Re: Doesn't add up
I'd be suspicious of a job advert on Cragislist at the best of times - certainly in this part of the world they're for what one might politely call niche positions...
However, since there are utilities/bootable environments that purport to read Netware File System volumes attached to regular PCs, it would have been possible to attempt to inspect the available data without incurring any significant expense. SCSI cables are readily obtained - the old ones are the easiest to find - so that's hardly an impediment.
So going out and buying a new/old server was folly from the start. but folly is what you get from a "casual encounter" with a bloke from Craigslist.
Of course the whole enterprise was futile, but I suspect the company concerned had already heard that from someone with rather more sense and experience who had simply walked away. Which was the smart thing to do.