Ancient Claris Question

[pantherman]

About 15yrs ago I saved some info on F/D in Claris Works.    I would like to be able to access it again. So far not been able to read if in WINDOWS 7 or WIN XP Pro.     But the original computer it was saved on was WIN 3.1, so I now have another WIN 3.1 computer and have tried to install Claris Works in it.    But all that comes up from the Claris Works back up disks is a message that the F/D is not formatted.   
As I did not put the Claris Works in the original WIN 3.1 computer can anyone suggest how I can get it to read the backup disks, or does it just mean that the backup disks are no longer any use? If so is there a way to read the files in WINDOWS 7 or WIN XP Pro SP3 please?   

Just to make clear, I am writing about two different sets of disks here. The Backup ones (3 disks) to try and install Claris Works, and some with info from Claris works stored on.

The WIN 3.1 Computer is:
AST Ascentia 910n
8Mb RAM
MS-DOS (R) Version 6.22

Ignorantly yours, Pantherman   

[soybean]

Can you see files on the F/D, both the ones containing the Claris Works program files and the one(s) containing files you created with Claris Works?  Are you sure the F/D on that computer works right?  Have you tried looking at the files on the floppies using another computer?

[pantherman]

Hi Soyabean,
The Claris backup F/D are a different set from the ones with the info on.
I can see the files I want to access, but can't open them. Tried in Wordpad, Open Office, ABi Word. Tried on WINDOWS 7, WIN XP Pro SP3 and WIN 3.1 machines.
I can't see the ClarisWorks back up disks on any of these machines, I just get "Disk not Formatted" come up. I was given the Clarisworks backup disks and have just been told they were originally used on a MAC. Is Claris for MAC the same as for a PC please? If not, I guess that might be why I can't see the backup disks, though the person who handed them to me said they were the same.

[soybean]

Usually, a particular copy of a software program will not run on on both Mac and Windows. The software makers design different versions of their software for different operating systems. So, if that Claris Works program on the floppies was for Mac, it probably won't work on any Windows system.

About the only suggestion I can come up with now is to watch ebay.com for an auction for Claris Works, buy it, install it, and see whether you can open those files you want to open.  I did a search on ebay and found just one listing now.  See Claris Works 4.0 Internet Edition

[pantherman]

Thanks for the info and link Soyabean. Unfortunately they only ship to the USA and I am in London,  England. (Cor blimey Guvnor, fort you woulda guessed that from me Cockney accent!) I will keep an eye out on the UK EBay though. (Or for a cheap MAC!) Thanks again though.