Can I have help moving data from an old Windows 98 desktop PC to my new Windows 10 PC?

Anonymous
2019-04-29T19:48:42+00:00

I've got this really old Gateway desktop PC that started life as a Windows 95 or earlier (I forget) that I'm wanting to get rid of. It's been sitting unused forever and I disconnected it from my home network years ago when I needed more places to plug stuff into my router since I have 2 Windows XP machines & 2 Windows 10 machines on it.

That old Gateway PC has a 3-1/2" floppy drive that I don't have any discs for and never will, along with a CD drive, a DVD drive and I just discovered that it even has 2 USB ports on the back that I never knew existed.

I've tried endlessly to save the 500mb of Photos and Docs on it onto either a CD or DVD but from all I can tell, they both must be broken or at least maybe the formatting of the discs that I do in a drive on my Windows 10 DELL isn't correct.

Heck, during the formatting process, I even thought that since I'm wanting to use the CD in that old beast Gateway thing, I should set the File System setting from UDF 2.01 (Default) to UDF 1.50, thinking I should use the oldest one it had.

Nothing has worked and I've tried reformatting & Copy/Pasting a bunch of times.

Oddly, it will seem like it is writing to a CD and it shows it stepping thru the Videos, Photos and Docs, but I'll always keep hearing the drive's motor start & stop every 5 or 10 seconds & then if I wait long enough, it does finally show all of the files.

But it's totally weird that if I put another blank CD in that same drive, it shows as if all those same files are on it too.

Weird. That must be some flaw in that old Windows 98 Operating System I guess.

I'd at first tried sticking a USB adapter with a flash card in, thinking that would be super quick. But, it wasn't recognized and something told me that it needed a driver, which isn't possible to get on that PC since it isn't connected anymore to the internet.

So, sorry about all this talk but after spending countless hours, I've concluded that it might be best & easiest to just bring that old PC into my home office & park it next to this Windows 10 DELL Inspirion, hook them together somehow directly with a USB cable instead of thru the router, and then maybe I could just access the old PC's drive and Copy my data off of it.

After all, then I can either burn it onto a tiny flash card or just let it stay on my D: hard drive on this where all of my data is. My C: with Windows & my programs is an SSD to make it super fast.

So, I've rambled on but I do need some basic help in knowing that the old hard drive will be able to be accessed by my new PC if I just connect them with a USB cable or will I need to have a keyboard, mouse and monitor on the old PC too?

I've put this in Windows > Windows 10 > Files, Folders & Storage but if an Admin thinks it should somewhere else, please feel free to move it. Thanks for any help. :-)

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2019-05-09T00:37:19+00:00

Did you chose the correct USB drivers for your edition of Win 98?

http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php

You stated earlier that the USB driver that you chose (downloaded) is nusb33e.exe. This is for Windows 98SE (Second Edition).

If this is the correct selection for your edition of Win 98 did you follow the installation instructions (found on the download page)?

http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/win98se-usb-mass-storage-drivers.php

Standard Disclaimer: Any non-Microsoft websites provided here appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for any ads on these sites that may advertise products frequently classified as PUP's (Potentially Unwanted Programs). Thoroughly research any product/program advertised on any site before you decide to download and install it.

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Anonymous
2019-05-08T03:47:50+00:00

First of all, what drive on the device is the drive letter E: associated with?

Why did you do both at the same time (one at a time is best practice, especially on and old outdated OS that is no longer supported (nor able to be updated past were it was when you stopped using it or updating it when updates were still available)).

At this point try shutting down then unplug the CD drive and the thumb drive then startup the device, then do a restart and give it 10 or fifteen minutes to stabilize, then plugin one of the (either the CD drive or the thumb drive, your choice) peripherals then let me know what happens. What do you then see in My Computer, System properties (Device Manager?) etc..

Let me know.

-Richard

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-05-03T21:37:56+00:00

    OMG, I just thought of another idea after I read one of your Replies where you said that it would take a special cable to connect these 2 computers directly together and not thru the router.

    Since the cables that connect the computers to the router are Ethernet on both ends, wouldn't one of those do it since there are obviously Ethernet ports in the back of both computers, or were you talking about needing to connect them differently than that or would it then take something else special?

    Along that line of thinking, if I connected them directly like that, wouldn't I be able to just access the old Windows 98 C: to get my data files?

    I promise this will be the last time that I'll even let myself think of heading in a different direction. Right now my plan is to put a different browser on the Windows 98 machine and then use it to either get a driver for a USB thumbdrive or to stick my data onto either OneDrive, Google Drive or to finish creating a Dropbox account, which I started awhile ago but never finished.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-05-03T07:00:51+00:00

    Ok Jeff, that is another option.

    As far as the USB drivers for Win 98 goes from what I'm seeing there were 2 main versions of Win 98 and the drivers are different for each so be careful.

    Although there are numerous sources for old Windows drivers (some are unscrupulous) I have found one that explains the above and gives instructions to determine which Win 98 is on your device so I will list it first below, (the drivers offered on this page are listed as generic). Again, use at your own risk.

    http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php

    Other source, USB 2.0:

    https://download.cnet.com/usb2-0-driver-for-win98-exe/3000-18493_4-151166.html

    Again, be careful Jeff, use at your own risk.

    -Richard

    Standard Disclaimer: Any non-Microsoft websites provided here appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for any ads on these sites that may advertise products frequently classified as PUP's (Potentially Unwanted Programs). Thoroughly research any product/program advertised on any site before you decide to download and install it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-05-03T06:29:15+00:00

    Ok Jeff, I was thinking the same thing.

    IE on Win 98 is too old to work with most modern websites and Win 98 is not compatible with higher versions of IE.

    I've found 3 web browsers that should work with Win 98 and newer web sites that you can give a try. Here are the links, use at your own risk.

    https://ace-explorer.apponic.com/

    https://theworld-browser-for-windows-98.apponic.com/

    http://offbyone.com/offbyone/index.htm

    -Richard

    Standard Disclaimer: Any non-Microsoft websites provided here appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for any ads on these sites that may advertise products frequently classified as PUP's (Potentially Unwanted Programs). Thoroughly research any product/program advertised on any site before you decide to download and install it.

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