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Thread ID: 74851	2006-12-07 13:03:00	Accessing older files	B.M. (505)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
504902	2006-12-07 20:26:00	This is excellent. www.sofotex.com/Smart-BootManager-download_L15736.html - 21k	kjaada (253)
504903	2006-12-07 20:54:00	Do you know the name of the accounting program and as previously mentioned dual booting is probably the best option	Morgenmuffel (187)
504904	2006-12-07 21:43:00	Trying to run the programme produces "Can't find Data files" or similar. As for it being Win9.x or DOS I don't know, nor do I know how to tell. :blush: Hmmm. so the main program is on C: of the old drive....are the data files on the same partition, same folder etc? Take a look where exactly everything is located. Its not exactly saying it can't run...... A DOS program will normally start up with a DOS/4GW screen at the start.	pctek (84)
504905	2006-12-07 22:09:00	Hi Guys, Couple of suggestions... 1/ Identify the accounting program (maybe via the 3-letter data file extension) and google for a current version or help on reading the file format. If you were really lucky, might be a standard datbase format or a free trial version available. 2/ Dual boot with XP/98 is a pain and might take a day or two to get working. Try unplugging the XP HDD, connect the W98 HDD as "master" and turn it on. If you are lucky, will get a series of "detecting new hardware" messages from W98 (an internet connection will help, as letting the beast search MS website is a good option), and then the W98 HDD will be reincarnated! Regards, Martnz.	martnz (271)
504906	2006-12-07 22:31:00	Ok, just to clarify things. The new computer has XP on a NTFS format “C” drive. The old computer had this accounting programme on its Fat32 format “C” drive. However, as this old drive has been removed and swapped to the new XP machine as a Slave, it appears as “E” drive on the new machine. The XP machine has kept its own drive as “C” its CD ROM as “D” and just added the Slave as “E”. Not unreasonable I guess. My “Googleing” has produced much info on this problem but an awful lot of it is contradictory. I would have thought somebody would have designed a simple little boot manager to handle such a problem. I guess they probably have, it’s just a matter of finding a reliable one that doesn’t come complete with nasties. I’ll check your recommendation Kjaada thanks. :thumbs:	B.M. (505)
504907	2006-12-08 04:21:00	I don't think it will work for you so I probably shouldn't even mention it but I once unplugged my main hard drive with WinXP on it, plugged in another hard drive and installed a new version of WinXP on the second hard drive then plugged the original one back in and chose which one to boot from via the BIOS (if you can follow that :p) . In your situation you may not get the Win98 drive to run on the newer hardware due to drivers not being available but I guess you could try if you are desperate enough .	FoxyMX (5)
504908	2006-12-09 02:32:00	If running the programme just produces an error message that it can't find the data files you're probably there already, without setting up for dual booting . If it works to the point of not finding the data files, it's probably working OK . It can't find the files because they are not in the PATH . That's not at all surprising, because XP can't be expected to know that a W98 programme, which wasn't installed under it, wants a PATH setting . The emulation facility in XP probably has an option to set the PATH required . Just find where the data files are on that disk, and make sure the PATH is set to include that directory tree .	Graham L (2)
504909	2006-12-09 02:43:00	of course as the program was originally installed it woulda set the PATH to c:/program files/your program . . . . . . etc . . . . and thats where it's lookin . . . . . you could try to change the path in the shortcut properties but even then it may not work if it's 'registered' etc . . . . . . . . . . . . so dual boot yep that should work BUT . . . . . . . back up the drive FIRST onto cd or another drive as an image . . . . . . . THEN google for and install BOOTUS it's free and works well . . . . . . . essentially what it does is set the chosen boot drive to become C drive at startup what'll happen is when you TRY to boot the old drive on the new hardware yep you'll get a LOT of 'found new hardware' messages . . . . . . . . . . . . IF it even gets as far as windoze and if it does then you better have the motherboard cd or driver cd handy (for the 'new' systems hardware) . . . . . . . it may simply 'blue screen' in which case youi'll need to run a 'repair install' of win98 and then you can install the drivers etc . . . . . . . . . . it'll be a bit of 'fun' and take a fair bit of fiddling around but it's not impossible . . . . . . . just in case, heres how to do a repair install of win98: This method will allow a user to either do a 'repair install' or an upgrade from an existing installation . . . . . just follw the instructions exactly as with all versions of windows you can do a 'clean' install which will wipe his system and install a clean verison of windows or you can do a 'repair' install if you know how . . . . . . . . . to do this stuff in a boot disk for win98 . . . . if you havent got one download this: http://www . bootdisk . com then double clik it and it'll write to floppy and voila you'll have a boot disk . . . . . . . . . then start the system with the boot floppy have your win98 cd handy . . . . . also you'll need to have written down his system liscense key when you start up you'll get a little menu choose 'start with cd support' then when the system has loaded the cddrivers you need to change the directory to c: so just type in c: at the command prompt and then tap enter then type in cd windows then tap enter then type in ren win . com win . old then tap enter then type in d: then tap enter that should take you 'into ' the cd . . . . . . . . . . . then type in cd win98 then tap enter then type in setup then tap enter then you'll be starting the 98 setup . . . . . . it'll run scandisk then you have to tap X and the rest of the setup will continue . . . . . . . . . at some stage it'll give you the option of installing to 'windows . 000' or . . . . . . . . . . . . . custom install . . . . . . . choose custom install then clik 'next' then in the 'custom install' box type in windows then clik next . . . . . . . . . . . NOW you are on the way to doin a 'repair' or 'over the top' install of 98 and he wont lose ANY data or programs off the system it'll just overwrite the system files with good copies from the cd . . . . . . . . . . . . . PHEW !!! i've written this out too many times so I'm gonna copy and save it for future use !!!!!!! LUCK . . . . . . . . if you follow those instructions EXACTLY you'll be fine . . . . . . .	drcspy (146)
504910	2006-12-09 02:54:00	An afterthought: have a look at the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on that disk for the PATH=lione. That will tell you what to set, remembering to change the "C:\" prefix, of course.	Graham L (2)
504911	2006-12-09 03:30:00	The actual data files are important here. I think that you don't have the program that wrote them but you can access them via the old hard drive you slaved. martnz I think is on the right track here. Do you know what accounting program was used? Do you know what file extensions were used when using this program?	Sweep (90)
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