Getting old laptop's files to newer desktop

[novakeller]

hello all, i could use a little help. i have an older (approx. 1998) IBM Thinkpad running Windows 95. I have about 2GB of .mp3s that I'd like to move to my newer (2003) Dell Dimension 8300 desktop which runs XP. the laptop has a regular 3.5 floppy drive, and a regular cd-rom drive... no burner.

any advice on how to achieve this? I have experience networking Win 95/Win 98 machines, but haven't networked at all with XP. When I tried to link the two, I got an error message saying that XP will only link up with Win 98 operating systems and newer. I figure that there has to be a decent way to do this without wasting 200 bucks to upgrade the dinosaur laptop to win 98 or 2000 for the sole purpose of transferring a couple gigs of files. any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[Whyzman]

It appears that you might have access to a Win98 machine. How about a two step approach? Move the files to a Win98 machine and then on up to the XP...who knows, just a thought that could be worth a couple hundred bucks! :)

Almost forgot, welcome tohttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Forums! :D

[novakeller]

Thanks! Yeah, I considered that approach, but haven't attempted it yet - wondered if there's an easier "direct" way to do it that I just wasn't aware of... ;)

Separately, my Dell 8300's spec's are as follows (for the main components, at least):

1 M5268 PROCESSOR, 80546, 3.0, 1M, PENTIUM 4 PRESCOTT DT, 800, D0

1 N2194 INFORMATION, DEVIATE TO PWA G0728, LADDER WITH 5R/2R CIRCUITS

2 J0201 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 256, 400M, 32X64, 8K, 184

1 N0804 HARD DRIVE, 80GB, I, 7.2K, 80G/P, SEAGATE-ALPINE

1 9Y452 CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, 128MB, NV34, DIMENSION

I'm pretty happy with the overall performance of the computer, but wondered if it would be worth upgrading the graphics card for better gaming video and possibly trying to watch tv over my broadband cable connection? (the latter is a concept I think is pretty cool, but know very little about). I saw that ATI makes a card called "All in Wonder" that sounds like a big step up from the stock card the Dell came with. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Whyzman]

First machine I ever built I put in an All-in-Wonder just for the purpose of having my own tv set! Every set in the house had someone watching something...dad needed his own. I've never regetted it for a moment, especially on my 21" monitor. I can minimize the screen put on my wireless headset and surf the web at my leisure...

Oh, almost forgot the AIWs also have a "Tivo" type of feature where you can record to your harddrive picking up where ever you left off if you hit pause and resume...pretty sweet! :D

Not sure if you can house one in your Dell, although they've become a bit less proprietary now-a-days...

[classicsoftware]

The question is, do you want to hold onto the old Windows 95 laptop. If you don't, just get an external USB drive enclosure. Once you copy the files to the new system, you can format the old drive and use it as an external backup device.

[novakeller]

Thanks CS, I appreciate the advice - but you're probably giving me more 'computer-savvy' credit than I deserve, because I don't really understand what you're proposing... can you elaborate a bit? Sorry, my bad.

[novakeller]

*Quick thought* - along those same lines, could I just pick up an external HDD (was considering doing that anyway as a dedicated music storage location), load the files from the win95 laptop to it, and then use them from the desktop? I guess I'm asking if win95 would recognize the HDD and allow the files to transfer, or would I be right back to the same problem of win95 being too antiquated to accomplish this?

[classicsoftware]

What i'm suggesting is you:

1) Remove the hard drive from the old laptop. (Usually 1-2 screws at most.)

2) Purchase a 2.5" External drive case. Like this One (http://www.addonics.com/products/enclosures/aesexdiiu2.asp).

3) Install drive removed in step 1 into case purchased in step 2. (4 screws)

4) Plug USB cable into new laptop.

5) Copy files to new laptop

6) Erase old drive and use as an external backup device.

