Downloading HDD contents

[Flybywyre]

I want to replace the hard drive on my computer. I also want to retain everything on the hard drive and then reinstall it on the new hard drive........how do I do that :confused:

Quite happy to buy something such as a portable HDD if this allows me to download from one to the other, then back again, using a USB port.

Thanks in anticipation
FBW

[Mac the Knife]

"Quite happy to buy something such as a portable HDD if this allows me to download from one to the other, then back again, using a USB port."

Qué? Are you talking laptop here? Otherwise no need to do twice what you only need do once (unless you enjoy it..)

Search PPRuNe archives for "clone + drive" - lots of stuff.

[Flybywyre]

Thanks for your reply. I should have made it clear that I only have the one hard drive on the computer in question. I do have another computer with loads of room on the HDD. How can I send the hard drive contents from one to the other....and then back again ? Presumably they have to be connected to do that. Or can I purchase a portable HDD and connect using USB port ?

[Background Noise]

Can't you just add a new drive, and then copy everything you want across to it?

[Agent86]

I have used the maxtor software fromMaxtor (http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/maxblast3.htm) to copy data from one drive to another.
It seems to work OK even if you don't have a maxtor drive (though they may have made it smarter with V3)

They only req is the new drive is bigger than the old drive.

MAx

The easy way is once you have made the floppy is
open your 'puter, and if you have one HD and a CD..
disconnect the CD..
add the HD in it's place (assuming on IDE Ch 2 as master)...
Connect the new HD..
Stick floppy in...
Reboot..
follow prompts...
:p
This works if your Bios is set to AUTO for all drives

[newswatcher]

Hi Flyby, I did this recently and had no problems. There are a number of "advice" sites with details of what to do. Since I am at work, I haven't got the actual references I used, but here is a similar site:

http://www.regstevens.co.uk/add1.htm

Whatever you do, make sure that you have a good floppy "Start-up" disk! Also, do take anti-static precautions when you are doing the actual physical "swap".

Good luck!:ok:

[Flybywyre]

I don't have a slot for another HDD

There must be a straight forward way of doing this. Can I connect the 2 computers together using a crossover cable and then transfer the entire contents of the hard drive to the other one, replace it and then transfer it back.

The local IT shop do it all the time when they replace HDD's (done mine before).....this time I thought I would save myself £30 and do it myself

[lunkenheimer]

My old PC didn't have two slots to mount the drive, but it did have two connections so I just put the new drive on a piece of pasteboard and plugged it in (just don't put it upside down, they don't like to run that way)

If that won't work then you can do a peer-to-peer ethernet connection, using a crossover cable. It might be fairly slow however. You also have to configure some settings that might be a bit daunting if you haven't done it before.

I think the software is 'direct cable connection'. See the help for your system for the specifics of your installation.

[ck4707]

If you cannot fit another HDD into the machine (even just resting it on the base of the machine if there are no spare drive bays) then the simplest way is as staed above by setting up a simple peer to peer network.

However you will need two ethernet cards (£10 each approx) plus a cross over cable (£4 approx) plus the time to configure networking on both PC's.

If an IT dealer will do it for £30 I'd save myself the hassle and let them do it !!

[Tonic Please]

I dont think this has been mentioned. my granddad had a USB connector type Zip Drive. it takes floppies, and acts as a portable HDD. I am not sure of the exact details or how much they are. But perhaps you could look around on the net for them? Its just a small thing about 6 inches long, 4 wide, about 1 high, something like that.

:ugh: Hope that helps

Dan

[timmcat]

Are you absolutly sure you dont have the cabling tucked away inside your PC for a second drive? - even if there is no bay, the ide and power cables are usually there.

My favourite piece of software can be found here. (http://download.com.com/3000-2242-7628511.html?tag=lst-0-1)

Free, no frills, just does what is says on the tin. I've used it and it worked perfectly for me.

Tim

[mainfrog2]

If you have a cd rom fitted could it not be possible to disconnect the cdrom, plug in the new drive as a slave, transfer everything over to the new drive then remove the old drive reconfigure the new drive as master and plug in the cdrom.:ugh:

Assuming you don't need the cdrom whilst transfering.

[Flybywyre]

Thanks for all your help and advice, it never fails to impress me.

