Vista to 95 Parallel Crossover

[Squishy]

Well, basically I've got this old computer running Windows 95 that has important files on it's hard drive, and the computer itself has no way of connecting to a network, no USB ports, and no CD drive. It does however have a parallel port and I do have a DB-25 Parallel crossover cable.

My Question is, does Vista know what a parallel port is and if it does, is it still possible to create a connection between the two computers via the Parallel cable. The one machine is using Vista 64-bit if that makes any difference at all.

Thanks in advance

 

[Soul_of_a_Sinner]

I dont see why you just cant pull out the drive from the old machine and put it into the one using Vista and backup that way. This is of course can only work if your Vista machine has a Parallel ATA socket.
All you really need then if you have a Parallel ATA socket on your motherboard is a connector going from the drive to the socket, which im assuming you do since you have/had the drive in the older machine.

I believe Vista supports PATA, but you may need to look for drivers for your machine, also you will need drivers to what I stated above if you dont already have them that is.

Hope this helps in any way.

 

[Squishy]

Well, that would be a decent idea, if it were a desktop, but unfortuantly it's a laptop computer (hence why I made the thread in the first place), and I don't care to take it apart, as I still use it.

I had originally put the files on through several floppy disks, sadly I no longer have any floppys or a floppy drive for that matter. I realize I could buy a USB floppy drive, but PCI Parallel cards are cheaper. Not to mention I have to clue where I'm suppose to get Floppy Disks nowadays.

 

[Skagnatti]

Not to mention I have to clue where I'm suppose to get Floppy Disks nowadays.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/MAXELL-556531-Floppy-Disks-30-pk/dp/B00009QP2Q/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_1/175-4128530-1423343"]Amazon.[/ame]

 

[Grimmaz]

Solution to your question of data transfer: Parallel to USB cable

This is a cheap cable you can pickup and obviously one end goes to your parallel port on the laptop and the other goes to the USB port on your Vista machine. You should be able to access the drive on the 95 machine after plugging this in.

*Disclaimer - I have not personally tested this way of doing data transfer but I cannot imagine it having trouble unless there is a specific issue with transferring data through a parallel port.

 

[Squishy]

So, as it turns out, the 95 Laptop doesn't have all of the Communication Extras installed on it, so a parallel direct connection is not possible.

Solution to your question of data transfer: Parallel to USB cable

It would have to be Female USB to Male parallel, for that to work.

 

[Grimmaz]

So, as it turns out, the 95 Laptop doesn't have all of the Communication Extras installed on it, so a parallel direct connection is not possible.



It would have to be Female USB to Male parallel, for that to work.

If it were me, I'd make this simple and pull the hard drive from the laptop if you have the ability to hook it up to your PC via IDE or SATA. Most likely you will be looking at IDE for how old the hardware is to have Windows 95 on it. Hard drives aren't that tough to take out of laptops and there are usually guides online that you can follow that make it a painless process. One other thing I want to make sure you're clear on. If you pull the hard drive from the laptop to do the data transfer to your newer hard drive in your PC, you will be able to put it back into your laptop and it will run. I wasn't sure if you knew that based on your initial response of how you still use the laptop. You can have all of this done within a few hours and be back up and running on all machines. One other little gem I should mention is if you don't have an IDE controller on your pc motherboard, you will need to buy a PCI IDE controller card. Something like this (not specifically this model but you get the idea): PCI IDE controller card. Also make sure to have a IDE laptop adapter so you can connect your IDE cable to the hard drive through this device. The power connector used for IDE devices is the old molex connector so be sure you have a molex connection on your power supply. If you don't, you can also get a SATA to molex converter which should very cheap.

In short the items you will need for connecting a laptop IDE hard drive to a SATA motherboard are listed below.

1. PCI IDE controller card

2. IDE laptop adapter

3. IDE cable

4. Molex / SATA power converter

 

[Squishy]

If it were me, I'd make this simple and pull the hard drive from the laptop if you have the ability to hook it up to your PC via IDE or SATA. Most likely you will be looking at IDE for how old the hardware is to have Windows 95 on it. Hard drives aren't that tough to take out of laptops and there are usually guides online that you can follow that make it a painless process. One other thing I want to make sure you're clear on. If you pull the hard drive from the laptop to do the data transfer to your newer hard drive in your PC, you will be able to put it back into your laptop and it will run. I wasn't sure if you knew that based on your initial response of how you still use the laptop. You can have all of this done within a few hours and be back up and running on all machines. One other little gem I should mention is if you don't have an IDE controller on your pc motherboard, you will need to buy a PCI IDE controller card. Something like this (not specifically this model but you get the idea): PCI IDE controller card. Also make sure to have a IDE laptop adapter so you can connect your IDE cable to the hard drive through this device. The power connector used for IDE devices is the old molex connector so be sure you have a molex connection on your power supply. If you don't, you can also get a SATA to molex converter which should very cheap.

In short the items you will need for connecting a laptop IDE hard drive to a SATA motherboard are listed below.

1. PCI IDE controller card

2. IDE laptop adapter

3. IDE cable

4. Molex / SATA power converter

Alright, this was my first thought, and yes I understand that you can transfer hard drive from 1 computer to another, however I just don't know how I'm suppose to get the hard drive out of the laptop. It's mounted inside some sort of metal 'cage' (for the lack of a better term) with these thin metal bars that go over top of the upper half of the drive that are attactched to the hard drive with an adhesive (glue maybe?) and blue tape. I honestly don't know why it's like that (perhaps because the laptop came from a telecommunications office?), but I can't get oever the fact that I might break something by trying to take the hard drive out it's ridiculous mounting hold.

If I had a digital camera at my disposal I'd post a picture, but unfortunately I don't.

 

[Skagnatti]

Alright, this was my first thought, and yes I understand that you can transfer hard drive from 1 computer to another, however I just don't know how I'm suppose to get the hard drive out of the laptop. It's mounted inside some sort of metal 'cage' (for the lack of a better term) with these thin metal bars that go over top of the upper half of the drive that are attactched to the hard drive with an adhesive (glue maybe?) and blue tape. I honestly don't know why it's like that (perhaps because the laptop came from a telecommunications office?), but I can't get oever the fact that I might break something by trying to take the hard drive out it's ridiculous mounting hold.

If I had a digital camera at my disposal I'd post a picture, but unfortunately I don't.

Understood the laptop is quite old, but out of curiosity, what is the make and model?

 

[Squishy]

It's an IBM 360CSE.

 

[Grimmaz]

Alright, this was my first thought, and yes I understand that you can transfer hard drive from 1 computer to another, however I just don't know how I'm suppose to get the hard drive out of the laptop. It's mounted inside some sort of metal 'cage' (for the lack of a better term) with these thin metal bars that go over top of the upper half of the drive that are attactched to the hard drive with an adhesive (glue maybe?) and blue tape. I honestly don't know why it's like that (perhaps because the laptop came from a telecommunications office?), but I can't get oever the fact that I might break something by trying to take the hard drive out it's ridiculous mounting hold.

If I had a digital camera at my disposal I'd post a picture, but unfortunately I don't.

I quickly did some searching for some sort of hard drive removal tutorial or guide for you but I'm not seeing anything on first glance with your specific model in mind. So I would suggest searching for what I did but put more time into it and see if you can get ahold of a manual, tutorial, guide, etc. helping you understand the proper hard drive removal method for your laptop. I did watch a video on youtube of a really old Thinkpad and boy oh boy that plastic case encasing the hard drive looks, well, special... :lol: