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transfer files on old pcs

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13 replies

by seadogs

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I have two older pcs running windows 95 and 98. One is on its way out and I wanted to transfer some files. I thought of doing it by serial modem, but I'm not sure how. Can anyone tell me the steps to do this? Or is there a better way? Both machines are much aged and just have the basic hardware - serial, parallel ports, no nics, cdrom drive. Thanks!

13 replies

by pierrejamme

Slave the hard drive to whatever computer you want to move the data to and copy it over. This involves removing the hard drive, removing the "Master" jumper making it a slave and connecting it to an ide cable in a new computer. Then boot up and you have a new "D:\" drive. Piece of cake.

by still_learning

I agree with pierrejamme, using the drive as a slave device and transferring the files is your simplest and cheapest solution. Good luck.

by bldsm

The better way is plug a parallel cable between both PCs and run a ms dos utility called FX.exe. It sets up a connection between both PCs and you can send and copy etc from one PC to the slave (the other). Works in Win 95 and 98. We use it all the time to move data to and from PCs which are being upgraded or repaired. If you need a copy of the program email bruce@customercatchers.co.nz.

bruce

by rcom

Agree with first 2 answers. If there's room you can copy the entire drive to a folder using the backup that comes with windows. I'm not sure how this software works but, if you plan on copying any system files this way is not going to work since both systems are running you won't be able to copy files that are in use.
By the way, enable "show hidden & system files" in the folder options if you plan on copying the Windows folder.

by mcholwe

if both machines are configured as network machines, it's very easy to do the file transfer over the network.You share computer resources and copy the files from one pc to the other.
If not,the other way is by removing the HDD of one machine, and make it a slave of the other.

by lizzy

Hi Mary,
I also agree with the first two answers. The fifth answer missed that there are no NIC's on the PC's thus no network. For future use, look into Ghost software which can also be used with the first and second answer methods. Hidden files won't have to be "unhidden" with Ghost.

There was just an article here at TR about doing this. See this thread (no spaces in the URL):

https://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00320020719pos01.htm&vf=crm&rcode=r001

Best wishes!

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