Just a quick question regarding " Lunkenheimer's" post

so I just put the new drive on a piece of pasteboard and plugged it in (just don't put it upside down, they don't like to run that way)

Which way is upside down......or which way is the correct way up?
:uhoh:

[Ausatco]

Circuit board on the bottom. Make sure that whatever surface you put it on is non-conductive. If necessary use a few sheets of newspaper, a magazine or something like that under it.

Be careful of how "off" your computer is when it appears to be switched off. Newer boxes are software controlled and even though they appear to be off are still live at some point. eg To turn mine completely off, I have to push and hold the power button for 10 seconds - a normal push and release only suspends the computer, leaving it partially powered for a quick resume. Best to unplug it from the power supply completely. (There is room for discussion here re earthing back to the power point, but it depends on the electrical safety standards of your country. I don't know yours, so I'll skip it.)

Oh, and before you handle any part of your computer internals or your new drive, ground yourself and your electronics. I work on the kitchen bench near the sink and regularly ground everything by touching the sink first, then both the gear (eg the casing) and the sink simultaneously. I also wear bare feet - in a home environment socks and synthetic soled shoes can cause static build up in your body which can fry any electronics you touch. You can buy earthing wrist straps and other stuff, but for a one-off at home like you're doing I don't think it's necessary.

(Edited to add bits as I thought of them :D )

AA

[Ronbmy]

Would just echo timmcat about the software. Used is quite a lot and never had a problem.

As one of my previous jobs/current hobbies is radio electronics I have a full anti-static set-up. I can't use this area for computer mods as it is full of radio gear so...all the mods are done on a standard kitchen work surface - or if i'm lazy on a cotton sheet on the bed.

Before you stick a screwdriver near the hd touch the (clean) metal frame with the blade and your hand. This will equalise the differences in potential and so reduce the possibility of static damage.

One last point, NO scratching or rubbing of head or other hairy places whilst doing the job!

[Mac the Knife]

Flybye - I don't mean to sound carping, but it would really help if we had a bit more info on the PC in question. I think we can assume by now it's not a laptop.

Things like age, make, CPU, memory, BIOS date (very important, because older BIOSes may not cope with large HDDs)[see it briefly on the screen at bootup], current and new HDD size/make, memory, peripherals fitted CD-ROM/Zip/etc.), operating system and so forth.

Cloning a drive isn't difficult (at least with 95/98) and several of us could talk you through step-by-step but if you're unsure 30 quid may be the best answer.

[fobotcso]

Goodness, FbW, this is one of the most frequently discussed issues in this Forum and you really should spend some time browsing.

Search using the keyword "Partition" and go back at least 6 months. The answers don't change.

You will find, inter alia the following thread:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=73437&highlight=Partition

The answer to your question is to put both HDs in the same PC and use Partition Magic or something similar to clone the drive. It'll take time and require concentration. But its very straightforward.

[Flybywyre]

FOBOTCSO..........this is for you

Two computers, side by side.....C2 &C1
I want to suck all the contents of the HD of C2 onto the HD of C1
I will then replace the HD of C2 with a new HD
I then want to send all the previously stored contents of C2, which is now on C1, back to the new HD on C2

GOT IT ?

If I want to install a 2nd HD I will. If I want to partition HD's I will. If I want to temporarily connect a HD I will

I do not wish to do any of the above........hence the question

Regards
FBW

[25F]

Firstly FBW, no need to shout at somebody that's offering advice. It's what you're asking for, no?

Secondly, you are asking us how to implement a solution, not stating the problem.

If the problem is "running out of disk space", then almost any of the offered suggestions will be less grief than setting up a network, hoovering the data (which data?), getting a new drive, re-installing the OS, applications and network, and copying the data back again.

As an IT consultant my first response to 90% of queries is to ask "yes, but what are you actually trying to do?"

[Flybywyre]

25F.................

Secondly, you are asking us how to implement a solution, not stating the problem.
Correct.............there isn't a problem
Two computers, side by side.....C2 &C1
I want to suck all the contents of the HD of C2 onto the HD of C1
I will then replace the HD of C2 with a new HD
I then want to send all the previously stored contents of C2, which is now on C1, back to the new HD on C2

That's what I want to do. C1 is running XP pro. C2 will always be a different computer running a Windows OS

[newswatcher]

Sounds like a job for "Laplink"!
http://www.laplink.com/

However, the other solutions you have been given will allow you to do what you describe, without a second computer.

