Cloning..sort of

[kayofcircles]

Months ago, I asked a question about linking two puters and this is a question regarding a "workaround" instead. My husband has two puters at work: the new puter with a new program and ME. The old puter currently has 98. We can't figure a way that is affordable and do-able to link them, so our question is: could we buy a new mobo and new chip for the old puter..get it up to speed, so to speak. Buy a new hard drive, "copy" the hard drive in the new puter, and install it on the refurbished old puter? If that is possible, then we might be able to keep the other puter "updated" by linking them or maybe even from "backup" tapes.

My husband found an abandoned puter literally beside the road, and did get it to "accept" a hard drive from another puter without too much difficulty. Of course, the poor 40Mhz chip is struggling to run 98, but it is doing so.

------------------
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life.
-- Chinese proverb

[iisbob]

Wow, you got a 40mhz chip to run windows98! My hat is off to you!! I couldn't get an old 75 to even think about it! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

You could of course literally " rebuild " the older system ( which would be the most practical choice ) or you can try windows little used/known " direct cable " program, it's supposed to allow you to connect two PC's and transfer data back and forth, kinda like a rudimentary network, i've never successfully gotten it to work right though. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif

Or, you could try a 3rd party like PC-link, or Aloha Bob's. There is another way, though it's a bit cumbersome, you can use a 2nd harddrive as data storage, and just swap it back and forth between the two systems, i've done that a few times and i'll have to tell you it's very cumbersome and time consuming.

I know you probably don't want to get into a lot of money but PClink is a good choice, not too mention you could buy a network hub and set up your own little home network, i know wal-mart sells a basic networking kit for around $100-it would be a good learning experiance. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

------------------
iisbob
"Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." --Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

[This message has been edited by iisbob (edited 07-29-2001).]

[Paleo Pete]

Win98 on a 40MHz CPU???

Does it load windows in under a week? lol...

Check some of the online resellers, you might be able to find the components you need to network fo rmuch less, the Linksys "network in a box" that Wally World sells should od the trick, but I think if you check Price Combat (http://www.pricecombat.com./) CSO (http://www.computersurplusoutlet.com/) or Pricewatch (http://www.pricewatch.com/) you might be able to find much better prices.


As for the 40MHz system, put win3.11 and DOS on it, trying to use win98 on that thing is like trying to haul a bulldozer in a Volkswagen...


------------------
YOU! Out of the gene pool!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[nimnorf2]

Hey Kay,
You have already demonstrated your "wizzardry" with a "door stop, thrownaway, 40MgHz running 98. Go start your own tech support site...Sheeeesh!
How far apart are the two puters? What do you want to transfer between them? How often? I have successfully used that "direct cable connection," that iisbob talked about. It's not quick but quite simple. you connect the two puters throught their parallel printer ports.
You'd have to get to the back of both computers each time you wanted to transfer something.
Pete, good visual laugh,....volkswagon pulling a bulldozer. lol.

------------------
A man persuaded against his will, is of his old opinion still.

[skhips]

As already mentioned I think direct Cable Connection is worth you trying.

As for your other query, their are many programs that allow you to image a hard drive so you can reinstall it or move it onto another harddrive, Norton Ghost is a good one, but i think you can sometimes get a similar program free when you buy certain Hard drives can any of you guys or gals confirm this before i kay unneccarily buys a program.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[kayofcircles]

Sorry, my bad. I wasn't clear at all in my question I guess. Previous post Linking (http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000787.html) . Ghost gave us an excellent tutorial on "network aware" (even though we did get a bit distracted in that thread).

My question this time is just this: Copying the hard drive with the business program (that saves all its files, unfortunately, within the program) and ME, and installing the "copy" hard drive to another new mobo and chip should work, right? Similar to a situation where your mobo dies, but hard drive is still working fine? Our theory is that once we have "mirror" images, we should be able to "update" information regularly so that essentially we have two puters with same data, same program, etc and will be supplementing the tape backup. (Which I read in several places doesn't always "work".) Also, based on what I learned from previous question, we would then have the same OS on both which should make transferring files and such much easier. We don't really need to "network"...just update and store/save.

[mjc]

Yes, it should work, but be aware that in order for windows to properly run on the new setup it must load the drivers for all the devices there...so you would need to remove all the existing devices in device manager, shut down and then move the drives (this is after making the "clone" but before transferring it to th new machine) and letting Win reinstall all the new stuff as it boots up...it would work easiest if the configuration of the new motherboard were the same as the old, but the whole point is to get this mess onto a newer machine, right?

------------------
mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Gun Control...hitting what you aim at!

[kayofcircles]

mjc: Yes! that's the whole idea. Okay, sorry to be dense, but remove what devices before installing on new mobo? Can't the "other" monitor be removed after bootup? And won't it find a different CDRom by itself with the startup disk? The old puter we were just fooling with basically booted up with a message something like "Hey, that's not the mobo I was using..want me to load some new drivers for this one?" And we said, "Yeah, sure, thanks!" (That old puter has been an excellent "play and learn" tool.)

[ranchdog]

PETE - Your type-speak makes my eyes water ! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

------------------
......Indecision may or may not be my problem......

[mjc]

Basically Kay what I was saying was remove it all, don't reboot between each one, just get rid of it, power down, pull the drive, put it in the new machine and then power up...you won't have to worry about having to remove everything afterwards, it was already done and you won't have to worry about a possible conflict there is nothing that Windows has drivers listed for so it is like startiong out with a clean slate instead of one that had some writing on it...and you are trying to make some space in that writing for something new...Yes, you can do it afterwards but you do have a higher risk of problems...the "best" method of course is to do a fresh install on a clean drive after replacing the motherboard, but that doesn't get you what you want, and the worst is to just place the old drive in the new machine and not do anything at all...everything in between has varying degrees of succes, the closer you get to the discovering hardware state of a fresh install the better your chance of success.......

------------------
mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Gun Control...hitting what you aim at!