apple II to your modern computer using the following tutorial: http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/sending.html

The files will stored on your computer in a DSK file format which you can open and in somecase manipulate files using an archive manager like CiderPress https://sourceforge.net/projects/ciderpress/ or you can use them in most Apple II emulators.

While you can transfer files from the Apple II using the cassette interface, it will be much easier and go much faster if you can use serial, but that would require a USB to serial adapter and a Super Serial Card (SSC) in your Apple II (which typical sells for $25-$40 on eBay).

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  • 4
    I've used ADTPRO extensively, and it'll do exactly what you want to do. Depending on how much data you have to send, doing it via serial with extra hardware may not be necessary. The audio port works well, as long as you set up your sound card to treat your cables like MONO not stereo cables. Switch the mic and speakers to left only (so it uses the tip of the connector) and the only real problem after that is transfer time.
    – Zoey Boles
    Apr 19 '16 at 23:53
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    Also don't forget to turn off any audio processing that your sound card might be tempted to use (reverb or things like that). I don't think that'll be a problem when just reading data off the Apple, but if you use ADT to send things to the cassette port it's a common problem.
    – Mista E-Dogg
    Apr 20 '16 at 0:18
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    David Schmidt, author of ADTPro, also does bulk disk transfer as a service: retrofloppy.com
    – Charles Mangin
    Apr 20 '16 at 16:15
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There are also services that offer transfer of files from older media (just Google "retro floppy" and you'll find some, such as RetroFloppy.

There's also the Device Side Data FC5025 USB controller for IBM PC style 5.25" floppy drives. It adapts these drives to allow their use over USB, but also allows them to read a ton of different disk formats, including Apple DOS 3.2 and DOS 3.3, ProDOS, Atari 810, Commodore 1541, Kaypro CP/M, MS-DOS, Tandy CoCo Disk BASIC, and TI-99/4A.

The folks I know that have tried it were quite satisfied. I have one which I've not yet had time to try it for myself. The one drawback is that on many or most 5.25" drives, it cannot read the back side of disks where each side was treated like a one-sided disk, unless there are index holes for both sides.

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  • I have a Device Side Data USB adapter and standard 5.25 PC drive. It works amazingly.I was able to rip tons of Apple // disks that way. That being said, I PREFER ripping using my CFFA3000 directly from an Apple // Disk drive into Apple // format. It's basically the same; the CFFA 3000 is just what I prefer.
    – Jeremy Moskowitz
    Apr 25 '16 at 17:51

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