Re: off-topic: scheduled backup to external hard drive

[Norman Bauman nbauman@xxxxxxxx]

Lynn,

I'm having the same problem. I have a couple of old win98 computers, and
I'm trying to keep using them. I had a Maxtor 3000LS 40GB USB external hard
drive, which came with Win98 drivers, and worked OK, but it crashed. I
couldn't get a new USB drive to work with Win98, although I haven't
exhausted all the tricks I can think of.

One workaround, which I think is the best, is to install a second internal
hard drive instead of using an external. They're cheaper and faster than
the USB drives. Of course you have to be comfortable opening up the box and
installing an internal D: drive. I wasn't comfortable until I had tried it
a couple of times on one of my old computers that I was ready to throw out
anyway. Now it's easy. (Although my feeling is that any time I open up a
computer, there's a chance of disaster.)

If you want portability, some people on the list recommended mobile racks
(sometimes called hard disk enclosures), which is basically a plug for a
hard drive that works like a drawer. You install the external enclosure in
a 5 1/4-inch bay, install a hard drive in the internal enclosure, and then
slide the internal enclosure into the external enclosure. Turn the power
off and swap the internal enclosure. You can buy a set of internal
enclosures, or with a little less convenience you can just swap hard drives
in the internal enclosure. I tried it with 2 different models -- 1 worked,
the other didn't. I bought a set for about $15 on sale at CompUSA, and you
can now buy them on the Internet for about that. Then if the house is on
fire, you can grab your mobile rack and go.

I thought of giving a course at the Editorial Freelancers Association which
would consist of bringing in my collection of old Win98 computers that I
was going to throw out, and showing people how to open them up, take them
apart, and put them back together again.

My philosophy is that I should have at least a weekly backup in at least 2
different media, so I try to back up redundantly on CDs at least once a week.

Another thing I did was to back up to my laptop with DOS LapLink, through a
serial port. The problem with that is my old version of DOS doesn't handle
long DOS names, but that's OK for Xy 3+. There's probably a way to do it
without LapLink directly from DOS with a batch file and the right DOS
functions, but I haven't researched that yet.

Windows computers are also supposed to be able to connect directly through
that briefcase or Network Neighborhood or something, but I couldn't get
that to work. I'll probably have more to ask about that on this list. I was
hoping to have 2 redundant Win98 computers.

(Of course in reality things are always giving me problems so I don't back
up as carefully as I'd like.)

Norman


At 10:24 AM 4/2/06 EDT, BrennerNY@xxxxxxxx wrote:

>Dear List,
>  Does anyone know of an external hard drive that is compatible with Win
98SE?
>  My local computer technician found that my Win 98 SE OS rejected
products that advertise such compatibility. (He says Win 98SE had six
iterations, which may account for the problem.)
>  I work in Xywrite, and 98SE is perfectly adequate for my Windows
program needs; but I want the security of scheduled nightly backup to an
external drive. Now it seems I may have to move to another OS to get that.
>  I'm extremely reluctant to go to Win XP for the reason cited in the
past by M. W. Poirier: I don't want to lose the crisp lettering of the Dos
window I get in 98SE. When I tried my DOS Xy 3+ on a friend's XP machine,
I could open it in 1) a small window, in which I could only split the Xy
screen 10/90 instead of 50/50; or 2), with alt/enter, a full screen with
large fuzzy letters wherein all the pixels are visible.
>  Neither option is good for someone who works all day in Xywrite, with
her notes on one side of the Xy screen and article on the other.
>  I have diligently gone through the archives and read the numerous
threads about getting Xy to work in XP. But I'm a journalist, not a
computer expert, and most of them are out of my depth. I gather that many
list members are using Xy full screen in XP. But has anyone succeeded in
replicating the Win 98 SE Dos box -- a box that fills about 85% of the
screen -- in XP?
>  Another question: Would it be possible to keep my win 98 SE setup for
Xywrite, but automatically back my work up to an external hard drive with
Win 2k and XP if the computer technician partitioned my hard drive, keeping
98SE on part of it and installing Win 2K or XP on the other?
>  Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.
>  Lynn Brenner

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Norman Bauman
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New York, NY 10019
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Alternate address: nbauman@xxxxxxxx
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