[Sylvander]

ViPowER External Enclosures (http://www.vipower.com.tw/SmartFamily.htm)
VP-9258V (http://www.vipower.com.tw/P_SF_VP-9258V.htm)

I have the VP-9054V enclosure and the VP-9208 USB 2.0 "SmartCable" connection [parts of the VP-9258V bundle].
Had to fit a PCI to USB2 card and upgrade to Win98SE [Win98SE & DOS drivers included on supplied CD]. No Win95 drivers were included for this SmartCable.
With the SmartCable, the chip-set has been moved from the enclosure to the cable, so the drivers are for the cable not the enclosure.
This moves the cost from the enclosure to the cable, so you could have multiple lower-cost enclosures, each with a different type of drive.
I fitted an old spare 8 GB IDE HDD into the enclosure. Works well. Fast transfer.
I notice there are Win95 drivers of some sort for certain models VP-2528V, VP-6228V, VP-8258, VP9228V, VP-9258V. All using the VP-9005 Parallel cable.
There are different kinds of SmartCable.
e.g. USB2, USB1.1, Firewire, IEEE1394, SCSI, Parallel.

[Sylvander]

"I'm asking if win95 would recognize the HDD and allow the files to transfer"
I suppose you could have a parallel "SmartCable" connecting the external drive enclosure to the Win95 laptop [the transfer would be slowER than the USB2 connection], and then disconnect & reconnect to a USB2 "SmartCable" connected to your Dell running WinXP. The cables are not cheap unfortunately, but rather useful.

[classicsoftware]

Sylvander:

Why bother. If he has no use for the laptop, remove the drive and be done with it.

[Sylvander]

Am I missing something? :confused:

I've re-read this post but cannot find anything said that suggests he wants to scrap the older IBM Thinkpad.
Just that he wants to transfer ["move"] the MP3 files to the newer Dell.
Then he says "could I just pick up an external HDD (was considering doing that anyway as a dedicated music storage location)...load the files from the win95 laptop to it, and then use them from the desktop?".
So he wants to use an external HDD for music storage, and he wants to access them from "the desktop" [Windows Operating System]. Does he mean the new desktop only, or both old and new?
It depends what he's thinking, but I've introduced the idea, and he can adopt it or reject it.

Perhaps I thought of that because I have here 2 PC's sitting side-by-side; one older, one newer, and could swap the external HDD from one to the other if I felt the need [and knew how to make it work].
I have Win98SE on both, but the older only has a PCI USB 1.1 card and the cable is USB2.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

His new pc is not a laptop.

You can get a 3.5 to 2.5 inch ide adaptor alone without enclosure for a little less than $10

You'll need to open up the case and use it on one of the ide cables (secondary preferrably) and transfer all the mp3's then remove it and put the ide cable back.

The size of that old laptop's harddrive is probably not of much use as a backup device. I'll bet memory sticks are bigger these days. :rolleyes:

[classicsoftware]

Sylvander I asked:
The question is, do you want to hold onto the old Windows 95 laptop. If you don't, just get an external USB drive enclosure. Once you copy the files to the new system, you can format the old drive and use it as an external backup device.


I still have not received an answer. It will be very difficult to get an external HDD to work with Windows 95 as there is not native USB support and drivers are sketchy at best. My solution remains the easiest, even if he wants to return the drive to laptop. I do not understand why anyone would continue to run Windows 85 for any PC on the Internet. Not enough security.. Way too dangerous.

[Paleo Pete]

I have to agree with Sylvander here, I can't see anything that indicates Novakeller wants to scrap the old laptop either, although the usefulness of a win95 machine of any kind is questionable these days, at least for Internet usage. For offline or older games, word processing, a portable computer for travel, possibly other things, it might still have its uses. For security reasons, it's best not to use it much online though...

To transfer data I think the 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" adapter would be the least expensive and possibly easiest, since USB support with win95 was sketchy at best, and only available at all with win95 B or release 2, whatever it was called, I forget... OSR2??

Attach it to the secondary IDE and it should be available in XP with no further ado. I would sinply unplug the CD ROM drive(s) temporarily to avoid overcomplicating the matter. Just unplug the IDE cable at the motherboard and reconnect it when the laptop drive is removed. Make sure to double check jumper settings, it should be set as Master if on a cable by itself, which should be the present setting. ...It's probably no bigger than 5GB so it won't work on an 80 conductor IDE cable, a 40 conductor cable should give you no trouble.

Once data is transferred, unhook it, everything should be back to its original condition, and if you want to keep the win95 drive intact and usable, COPY the files to the new machine rather than actually moving them.