I finally bit the bullet and got rid of my win98 clunker, buying a used amd athlon 64 processor, asus mb, 160gig hd, 1 gig ram and more for $225. It is working fine so far but I can�t copy my photos on the old computer. I have hundreds of jpeg photos I took with a digital. I tried copying them to both an R and RW cd. I tried with Nero and couldn�t even get to first base after formatting with InCd. Then with Picasa. Both cds were blank when inserted into the new computer. I would appreciate any suggestions on how best to do this. Thanks.
I would just take the hard drive out of your old computer and put it in to your new system and just copy everything over to your new hard drive.
I'm guessing your new system has an PATA hard drive in which you would set your old hard drive as slave (jumper setting) and connect it to the same ribbon cable your new hard drive is on.
I agree with Pat but would also recommend that you use an external backup drive if you don't already have one. If the photos are valuable to you they should be backed up onto an external device anyway. If you then change computers or anything like that they can just be restored from the external drive.
Buff.
OK, I'm ready to try the old drive transfer route but I've not done that. When you say set the jumper do you mean physically on the mb or do it in the bios? If physically, where is that on the mb which is an Asus A8N-SLI if you know. I have the manual but it doesn't have anything regarding hard drives. Thanks
Depending on the age of the HD, the jumper switch is normally on the back end of the HD itself.
Bill
Once you have the old drive out, poast the make and model and we will help find the correct configuration. Or go to the manufacturer's web site and look it up.
Depending on the age of your new motherboard, usually, it will have two IDE connectors. One is generally used for hard drives and one is used for optical drives, two drives can be connected with the cable to each IDE connecter on the motherboard. One at the end of the cable is "Master" one in the middle of the cable is "Slave". The drive is then configured with jumpers as either Master or Slave.
Newer motherboards usually have only one IDE connection and Sata connections for hard drives and optical drives which do not need jumpers since they are one drive one connection device.
Thanks for the suggestion. It went very smoothly. I thought the jumper setting should be the same since the drive I wanted to access was the slave on the old computer. It was and thankful since I long since lost the install info. I have around 2,000 digitals I would hate to lose. Most I took myself but there is one of Shannon Tweed that shows her beautiful ears.
Buff, can you recommend an external backup that is not pricey and will hold maybe 5,000 or so photos?
Tom
Personally, I would try to obtain a decent capacity HDD (>250GB) and a suitable external drive enclosure. This often works out cheaper than a custom backup drive, especially if you get the drive second hand or as a clearance item. The only real drawback to this is that you don't get any extended warranty or bundled backup software but it's not really necessary IMO.
I don't really have any experience of the commercial backup drives so can't really recommend one over another.
Main things to consider are -
1. Transfer interface. Depends on the interfaces available to you on your new PC. If you have Firewire then use that or USB2.0.
2. Power. You can get an enclosure that uses an external power supply or some drives/enclosures allow you to use the power from the USB bus. That is very handy if your power outlets are limited or you are going to use the drive as portable storage. If you are going to go this route then look for a 2.5" drive/enclosure. It may be slightly more expensive but the decrease in size, weight and power is worth it IMO.
Actually, if you buy a stand alone hard drive and a enclosure separately, you will get the warranty on the drive itself. Hard drives are so cheap now that I wouldn't get one second hand. There are many good enclosures out there just waiting for you to buy them and put in a hard drive.
Mark H
Thanks for the input. I found good computer mag reviews for the Seagate FreeAgent Go (500GB). Priced at $109 from Amazon who I've had good experience with so far. The optional dock ($20 from Amazon) is not necessary.
Tom