[spalan]

I have a very old PC - 8086 or 8088 - where there is still data on the harddrive. Unfortunately my new PC doesn't have a 5,25" diskdrive. I tried installing the old harddrive in my new computer, but the new PC wouldn't even recognize there was a new drive connected. Can anybody tell me how I can connect this old harddrive to a new PC to transfer the data?

 

[schusterjo]

How are you connecting it? Slave? or are you using it on a secondary IDE? need more info on what you have tried already.

 

[Triple6]

Whats the model of the drive. You may need to manually configure it in the BIOS or check the jumpers on the drives for the correct Master and Slave setting. If its really old you may need the controller card that the drive was connected too.

 

[JohnWill]

Please give us the make/model of the drive.

First off, I'd connect it on a cable separate from any other device. Remove the CD/DVD drives from the secondary IDE channel and connect this drive as the only device on the end of the cable.

Second, check the BIOS parameters that are set for ther drive, in really old systems, it was common not to use automatic settings, but rather force a specific disk geometry. If so, you'll have to duplicate that on the new system to read the data.

 

[dustyjay]

If this is out of an old XT machine, I doubt that it is an IDE drive. is the old system maybe an 80286 processor machine? Asking because the hard drives from an 8088 are likely to a MFM interface or RLL interface which would require a controller card of that interface to operate.

 

[dustyjay]

Also if the old computer is running you can copy the data to floppy drives. If it onloy has a 5.25 floppy you can install that on your new machine after copying the data over to the flopppies and read that data from there. But then you would need to find a place that still carries 5.25" floppies. I havent seen any for sale around here.

 

[JohnWill]

If it's really that old of a system, I'd be looking at a serial port tranfer application.

 

[spalan]

Okay people - fist off, thanks a lot for your replies so far. I've reinstalled the drive to the old PC and booted. The system is a Philips P3105, running Philipc PC Rom 1.2 with 768k system memory. I found out (via fdisk) that the disk has 611 cylinders. Unfortunately, it's been so long that I've worked on such a system that I can't really figure out how to get into the bios. Can someone help me there?

 

[schusterjo]

Msdos?

 

[JohnWill]

If the system in question is as represented at the bottom of this page, there is no "BIOS setup" according to this guy. http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/garage.html

I suspect the drive may well be an MFM or RLL drive, and since it's surely running on an ISA bus controller, there's no way you're going to move it to a modern system.

I renew my suggestion for a serial or parallel port transfer application like the older LapLink versions.

 

[spalan]

Well, a direct transfer (serial/parallel) would be nice, but just as I can't get data off the old PC to a modern system, I can't get a direct transfer software onto the old PC...

 

[dustyjay]

While not as easy as a direct transfer port to port, and certainly more time consuming, you may still be able to use floppy disks to transfer the data. If you have a spare 3 1/2 floppy drive laying around it may work inplace of a 5 1/4 in drive the interface should be the same. But if the machine is truly an 8088 machine the 3 1/2 floppy may not work. I love these old machines. What is the HArd drive you are talking about? MAnufacturer and model if you can read it?

 

[dustyjay]

here is a place that you can contact if you need parts or even some software items for your old XT AT and PS2 machines. There is really quite a selection.

http://www.abcresellers.bigstep.com/homepage.html

 

[Knotbored]

There used to be something called a "null modem" cable to transfer stuff between computers. I believe it was an external modem cable with two wires swapped at one end. Google search should bring up instructions on how to work it and make it.
Another alternative-I installed an old hard drive into an external enclosure and use it from USB port. It wasn't as old as yours, it was from WINME. The enclosure cost about $40 from BEST-BUY. The box said "any hard drive" so it might work.

 

[JohnWill]

Well, a direct transfer (serial/parallel) would be nice, but just as I can't get data off the old PC to a modern system, I can't get a direct transfer software onto the old PC...

The serial port transfer applications I refer to would be put onto a floppy to transfer to the old system. There were also options with Laplink to upload the applications using plain MS-DOS through the serial cable.

I wouldn't reject the solution until you fully understand it.

 

[JohnWill]

Another alternative-I installed an old hard drive into an external enclosure and use it from USB port. It wasn't as old as yours, it was from WINME. The enclosure cost about $40 from BEST-BUY. The box said "any hard drive" so it might work.

I'm going to guess the MFM or RLL disk type didn't sink in. You won't be putting that into any external enclosure I've ever seen.

 

[JohnWill]

Another way to transfer files from this system would be to install one of the many free MS-DOS communications applications.

Here's Kermit for MS-DOS, which includes file transfer capability: http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/msk314.html

And here's Kermit for Windows, also with file transfer capability: http://kermit.wwarthen.com/

Add a null-modem RS-232 cable, and you can move the files across that way.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Howdy folks...

spalan...

Can you post the specs of the drive?

Or how many ribbon cables are connected to it...

If it has 2 ribbon cables it is a RLL or a MFM drive...

The P3105 / NMS9100 appers to have an onboard XT IDE controller ( according to the Setup.txt )...

http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/garage.html

The P3105 / NMS9100 computer does not have a BIOS setup program.
Because it is an XT, the 'setup' is done by way of switches on
the motherboard. SW1 is located on the far left side of the
board, under the slots for the extension cards. The settings are:

1 on=8087 coprocessor not installed
off=8087 coprocessor installed
2 on=one diskette drive installed \ setting of drive type is not
off=two diskette drives installed / needed, bios will determine
3 mem size
4 mem size
5 on=parallel port disabled
off=parallel port enabled as lpt1
6 reserved
7 on=serial port disabled
off=serial port enabled as com1
8 on=fixed disk port disabled
off=fixed disk port enabled at 320-323 hex
The p3105 uses a XT-IDE type hard disk at this port. It can also
use regular mfm hard disks with a controller card in one of the
slots. When you do this, sw8 should be ON.

 

[JohnWill]

That would be a lot easier if it has an IDE drive. However, in a system that old, you'll still have to make sure they didn't use oddball drive parameters if you want to access the disk in a different system. In the early days of IDE, it was customary to use hard coded Cyl/Hd/Trk settings.

 

[Jedi_Master]

That is correct John...

But...from what I'm seeing in the post the pc only has a 5.25 floppy drive and no disks to transfer programs, and I assume it isn't connected to the internet, so there's no way to install programs to setup any direct connection to it ( it would be easier to do this but what you going to do if you can't get the programs on there? )...

From what I remember ( showing my age here ) these would only work with 720K floppies ( wouldn't accept a 1.2m 5.25 or a 3.5 1.44m drive, could be wrong though )...

So the poster would have to locate a 3.5 720k drive...