Transferring contents of old HDD to a new one.
Hi purleigh!
Sorry for the pause...A little SWMBO-trouble (grass-cutting this time!!)
Your last two posts well received. Being a simple chap without a home network, the server idea does not really fit the bill. The Dell was originally used as a server which explains its simplicity. I am glad to be shot of Gates bloat but really only want it for some bits that Ubuntu does not really agree with. I am not in the massive down-loading of videos or gaming so high speeds and large RAMs are not vital. I am going to print out the whole of this thread for quiet contemplation!!
I am intrigued that you folks can quote prices on eBay, I have not ventured into that area at all and thought that being an auction site the availability and price would vary from time to time. Perhaps you can educate me of the simple way to go about it all, I am too old to learn new tricks quickly and have not had the urge to delve into eBay for anything. Clearly you all are well into such matters. I left programming with 6502 Commodore Business Machines with Basic (did do a Fortran course once) and not a lot of machine language...that dates me does it not!!
Sorry for the pause...A little SWMBO-trouble (grass-cutting this time!!)
Your last two posts well received. Being a simple chap without a home network, the server idea does not really fit the bill. The Dell was originally used as a server which explains its simplicity. I am glad to be shot of Gates bloat but really only want it for some bits that Ubuntu does not really agree with. I am not in the massive down-loading of videos or gaming so high speeds and large RAMs are not vital. I am going to print out the whole of this thread for quiet contemplation!!
I am intrigued that you folks can quote prices on eBay, I have not ventured into that area at all and thought that being an auction site the availability and price would vary from time to time. Perhaps you can educate me of the simple way to go about it all, I am too old to learn new tricks quickly and have not had the urge to delve into eBay for anything. Clearly you all are well into such matters. I left programming with 6502 Commodore Business Machines with Basic (did do a Fortran course once) and not a lot of machine language...that dates me does it not!!
Thanks for all that, I will look at eBay sometime soon. From what I have read elsewhere there seems to be quite a lot of complication...premium accounts etc., I do have a PayPal account linked to a credit card which has worked well with simple transactions including a refund, so that is no problem. Hearing that you look at hundreds of items, I do not think that I can spare the time. I had looked at the thread you mentioned but, seeing that the OP was more interested in selling, I did not pursue it too deeply but I did see your input. Will look harder this time.
I am very impressed with your prowess in early computer magic. My activity was , in retrospect, pretty simple but never the less enjoyable. At work we had a middle-sized data centre with a main frame, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to get small jobs into the queue which never seemed to move much. We finally got the system to sanction a few personal machines and proceeded to do some self-education. One personal triumph was to convert a sizeable existing program from Fortran into Basic which meant we could use in seconds to what could take weeks through "official" channels, without any apparent reduction in mathematical accuracy!. It is interesting to note (depressing?) that then each item of hardware we had, ie. Computer with display & keyboard, twin disk 5" floppy and intelligent dot matrix printer, each with its 6502, cost about 1000 pounds (sorry I have not got my GPB symbol working yet, software trouble which will be corrected when I install U 9.10 or 10.04).
I am very impressed with your prowess in early computer magic. My activity was , in retrospect, pretty simple but never the less enjoyable. At work we had a middle-sized data centre with a main frame, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to get small jobs into the queue which never seemed to move much. We finally got the system to sanction a few personal machines and proceeded to do some self-education. One personal triumph was to convert a sizeable existing program from Fortran into Basic which meant we could use in seconds to what could take weeks through "official" channels, without any apparent reduction in mathematical accuracy!. It is interesting to note (depressing?) that then each item of hardware we had, ie. Computer with display & keyboard, twin disk 5" floppy and intelligent dot matrix printer, each with its 6502, cost about 1000 pounds (sorry I have not got my GPB symbol working yet, software trouble which will be corrected when I install U 9.10 or 10.04).
bah!!!!
all this boasting is nothing compared to writing the smallest computer programs in the world.
