I am replacing the hard drive on a computer and will keep all the other hardware. Both old and new hard drives have Win 95 or 98. As I recall it was a pain finding a driver for this modem which was not included with Windows I had to do a FCC ID search, go online, find a driver, download, and install. Rather than going through all that again, I would simply like to copy files from the current hard drive to a floppy or Zip disk then copy and install after I've swapped out the hard drive. Exactly what files am I looking for? Anybody out there ever done it this way before? I always get my modem drivers online. Thanks.

You can go HERE (http://www.jermar.com/) and download a program that will let you make a copy of all your drivers and then reinstall when you start over...

Use the software provided by the drive manufacturer and it will copy the entire contents of the old drive to the new drive. Drivers, resistry the whole shootin match....

Budfred, I used that driver backup program for two different installs and only about half the drivers which it backed up worked. Apparently there was some additonal info on the original install disk that was needed. Of course maybe I just didn't know what I was doing - nahh that couldn't be! If he is concerned about that one driver what is the best way to check that it will be picked up and properly reinstalled on the new system (I want to know too)?

If you are just swapping hard drives,

why would you want to re-install??????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????

When you can make a nice perfect copy.

I don't have the manufacturer's installation disks since I believe I pulled this modem from a dead machine. Don't I have to reinstall the modem driver if I want to use the same modem after I swap hard drives?

This is actually my dad's computer (a hand-me-down from me) and the modem is an off brand and probably a Cardinal or some make that has gone out of business. In any case I don't want to do another FCC ID search, find a driver, download, install, etc. when I know the drivers are on the old hard drive. There's got to be an easier way just to look in the Windows System folder (or somewhere) and copy those files to a floppy to install after I've exchanged hard drives, right? I'm just guessing here. Also, part of the problem--and the reason I'm swapping out hard drive--is that he can't get online. So please don't suggest downloading a drive from ModemDrivers.com or elsewhre.

I will attempt the WinDriveBackup program which I downloaded onto a Zip disk. Thanks for the tips.

If you don't have the drive manufacturer's software tools there are third party utilities that will do this for you and allow just what classic.... suggested.

It might also be wise to get as much info about the current modem while it is installed and working. Try Belarc or Aida for auditing, run hwinfo /ui from the run box or type ati0, ati1, ati2 ... etc in a terminal window. You can use hyperterminal or just use the terminal window used by DUN by enabling it in the DUN settings for showing-up prior to connecting.

Modem drivers are installed in so many different ways (some need the modem in-situ and others must have the software installed first) and modems typically also have to integrate with the cpu, sound card, pci slot, etc, etc that simply copying driver backups just may not work quite that easily. Good Luck whatever.

drdan,

I haven't used that driver backup program yet, but a couple of people here did and reported that it worked pretty slick.

If you found the drivers once before, where did you download them to? Did you save it to any specific file? If so, I would copy to floppy from there.

If you don't know where on your harddrive: Start> Settings> Control Panel> Modems> find which modem is being used by the diagnostic tool, then with it hightlighted, click on driver. Copy that and put it in the Find> Files and Folders box and find it that way. Copy it to a floppy. Now if you get 2 hits back on your find search, one of them may be in a folder containing the entire driver package that was D/Led previously as you stated. That would be what to put onto floppy not just the one driver (like mine is comm.drv).

Just in case this doesn't work, don't format the drive until you know for sure.

Anything I download now always goes to a folder of my making for exactly the reason you are experiencing... Hint: After the successful floppy install, put the floppy in the pc case before closing it. It will be there when you need it again :)

I do what Fred does also. Anytime I download anything at I click "save it to disc" and download it to a folder I have named, surprisingly enough, "Downloads". I actually have that folder on it's own little partiion now but it works fine to just create a folder in C: drive or in My Documents and name it something like downloads. Before you do a reinstall just copy that entire folder to a CD or Smartmedia etc and then put the folder back in your computer after reinstalling. All your downloads are right there to reinstall whichever ones you want.

I decided to clean out my download folders today....I burned 1300 MB (yes that is 2 CDs) worth of downloads, and none of it was "media" files (2 months worth to be exact). Everything I download gets kept. I have enough versions of Mozilla I could start an "old version" archive! With blank CDs being cheep I don't see any reason for not saving install packages, you never know when the latest version will go and have a bizarre error and not run on your config, or whether that off-brand modem that they paid you to take out of the store will go out of business.

I'm only a dork and not a geek, but - couldn't you use the list of driver under device manager listing for the modem? Under the drivers tab?.

Dork Boy,

Hey, we are all geeks here!!:D

I am not sure what you are asking. If you are suggesting that you can simply copy the driver file based on the Device Manager listing, it is usually not going to be that simple. Even though only one file is listed, installing drivers usually involves several files and you need them all to do it properly. Also, there may be some customization to the file that you don't want to carry on to another computer (not real sure about that).

Although driver files are listed as being in a certain position, simply copying/pasting them back into position does nothing to any registry entries, etc, etc, etc, which are properly adjusted when drivers are installed and opposed to being simply pasted.