Short Paper: Macintosh Resource Forks - Choosing File Formats for Preservation

Abstract

The preservation of files from early Macintosh Classic (OS <=9) may often require special handling in order to ensure long term preservation and rendering. The classic Macintosh operating system would use two “forks”, a data fork and a resource fork. Resource Forks may contain graphics, sounds, fonts, and additional code. In addition, the file system would store two 4 digit codes for each file, one identifying the creating software and another identifying the type of file as extensions were rarely used. Because of this unique information within the Macintosh file system, most modern preservation systems are only aware of the data fork and information can be lost. Round-tripping a file through a preservation system and back to the original OS can help identify potential loss.

Details

Creators
Tyler Thorsted
Institutions
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Date
Keywords
resource fork; hfs; risk; finder
Publication Type
short paper
License
CC-BY 4.0 International
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