restoring from old dos 5.0 backup.

Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can suggest
method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to help
a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS DOS
5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files to
a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
store all the files.

same thing here, used to have several tools that are now gone as I cleaned up
when I moved. I hope to get lucky with someone maybe having an old WIN 95 CD
with olddos backup and restore on it. I could use this function or this file
alone if anyone has it and can send to me by email attachment.

"Douglas Tatelman" wrote:

> I used to keep an old copy of laplink with their special cable for
> this purpose.
>
> I'll take a look in my attic tonight!
>
> Good luck.
>
> Oh, of course you're in the wrong group, but it doesn't bother me.
>
>
>
> On Oct 13, 3:33 pm, bert...@shaw.ca <bert...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can suggest
> > method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to help
> > a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS DOS
> > 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
> > difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files to
> > a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
> > tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
> > 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
> > longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
> > files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
> > store all the files.
>
>

On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:33:01 -0700, wrote:

> Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can suggest
> method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to help
> a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS DOS
> 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
> difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files to
> a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
> tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
> 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
> longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
> files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
> store all the files.

Is there an IDE hard drive in that computer?

If so, it could be removed from the client's computer and connected to your
computer by a USB adapter.

Unfortunately, it sounds to me like the computer might be so old that the
HD might not even be IDE, in which case my idea won't work.

BTW, there used to be parallel port to IDE adapters too. Maybe you could
use one of those antiques to write to a spare HD from your client's
computer. If it could work under DOS...

Finally, there must be a file splitter that runs under DOS. Somewhere...

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom

No e-mail on the DOS machine?

Couldn't save the doc in smaller pieces (within WP)?

Have you tried using a file splitter like: http://filesplitter.8m.com, then
putting the pieces on separate floppies?

As Douglas mentioned, this question would be better in a newsgroup other
than one specializing in Media Center.
--
James
Orlando (Goofy says "Hey!"), FL






"" <> wrote in message
news:3DFD500B-6022-448F-BA64-...
> Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can
> suggest
> method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to
> help
> a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS
> DOS
> 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
> difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files
> to
> a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
> tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
> 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
> longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
> files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
> store all the files.

Thanks for you reply, and you are correct, this H/D is pre IDE so can't do
anything of that sort. I have tried a few file splitters, but can seem to
find one that will prompt me to insert another disk. The files are quite
small, it's the directory that has well over 5 hundred files. I am simply
trying to avoid to many manual commands. I could of course move the files
into several directories, and then copy them that way, but it would take
hours. So as there in on panic, I will hope to get help here.

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote:

> On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:33:01 -0700, wrote:
>
> > Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can suggest
> > method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to help
> > a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS DOS
> > 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
> > difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files to
> > a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
> > tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
> > 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
> > longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
> > files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
> > store all the files.
>
> Is there an IDE hard drive in that computer?
>
> If so, it could be removed from the client's computer and connected to your
> computer by a USB adapter.
>
> Unfortunately, it sounds to me like the computer might be so old that the
> HD might not even be IDE, in which case my idea won't work.
>
> BTW, there used to be parallel port to IDE adapters too. Maybe you could
> use one of those antiques to write to a spare HD from your client's
> computer. If it could work under DOS...
>
> Finally, there must be a file splitter that runs under DOS. Somewhere...
>
> --
> Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom
>

Thanks for your reply, but the files are actually quite small, but there are
more than 500 in each directory. That's when I'm having problems.

As to your comments about the newsgroup, I just noticed now that it was
media centre, and not media. It was late I night with a lot of frustration
when I posted this, so I did not notice that it was media centre. Thanks for
the help if you can come up with any other workable solutions.

"Jaime" wrote:

> No e-mail on the DOS machine?
>
> Couldn't save the doc in smaller pieces (within WP)?
>
> Have you tried using a file splitter like: http://filesplitter.8m.com, then
> putting the pieces on separate floppies?
>
> As Douglas mentioned, this question would be better in a newsgroup other
> than one specializing in Media Center.
> --
> James
> Orlando (Goofy says "Hey!"), FL
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "" <> wrote in message
> news:3DFD500B-6022-448F-BA64-...
> > Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can
> > suggest
> > method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to
> > help
> > a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS
> > DOS
> > 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
> > difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files
> > to
> > a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
> > tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
> > 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
> > longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
> > files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
> > store all the files.
>
>

What does this have to do with Media Center?

