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Recovering SmartWare backup on MacBook

I have an older “My Passport” drive used to backup personal data from a MacBook. The user upgraded the OS and found that SmartWare does not work on the new OS. I can open SmartWare on a Windows PC, but it doesn’t recognize the file system on the drive. It doesn’t run at all on the Mac. WD support tells me the folder names used by Smartware 2 and later, but this was almost certainly backed up with an earlier version. User was deployed overseas, so software updates were not practical. Is there a way to recover the data on a MacBook, or a way for Windows to recognize the file system used?

If it is not possible, what is the latest version of the MacBook OS that supports the early SmartWare? I might be able to “downgrade” the OS to recover data and then it can be backed up using the current software.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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