From 55d225ce6dfd21b1be08fbb7776f24e61355441f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: barberd <46797210+barberd@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2021 23:20:14 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Update README.md --- README.md | 16 ++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 6be6686..ff3dd42 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,2 +1,18 @@ # macmfsextract Python utility to extract files from Macintosh MFS filesystem images + +MFS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_File_System) was the original Macintosh filesystem used with the release of the Macintosh in 1984. It was replaced with HFS a year and a half later after Apple introduced the first Macintosh hard drives. HFS tools and FUSE modules can be found, but not much exists for MFS. Anyone wanting to extract files from images of these early programs often had to load the images into an emulator; with this python script the files can now be extracted directly. Its especially helpful for extracting hidden files or inspecting volume and file dates. Note Macintosh dates are seconds since midnight Jan 1 1904. + +Details on MFS were obtained from https://www.macgui.com/news/article.php?t=482 + +Usage: + +To extract all files in the IMAGEFILE MFS image to the current directory +./mfsextract.py IMAGEFILE + +To show additional details such as the block mapping and timestamps, run: +./mfsextract.py IMAGEFILE verbose + +Conceptually, one could run this directly on a floppy drive such as: +./mfsextract.py /dev/fd0 +but as most of these images were on 400k Macintosh floppies, it would only really make sense on an m68k linux install on a Macintosh both new enough to run Linux (68020 or later processor) and old enough to have a floppy drive capable of reading the original 400k floppies....perhaps an SE/30 or Mac Classic II.