--


--
"" <> wrote in message
news:3DFD500B-6022-448F-BA64-...
> Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can
> suggest
> method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to
> help
> a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS
> DOS
> 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
> difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files
> to
> a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
> tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
> 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
> longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
> files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
> store all the files.

"" <> wrote in message
news:3DFD500B-6022-448F-BA64-...
> Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can
> suggest
> method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to
> help
> a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS
> DOS
> 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
> difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files
> to
> a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
> tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
> 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
> longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
> files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
> store all the files.

PKZIP 2.50 (self-extracting)
http://files.oldos.org/files/dos/pk250dos.exe


pkzip -a -r -exx -&w a:\file4win.zip c:\autobio\*.*

-a addfiles
-r recursive (store subdirectory pathnames)
-exx max compression
-&w span disk (w - wipe disk first)

Well, now I'm lost -- if the files are small, why can't you copy them onto a
few different floppies? I assumed they were too big to copy.

More importantly, why are there so many files if it is one document? I
understand maybe having a file for each chapter, but hundreds?
--
James
Bart: "According to creationism, there were no cavemen."
Homer: "Good riddance! Their drawings sucked and they looked like hippies."

"" <> wrote in message
news:470EAB9D-CB44-4D27-AB76-...
> Thanks for your reply, but the files are actually quite small, but there
> are
> more than 500 in each directory. That's when I'm having problems.
>
> As to your comments about the newsgroup, I just noticed now that it was
> media centre, and not media. It was late I night with a lot of frustration
> when I posted this, so I did not notice that it was media centre. Thanks
> for
> the help if you can come up with any other workable solutions.
>
> "Jaime" wrote:
>
>> No e-mail on the DOS machine?
>>
>> Couldn't save the doc in smaller pieces (within WP)?
>>
>> Have you tried using a file splitter like: http://filesplitter.8m.com,
>> then
>> putting the pieces on separate floppies?
>>
>> As Douglas mentioned, this question would be better in a newsgroup other
>> than one specializing in Media Center.
>> --
>> James
>> Orlando (Goofy says "Hey!"), FL
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "" <> wrote in message
>> news:3DFD500B-6022-448F-BA64-...
>> > Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can
>> > suggest
>> > method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting
>> > to
>> > help
>> > a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old
>> > MS
>> > DOS
>> > 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
>> > difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying
>> > files
>> > to
>> > a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so
>> > I
>> > tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's
>> > backup
>> > 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is
>> > no
>> > longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help
>> > copy
>> > files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk
>> > to
>> > store all the files.
>>
>>

On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:35:04 -0400, Tae Song wrote:

> "" <> wrote in message
> news:3DFD500B-6022-448F-BA64-...
>> Hello all you smart people out there. I am hoping that one of you can
>> suggest
>> method or tool to help me with the following problem. I am attempting to
>> help
>> a client who has spent many years writing his auto biography on an old MS
>> DOS
>> 5.0 computer with WP 5.1. I have access to the data, but I am having
>> difficulty transfering to a Windows XP machine. I have tried copying files
>> to
>> a floppy drive, but thare are too many to fit on one disk 1.44 3.5" so I
>> tried zipping the files and use MS backup to get them on 2 floppy's backup
>> 0001 and 002. Can anyone help me with this. I know that MS DOS 5.0 is no
>> longer supported, and I recall using some utility in the past to help copy
>> files to floppies and simply split the files and asking for next disk to
>> store all the files.
>
> PKZIP 2.50 (self-extracting)
> http://files.oldos.org/files/dos/pk250dos.exe
>
>
> pkzip -a -r -exx -&w a:\file4win.zip c:\autobio\*.*
>
> -a addfiles
> -r recursive (store subdirectory pathnames)
> -exx max compression
> -&w span disk (w - wipe disk first)
>

This almost makes me want to create a virtual machine with DOS just to try
it.

I say "almost": I'm not as crazy as I look :-)

Anyway, that looks like a good solution; I hope it works for bertlev.

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom