Any use for old Mac OS CDs?

May 18, 2020 3:41 PM

Spring cleaning, and what to do with the stack of old MacOS CDs (OS 7.5, 8.5, 10) and assorted software (Word, Office, etc.) that I keep shoving out of sight. Most are on sale on eBay, and there are sites where one can d/l the zipped install discs for pre-OS X. So...is there any useful purpose (charity?) to which these can be put? I figure hardly any computers run pre-OS X operating systems, but it seems a waste to trash them. Thanks.
posted by the sobsister to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

There are "vintage" Apple Mac collectors/sellers who may have the machine, but not the software that runs on it. Try "vintage Apple Mac repairs/sales + yourcity" on the Googs.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:44 PM on May 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Or, if you want them out of your life quicker, yes, just donate them to your preferred charity - eventually somebody will pick through them.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:45 PM on May 18, 2020

Or throw them out. It may hurt at first but in time it will feel clean.
posted by tmdonahue at 4:12 PM on May 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: See whether Jason Scott from the Internet Archive wants them.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:13 PM on May 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Put a notice out on your social media of choice, if you've got techy folks in your circle. A year or two ago I had to do a clean install of OS 10 on a really old computer, and I was delighted to find that a friend still had the discs -- it saved me a lot of time and hassle versus ordering them on eBay. If not though, yeah, I'd go ahead and donate them.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 5:29 PM on May 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

The folks at LowEndMac have a swap list set up that’s long-standing and would probably be your best bet if nothing local pans out. There’s a bunch of folks trading old Mac stuff there (as I’m reminded of every time I check the email address that’s still on the list), including stuff back to the old 68k Mac range. There’s also ones set up on Facebook, run by the same folks as well. LEM is last century Internet old and, while maybe a much smaller group than it once was, is a legit collection of people keeping old machines and stuff going. (And you can’t have too many copies of System 7 on original disks or CDs.)
posted by mrg at 5:38 PM on May 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Yeah, my first thought was the Internet Archive as well. I remember reading something a few years ago how archivists are having trouble accessing certain documents because they no longer have software that can open those documents. I would imagine the Internet Archive itself probably has the discs in question, but they could probably point you in the direction of other libraries or archives that could use them.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:09 PM on May 18, 2020

I’m interested , Metamail me?
posted by evilmonk at 9:59 PM on May 18, 2020 [2 favorites]