win95 no boot - missing operating system

This is a DriveSpace 3 compressed hard drive. I do not know about drivespace.
I do not know what happened and hope to maybe clone it for saftey and then get this to boot up.
Much thanks if anyone can help

 

re: Need more information like:

The computer has been stored for a long time. Nobody in the family
knows what happened and nobody was inside the tower.
Sorry

 

re

I have a win98se, and a xp computer also.
no need to buy more.
i wish to view/get my wordperfect files, etc that are on the win95 computer.
it is important.

 

re

I put the HD into win98se computer in place of the cd rom to see what files i could salvage.
This is what I found.

folder ~MSSETUP.T 0 bytes
folder Failsafe.drv 1.57mb
Recycled
BOOTLOG.PRV
bootlog.txt
command.com
DBLSPACE.BIN
Dblespace.ini
Drvspace.000
DRVSPACE.BIN
Io.sys
logo.sys
Msdos.sys
READTHIS.TXT

I then copied these files just in case.
I cannot find my files. This does not look like windows directory.

 

It have been awhile for me to hear about this problem, hope I remember this right.
Those are basic system files, you mentioned DriveSpace. This is a disk compression utility used by Win95. Everything else (windows included) is located in the file Drvspace.000
To gain access to these files, you must have Dblspace.Bin and DrvSpace.Bin located in the root directory of C: on the 98 machine. Then using Notepad, open the file C:\Msdos.Sys, and check if you have these lines:
dblspace=1
drvspace=1
If yes, close Notepad.
If no, add those lines as I have here under the heading [Options]. Before you attempt to Save changes, right click on the file in Window Explorer, select Properties, then uncheck Read Only then Apply. Reboot if any changes were made.

Now, open a Dos Prompt Window, and enter in these commands, pressing Enter at the end of each line:
d:
drvspace /mount
You should be able to access the files in Windows Explorer.
If that doesn't work try dblspace /mount.

 

re

Thankyou, drvspace works in my win98se computer, the program says drivespace3.
I mounted the win95 HD and have other commands available like compress/uncompress/adjust free space/change ratio.

I still have no access my data files in Windows Explorer.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Drivespace reports these properties of that win98 HD [Host for c {D} ]
Compressed drive D is stored on uncompressed drive H in the
file HRVSPACE.000

type:compressed drive

76mb free space [est compression ratio 2.0 to 1 ]
166.59mb used space [compression ratio 1.6 to 1]
243.22mb capacity

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Host for c{H}
drive H is not compressed
1.99mb free space
122.86mb used space
124.85mb capacity
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
more info:
the READTHIS.TXT file on the win95 HD says:
This disk was compressed using DriveSpace 3, which requires Windows 95.

To use this disk, you must first mount it. To mount it:

1. Run DriveSpace by choosing Run from the Windows 95 Start menu,
and then typing DRVSPACE.

2. In DriveSpace, click the drive that contains this disk,
click the Advanced menu, and then click Mount.

(If this file is located on a drive other than the physical drive
that contains the disk, then the compressed drive is already mounted).

To automatically mount all available compressed drives, click the
Advanced menu, click Settings, and then check the "Automatically mount
new compressed drives" box.

IMPORTANT: To mount and use this compressed disk, you must be running
Windows 95 and DriveSpace 3.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am afraid to uncompress the win95 hd onto itself as I sure there is not enough room.
I am confused about the "Host for c{H}" because it says its not compressed, and i see no normal windows directory in there, it looks same as

Host for c {D} , the win95 HD except the failsafe folder has been moved to the "Host for c{H} ".
Getting confusing

 

There is another method, using a startup floppy and dos commands.
You will need a Win98 boot floppy. You can make one by going to Control Panel\Add Remove Programs, click on Startup disk tab. Leave the floppy in the drive after creation.
Copy and paste the below lines into Notepad. Then Save As "a:\drvspace.ini" with the quotation marks so it doesn't end up as drvspace.ini.txt . Verify the file is located on the floppy.

Code:

AutoMount=1
FirstDrive=D
LastDrive=E
MaxRemovableDrives=2
MaxFileFragments=101
ActivateDrive=D,E0

Boot the computer with the floppy, choose Without CD rom support when prompted.
Then use these commands at the prompt;
md c:\files
scandisk /mount d:
xcopy d:\mydoc~1 c:\files /e
xcopy d:\progra~1 c:\files /e
This should copy everything in the My Documents and the Programs Files folders into a folder named Files on the C: drive.