Opening old files

jfindlay · Post by **jfindlay** » Sat Jun 12, 2021 8:19 pm

Hi,

I’ve found a number of 3.25” discs that contain CAD files from 1996. I’m not sure if they’re Powrcadd or Powerdraw, but my version of PCad won’t recognize them.

Any ideas on how I might open these?

Thanks!

J Findlay

jfindlay · Post by **jfindlay** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:27 pm

Uh-oh.

Many views and no responses - that leads me to believe these files may be lost. That's unfortunate - they were for a large residential project we had done in the 90s, and it's recently been sold to purchasers who would like to renovate. Oh well - back to the "drawing board".

Best of luck to all with next steps in the CAD world. Not sure what direction we'll go, but I imagine we'll just try to make sure our Macs don't accidentally update in the near future.

Alfred Scott · Post by **Alfred Scott** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:46 pm

Maybe give me a call. I can put you in touch with a user in North Carolina who still has a G5 PowerMac and PowerCADD 6.

Alfred

rjpotter · Post by **rjpotter** » Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:36 pm

Double clicking old files just opens them as a text file, but I have been able to open files from 1995 by dragging and dropping them onto the PC9 application in the Dock, and that seems to work fine.

Alfred Scott · Post by **Alfred Scott** » Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:45 pm

At some point, the ability to open some early files was eliminated in PC9 because it was not possible to compile PC9 with these. I have an old iMac here and I can probably open them on this. Important that you Zip the files before emailing them.

Alfred

jfindlay · Post by **jfindlay** » Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:23 pm

Hi Alfred,

Thank you very much for looking at these files for me. I've attached a zip file containing 8 files, one of which I replaced the extension with PC9 to see if that would make a difference. The others seem to have used the last 3 letter sent he file name for an extension.

Jamie Findlay

Alfred Scott · Post by **Alfred Scott** » Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:17 pm

I’ll check them ASAP.

It would be very helpful to have your email and phone number.

Alfred
iPhone: 804-690-4591
[email protected]

Alfred Scott · Post by **Alfred Scott** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 1:33 am

Jamie,

I didn’t get anywhere with these. I’m not sure if these are PowerDraw or PowerCADD files at all. I’ve never seen files that used names like these.

You might do a google search for file extensions of .PAO, .PAG, .FLR, .LRP, .SUR. These look like PC files to me.

Alfred

Alfred Scott · Post by **Alfred Scott** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 7:21 pm

Jamie,

Viewed in HexEdit these are clearly PowerDraw 4 files, but I can't help you if you will not communicate directly with me.

Alfred

Alfred Scott · Post by **Alfred Scott** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 7:53 pm

Does anyone remember the Type and Creator of PowerDraw 4 files?

Alfred

PowerCADD Forum

Opening old files

Opening old files

Re: Opening old files

Re: Opening old files

Re: Opening old files

Re: Opening old files

Re: Opening old files

Re: Opening old files

Re: Opening old files

Re: Opening old files

Re: Opening old files