Getting data from and OLD 486

Man I really stepped in it today. I volunteered to try and get 2 files off an old computer. This computer is so old it has 5 1/2 diskettes. It runs on DOS so it is before the Windows era.

What I need to do is some how get 2 TXT files off this puter and on to my machine which is a fairly recent Windows XP box. Of course I haven't the foggiest idea how I'm going to accomplish this challenge and sure could use some direction.

I was hoping I could maybe take the hard drive out of the old machine and put it in my computer and boot it with an old DOS diskette (if I can find it). Is this the right way to go about retrieveing the needed data.

Thanks,

 

Just slave that old hard drive into your computer, restart.
It should show up in windows explorer, and you can get whatever that way.
If you have any problems that way, get a boot disk from www.bootdisk.com and start the computer using that.

 

Thanks Reboot for the direction. Why didn't I think of that. I pick up the computer this Friday so will have the weekend to do my thing. I'll report back how it turned out.

 

I now have the old hard drive in hand but still have not been able to access data on the drive.

Here is what is going on. The drive is a Seagate model ST351 A/X. There are no switches like master or slave. I hooked it to the slave cable (the connection between mother board and hard drive) and turned on the power. I get an error telling me to insert a system disk. I put in a dos 7.0 disk and booted the machine. I could not access any hard drives. When I entered fdisk at the A:\ prompt I got the message saying no fixed disks were attached to the system.

I suppose it is possible that I am putting the cable in backward on the old hard drive. The cables I have are "Ultra ATA" cables and on the old hard drive the only thing as far as guides is a pin is missing on one side in the middle. When I plugged in the cable I put the "guide" or raised portion of the plug to the side that did NOT have the missing pin.

Suggestions?

 

A bit of new news. I went to the Seagate web site and found this drive It is a whopping 43 MB @ 3000 rpm. It does have switches and I found them on the side of the drive versus on the back end. Will switch the switches per the specifications found on Seagates web site and give it a go.

Stay tuned.

 

Hi Jim78418.

I think you will find that that drive is an RLL drive, not an IDE.

You might check the Seagate specifications closely. If so you'll need an RLL card to read it and a computer that will allow the RLL card to run. I haven't seen an RLL card in about 10 years or so. If that is the case the best thing to do is ask who has an old PC with an RLL drive card and send the disk to them and let them pull the data off.

Just a caution, I don't think I would plug it into an IDE until you know for sure it will work with IDE. Could ruin the data.

Giles

 

Ive never seen anything as late as a 486 that had anything but IDE drives; but, I haven't seen all the machines that are out there.

I recommend you connect a standard 3.5" floppy disk drive to the floppy controller card. Boot the machine from the hard disk and copy the files from the hard disk to the floppy.

 

The drive is an RLL drive (thanks Giles). In the specification is reads: Recording method: RLL 2,7 (ZBR). It also states the interface is ATA.

I think I'll try Alex's suggestion and connect a 3.5" floppy to the controller card and see if I can copy the data that way.

Stay tuned...

 

Hi Jim78418

You have another option... Get some crossover cables. Have any friends that have or access to "LapLink ".. includes correct cable and the software to move files between computers.

 

I've been pretty successful this morning. I found an old 486 PC in my closet that had a 3.5 inch drive. The old machine I'm trying to get the data from has different connectors in the back. The drives don't have pins but slide on connectors similar to what a PCI card has. Anyway, the drive that has come out of the closet had the same connectors and I was able to retrieve all files EXCEPT 1.

When I format the 3.5 inch diskettes I only get 1.15 MB which I assume is because of the drive and/or DOS level. The file I was not able to get is 1.35 MB. So does anyone have any suggestions on how to get that file moved?

I love it when a plan comes together.....

 

OK, I used PKZIP to get the final file to a CD. Guess I didn't have my thinking cap on earlier.

Thanks to all for your input. It is appreciated and I wouldn't have made it without y'all

 

Way to go. Congrats on the successful operation.

I think that drive was an RLL and an IDE. Seagate says XT/AT hence the ST351 A/X designation. Also, it could have been an IDE interface and using RLL circuitry for the heads. I've forgotten a whole lot about the MFM, RLL, and IDE stuff so I can't really discuss it intelligently.

Alex Ethridge had a very valid point there. It must have come out about the time 486s were hitting the market and they made it so you could use it in the new computers as well as the old ones.

Giles