50 byte file sized programs loading addresses of DOS functions then just calling them to do all the work are common
all this boasting is nothing compared to writing the smallest computer programs in the world.
50 byte file sized programs loading addresses of DOS functions then just calling them to do all the work are common
Sorry Giro, Some of us OAPs do tend to reminisce I am afraid, it is a common trait. I am certainly on a learning curve after so long but, with so much going on under the bonnet, and so little of the grey matter left it can get a bit bewildering! (But I do remember, vaguely, DOS as a slightly dark art but very handy.
Brain well and truly shut down now, "Finish with engines" etc., Off for a few days to recuperate!!
purleigh re replies 14/15
Thanks for these, all very interesting. I have looked on eBay and found both Promise cards are on offer. Can you advise on the choice to be made? I note that there are two Dell 100 cards, one identified as 49JCK, the other as 23WHP, are these significantly different? Do you think that the Dell ones could be more suitable for my Dell machine or are all of them OK?
I have printed out a copy of the spec which has cleared up a lot, particularly that my 512 MHz RAM is all the motherboard can cope with, so that removes that item from the possible improvements.
I could also get more elbow room if I cloned the little HD on to the larger one and used it as the primary HD, but how do I sort out MS$ with the change of serial number of the new HD? I assume that this could be required if someone had a HD crash and hence a new one had to be fitted. I would guess a phone call to them ought to make it possible.
Thanks for these, all very interesting. I have looked on eBay and found both Promise cards are on offer. Can you advise on the choice to be made? I note that there are two Dell 100 cards, one identified as 49JCK, the other as 23WHP, are these significantly different? Do you think that the Dell ones could be more suitable for my Dell machine or are all of them OK?
I have printed out a copy of the spec which has cleared up a lot, particularly that my 512 MHz RAM is all the motherboard can cope with, so that removes that item from the possible improvements.
I could also get more elbow room if I cloned the little HD on to the larger one and used it as the primary HD, but how do I sort out MS$ with the change of serial number of the new HD? I assume that this could be required if someone had a HD crash and hence a new one had to be fitted. I would guess a phone call to them ought to make it possible.
If you want loads of storage, new 1TB drives are available for less than £50.
Although possibly old machines might not be able to cope with that much.
Although possibly old machines might not be able to cope with that much.
@purleigh
Thanks for all that. Firstly my new 160GB Drive is a Seagate DB 35.2 which I see is a IDE/100 therefore the 100 cards are going to be the thing. With array of prices for these cards on eBay, what is the best source of choice? Not many say where they are from, probably not the cheapest?.
What I had in mind is dispensing with the little HD altogether and getting XP ticking on the new one. It certainly seems to jog along well enough with the existing except for the room on it. I am glad I am not going to mix with MS$ over serial nos which I had been told that I might, partly because I do not have the serial no of the XP.
If that all goes well then I may think of getting another 160GB Drive and put some flavour of Linux to play with in a dual boot arrangement. Now that PCLinux2010 has at last appeared I might try that for better hardware support (if any). Perhaps I am being too ambitious?
@Jeremy,
Thanks, but perhaps a sort of overkill in my case?
Thanks for all that. Firstly my new 160GB Drive is a Seagate DB 35.2 which I see is a IDE/100 therefore the 100 cards are going to be the thing. With array of prices for these cards on eBay, what is the best source of choice? Not many say where they are from, probably not the cheapest?.
What I had in mind is dispensing with the little HD altogether and getting XP ticking on the new one. It certainly seems to jog along well enough with the existing except for the room on it. I am glad I am not going to mix with MS$ over serial nos which I had been told that I might, partly because I do not have the serial no of the XP.
If that all goes well then I may think of getting another 160GB Drive and put some flavour of Linux to play with in a dual boot arrangement. Now that PCLinux2010 has at last appeared I might try that for better hardware support (if any). Perhaps I am being too ambitious?
@Jeremy,
Thanks, but perhaps a sort of overkill in my case?