[title]Problem with Technology[/title]

[Flag Guy]

[Rant]
So the problem with technology... is when technology isn't upgraded to keep up with current standards.

This is NOT a rant about my computer being too slow, this is rant about not being able to remove information from one computer and put it on another because I lack a medium through which this transfer may occur. My computer has a CD RW/DVD drive, USB connection and internet, running Windows XP.

I am trying to work with a computer that runs Windows 98, has a CD drive and no connection to the internet. Another computer has CD and a Zip drive...

To get media from a Zip drive you have to put it on a Zip disc and take it to a 3rd computer, which happens to run XP... and can transfer between Zip and Flash drives.


Windows 98 is not compatible with plug and play Flash drives... so went and looked up the website for my flash drive manufactuer... downloaded a driver for my flash drive. Of course I can't transfer it to the other computer via flash drive, I have to transfer it via CD. Now it appears I don't have the right driver... further investigation reveals the driver for my Flash Drive probally doesn't exist - it's too new. The driver I was downloading was for a an older, discontinued version of this model.


Long story short, I need to get information off of another computer and I can't, because it is too old and my media is too new.

Of course this doesn't even go into how I want to open an pdf file on the old computer but can't because it doesn't have Adobe Reader... and how the driver was a ZIP file that I couldn't unzip on it, I had to go back to the new computer, unzip it and reburn the CD...



****ing pain in the ***


[/rant]

 

[Flag Guy]

And now the **** CD drive isn't working...

 

[bos]

Take the hard drive out and slap it into the new one as a slave. If your new one is too new and uses SATA with no IDE connector then I would suggest buying a external ide hard drive enclosure for 20 bucks and throw your old hard drive in that and connect it to your new machine via USB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817388001

13 bucks for this one.

 

[jdoggivjc]

You could always take the hard drive to Best Buy and drop $100+ for them to copy the data for you...

-hey, it IS an option...

 

[The_Architect]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kZWuiZZgOM]YouTube - Napoleon Dynamite - I Love Technology[/ame]

 

[Flag Guy]

Take the hard drive out and slap it into the new one as a slave. If your new one is too new and uses SATA with no IDE connector then I would suggest buying a external ide hard drive enclosure for 20 bucks and throw your old hard drive in that and connect it to your new machine via USB.

hmmm thanks but a couple of problems with that

1) Niether are my machines, and the rules regarding what I can do with the newer machine are very strict (basically I can't do anything to it)
2) Old machine is a laptop
3) yeah... I dunno... One's a legacy and the other is locked up tighter than a bank security vault

 

[jumbopackage]

Or, the problem with technology is that it's constantly changing.

I'd swap the CD/RW drive in your computer with the win98 one.

Or throw them both on the network.

 

[Flag Guy]

You could always take the hard drive to Best Buy and drop $100+ for them to copy the data for you...

-hey, it IS an option...

ha ha well I need a more dynamic solution, not a 1 time deal... the old laptop is for data logging so... $100 every time I want to pull data off is a bit much... especially for a machine I don't own

 

[Flag Guy]

Or, the problem with technology is that it's constantly changing.

I'd swap the CD/RW drive in your computer with the win98 one.

Or throw them both on the network.

I should have clairifed... problem isn't just with the technology it's also with the network... namely the old system isn't allowed on it. Period. Exclamation Mark. I'm putting it mildly..

 

[CYdTracked]

Yeah I'd go the route of slaving the drive off and copy the data off. You can also buy a IDE/SATA adapter pretty cheap too if you run into that problem.

 

[pulse]

One of the best things I ever bought was a USB Floppy drive. Yes, just when you think you'll never have to deal with another floppy again, situations like the one you just mentioned pop up. I don't think a special driver is required for a USB floppy drive in Win98, but I may be wrong. It certainly helps when booting things like laptops/PCs without floppy or CD drives and USB flash booting isn't an option.

 

[HILLCYD]

Get a new data logging computer.

 

[jumbopackage]

I should have clairifed... problem isn't just with the technology it's also with the network... namely the old system isn't allowed on it. Period. Exclamation Mark. I'm putting it mildly..

But you can transfer magnetic media between the two?

I don't understand how the zip drive comes into play.

Can't you just get a USB zip drive?

 

[jdoggivjc]

But you can transfer magnetic media between the two?

I don't understand how the zip drive comes into play.

Can't you just get a USB zip drive?

I think he's mentioned that Win 98 isn't USB - compatible...

 

[bos]

hmmm thanks but a couple of problems with that

1) Niether are my machines, and the rules regarding what I can do with the newer machine are very strict (basically I can't do anything to it)
2) Old machine is a laptop
3) yeah... I dunno... One's a legacy and the other is locked up tighter than a bank security vault

So they wont let you open the case of the old and take the hard drive out for just a few minutes to move over data?

 

[pulse]

I vaguely recall the ability to transfer data via a serial cable. I think 98 and XP have built-in ability to do this if you connect the two machines together.

 

[cytech]

hmmm thanks but a couple of problems with that

1) Niether are my machines, and the rules regarding what I can do with the newer machine are very strict (basically I can't do anything to it)
2) Old machine is a laptop
3) yeah... I dunno... One's a legacy and the other is locked up tighter than a bank security vault

if you can use a usb flash drive you should be able to use a usb hard drive enclosure. Take the hard drive out of the laptop and you will need a converter to change it to IDE, then put it in the external hard drive enclosure(get one that does IDE and SATA)

connect it to computer and transfer information. Put the hard drive back in the laptop and never use it again, or at the least upgrade it to windows 98 second edition which should give you USB 2.0 compatibility.

 

[jumbopackage]

I think he's mentioned that Win 98 isn't USB - compatible...

Win98 certainly is "USB compatible". He just didn't have drivers for his particular flash drive.

Zip drives have been around since the mid 90s, and should be compatible with pretty much everything at this point.

 

[TykeClone]

Zip the data into an encrypted file.

Take the laptop home and throw it on your internet connection and e-mail or upload the data where you can get it at work.