Any Computer Wizards Here?

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danemodsandy

danemodsandy

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I'm having trouble with something that should be very simple, something I've done before, successfully.

I'm trying to move old files off an old laptop to my desktop machine, using MS Direct Cable Connection. Both machines have DCC, and both have NetBEUI set up as a protocol. Ports are the same on both machines- LPT1, connected with a parallel cable.

The machines will not connect- I keep getting "Is the guest computer turned on?" on the host computer, and a message that the connection did not go through on the guest computer. Both machines are ancient- the host laptop is running Win95, and the desktop is running Win98.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very grateful. The laptop has many files on it which prove my authorship of many projects I published some years ago; I need to retain them for legal reasons.
 
I haven't done that

In centuries, but I seem to recall that there were very strict limitations on both cable type and length.
It was also possible to have Win95 get the interface confused.
There are lots of easier ways to do this, if you like, I'll be happy to discuss them.
 
A word about saving information.

As an Archivist with a State Archives I can tell you that saving records electronically is but one step. You really should consider keeping paper copies of anything you need for legal reasons.

Data stored in electronic format is actually very unstable with current technology. Even data stored on disc has a shelf life. The "gold" disc's have a shelf life of about 5 years.

This is going to be a real issue for archivists in years to come. Everyday County Courthouse records are being migrated to electronic form. No more ledgers or record books. I think that is a big mistake but I am a historian and archivist and have certain grounded opinion's on such issues. I feel the books should stay in tact and an electronic copy serve as a second source.

I am one of the "caretakers" of records for my State. I can see a decline in the 1970's in record keeping for my State on the County level.

Computers made it worse. Perhaps it will improve as we are in an infant stage of these machines for such purposes. Still it gets down to who is inputting the data.

For your purposes I urge you to keep a paper copy,...on legal size paper.

It sounds like your computers are not talking to each other.

I am interested to see if any computer wiz kids are here. If not I think I know one to call.
 
MS Direct Cable Connection

Perhaps the parallel port configuration is incorrect in the BIOS. Like others who've responded, it has been many years since I have done this. However, the BIOS setup likely allows you to set a variety of configurations: EPP,ECP, and others I can't remember. I think ECP is the highest performing option but I also think it was not always successful to use. In any case it is worth checking that both machines have the same setting for the parallel port (LPT1:).
 
Open to Suggestions:

But you should know, the laptop is so old (1998) that it will no longer connect to the Internet (4 meg harddrive, 16 meg RAM), and has no provision for a network card. It also has no CD burner, just a read-only CD drive.

If anyone has any suggestions that can work given those limitations, I'm all ears. I'm beginning to think floppies....
 
Do you perhaps mean 40 MB hard drive?

Does it have USB? If so, try a FlashDrive, JumpDrive, MemoryStick, whatever is the term-of-choice.

It doesn't have a modem or PCMCIA slot for a NIC? 1998 isn't too old to be useful or get online. I use a 1998ish (could be early as 1996, I forget exactly when I built it) WinNT desktop system every day at work.
 
Dadoes:

"Do you perhaps mean 40 MB hard drive?

Does it have USB?"

I mean 4 gig hard drive, sorry. No USB; this was 1998. The modem was built onto the motherboard and is defunct; there's no PCMCIA slot. 4 gigs of HD space, 16 meg ram, a read-only CD drive, a floppy drive, a colour display and a modem was SMOKIN' back then. It was also $1700.

Nice doorstop today, if I can ever get the old files off of it.
 
If you seriously need the files, a PC repair shop (if you can find one you trust, LOL), could perhaps physically remove the hard drive and slave it to another system to copy off the data. Laptops tend to be proprietary for hardware, but there oughta be some way to interface to the drive.
 
The are several ways to do this:

1. Copy your data only to floppy disks. The data shouldn't be too bad.

2. On your new system reinstall your applications from the original system disks.

3. Copy your data into the proper directories after the apps have been installed.

-OR-

See if the CD-ROM can be replaced and a CD Writer installed. Most laptops can do this. You didn't mention the brand of your laptop. This would be the easiest out. Writers are cheap now adays, maybe a local computer shop could do this for you.
 
If you're the adventurous type computerwise, you can simply by an adapter and plug the laptops drive into your desktop. Part costs $5-$10 at most computer shops. You just need an open plug on your IDE cable.
 
If you do

decide to swap out the drive and transfer with an adapter, be very very careful. These 2.5" drives (likely the size of yours) unfortunately do not always have 'pin 1' coding on the same side.
And an error in hookup will fry the electronics.

I'd forgotten about the bios settings. Another one which affected that transfer method was the interrupt settings - IRQ had to be assigned by Windows to match the bios , and it had to be assigned.
 
UPDATE:

Thanks to everyone who responded here!

In the interest of time, effort, and a certain cheapness, I elected to move stuff via floppy. For the most part, things were pretty easy to move that way, but one PowerPoint presentation was a booger. Sixty-eight slides to be copied, and they had to be done one at a time, since the entire presentation was about twice as large as could be fitted onto one floppy. I found that I couldn't even split it up into two parts- each half was nearly as large as the whole, due to all the files that make a PowerPoint presentation happen. The individual slides are kind of the least of it. I ended up copying one slide at a time, transferring that to a new PowerPoint presentation on the desktop via floppy. Sixty-eight laborious repeats later, I have the thing saved from extinction.

There are other files for another time, but the worst is over. Thanks again, folks!
 

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