How to backup everything?

Genralkidd · Aug 29, 2013

I have some important files I need to retrieve off my old Windows 95 computer. However, the files are much too big to fit on floppy disks and I am unable to install a CD burner as there's not enough space left on the drive (850 MB) to install any kind of burning software. This version of Windows 95 also predates the version with USB support, therefore I can't use any USB devices either. There's also no Ethernet port for this computer, only a dialup modem (but no dialup software).

I've tried plugging the hard drive into a newer Windows 7 PC using an IDE to USB adapter. However, while the drive does start spinning up (sounds like it's trying to boot the OS) and Windows 7 does see the hard drive is plugged, I am unable to access it. Disk manager keeps saying I need to initialize the drive which will apparently destroy all the data on the drive. Does this have something to do with setting the drive to either Slave or Master? If I set it to slave, will I be able to directly access the hard drive in Windows 7?

What I'm most hopeful about doing is creating a virtual image of the hard drive so that I can continue using that system within a virtual machine.

USAFRet · Aug 29, 2013

Genralkidd :

I have some important files I need to retrieve off my old Windows 95 computer. However, the files are much too big to fit on floppy disks and I am unable to install a CD burner as there's not enough space left on the drive (850 MB) to install any kind of burning software. This version of Windows 95 also predates the version with USB support, therefore I can't use any USB devices either. There's also no Ethernet port for this computer, only a dialup modem (but no dialup software).

I've tried plugging the hard drive into a newer Windows 7 PC using an IDE to USB adapter. However, while the drive does start spinning up (sounds like it's trying to boot the OS) and Windows 7 does see the hard drive is plugged, I am unable to access it. Disk manager keeps saying I need to initialize the drive which will apparently destroy all the data on the drive. Does this have something to do with setting the drive to either Slave or Master? If I set it to slave, will I be able to directly access the hard drive in Windows 7?

What I'm most hopeful about doing is creating a virtual image of the hard drive so that I can continue using that system within a virtual machine.

Can this machine get online? If so....email the critical files to yourself. Don't worry about the OS and applications.

Genralkidd · Aug 29, 2013

USAFRet :

Genralkidd :

Can this machine get online? If so....email the critical files to yourself. Don't worry about the OS and applications.

It has a dial up modem, but I can't find any dial up services which still have Windows 95 compatible software. I'd preferably like to use NetZero if I have to use dial-up since they have a free dial up service, but it doesn't seem like I can acquire the Windows 95 version of their software anymore.

KingOfTheP4s · Aug 29, 2013

If the hard drive has the option, set the jumper to cable select or "CS". This should work regardless of what the adapter prefers. There may be a weird issue where the adapter doesn't like FAT16/32 drives; I'm not sure why it happens but I have had that happen to me one time.

If it still doesn't work, try to find an early Windows XP era machine. You can use one that you have or borrow a friends. Make sure that the computer has the option for both PATA (EIDE) and SATA drives. Then simple pop in the drive from the old computer and boot up XP from the hard drive already in the computer. You should be able to navigate the old drive, find your files, and load them to a USB or email them.

Another option would be to do the above, but use a program such as Seagate Discwizard to image the drive and then put that image onto a SATA hard drive that you can pop in your new computer. Both methods should work.

Genralkidd · Aug 30, 2013

KingOfTheP4s :

If the hard drive has the option, set the jumper to cable select or "CS". This should work regardless of what the adapter prefers. There may be a weird issue where the adapter doesn't like FAT16/32 drives; I'm not sure why it happens but I have had that happen to me one time.

If it still doesn't work, try to find an early Windows XP era machine. You can use one that you have or borrow a friends. Make sure that the computer has the option for both PATA (EIDE) and SATA drives. Then simple pop in the drive from the old computer and boot up XP from the hard drive already in the computer. You should be able to navigate the old drive, find your files, and load them to a USB or email them.

Another option would be to do the above, but use a program such as Seagate Discwizard to image the drive and then put that image onto a SATA hard drive that you can pop in your new computer. Both methods should work.

Yep that worked! Thanks!

Northwestern · Aug 30, 2013

IMGburn is a fairly small burning program that should do the job but it will be too much of a pain to download it off the internet unless you want to put it on a disk (Which if you had this option you would already be sending the files through the internet and not have this problem).

Alongside what KingOfTheP4's said, you could get an IDE enclosure for a 3.5" HDD if you do not have a computer that will supporrt an IDE drive.

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