[Mac the Knife]

As they say in Ireland, "You can't get there from here..." But let's try.

First of all obviously you'll have to link the computers together. I take it from your reference to a crossover cable that you mean by an Ethernet network. Must therefore assume that you have got network cards in both, a crossover cable and have already set up or know how to set up a network. If not, then assume you want to use Laplink as suggested by newswatcher or Micro$oft's own Direct Cable Connection and have or can get the cables.

Anyway, let's assume that you have already implemented or can implement one of these solutions. Use XXCOPY (not xcopy) referred to in http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=73437&highlight=Partition to clone the contents of the HD of C2 to a new temporary directory on C1.

Now replace the HD of C2 with a new HD. Okay, we now have a fairly insoluble problem since the blank HD on C2 won't boot & despite being able to boot DOS 7 with an emergency disk you have no means of communicating with C1.

We all know what you want to do (which isn't difficult) and have been trying to help you do it. Doing what you want to do the way you want to do it is not possible. And yelling at the good fobotcso won't help.

Pay the 30 quid.

[actually I can think of one or two esoteric non-intuitive possibilities to attempt it but none within the range of my sanity.]

[Flybywyre]

Once again thanks for all the good advice..............

I will let you know which method I used and how it went. For the record, I didn't mean to have a go at FOBOTCSO......some of his previous advice has been very helpful and useful. However, you've got to admit it was a pretty patronising post to say the least. Especially having just got back from the flying club after suitable refreshments.

No hard feelings I hope FOBOTCSO..........

Regards to all of you
FBW
:ok:

[25F]

"there isn't a problem"? In that case, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If you are running out of disk space, then *add* another drive. If you've run out of IDE slots (most if not all modern PCs will support four devices) and you need to replace the disk, or if you think the old one is at death's door, then follow one of the suggested disk cloning methods.

[Flybywyre]

Give it a rest 25F............

If you can't answer (or don't understand) the question then leave it alone

[25F]

I'll take it that's another "suitably refreshed" posting then - nobody who is sober could possibly be that rude and arrogant towards somebody who's trying to help, could they?

[Mac the Knife]

Funnily enough 25F, that's EXACTLY what I thought.

Ah so...

PS: Time to lock this thread I think O Mods!

[Tinstaafl]

Carping at people who are trying to help doesn't do you any favours, FBW. It makes us all think twice about even trying to help you. I know I hummed & ha-ed over responding...

It sounds like you're trying to backup your data from C1 onto C2 then restore the data to a new HD in C1. I gather you have WinXP on C2.

A possible solution:

* Remove the old HD from C1. Plug it into the second IDE channel on C2 (use the data cable from C1) or into the slave plug on C2's primary HD (if it has one that will be a second connector on C2's HD data cable)

* Use 'xxcopy' software as mentioned by Mac the Knife to copy the contents of C1 HD to C2 HD (now they're in the same machine).

* Replace the old C1 HD (in C2) with the new C1 HD.

* Use 'xxcopy' to copy the stored C1 data on C2 onto the new C1 HD.

* Remove the C1 HD from C2 & install into C1.


Some notes:

You won't have to mount the C1 disks in C2, it's sufficient to just plug the power & data cables in. Sit the C1 HD on any convenient non-conducting surface.

Make sure the jumpers on C1 HD are set appropriately. You will need to set C1 HD to 'slave' if you plug it into a second connector on the same cable as C2 HD.

If you DON'T have WinXP on C2 ie you have DOS or Win9x then you will first have to remove the 'active' or 'boot' attribute from the boot partition in the C1 disk. This will need to be done BEFORE you remove the HD from C1. A good piece of software is 'Ranish Partition Manager'. It beats the hell out of M$ 'fdisk' (and is free!).

'Norton Ghost' or equivalent software will also do the job, same as 'xxcopy'. Xxcopy is free but is a command line interface: No point & click.

Make sure you have a working DOS boot floppy with necessary software on it ie 'xxcopy', 'ranish PM', Powerquest 'Partition Magic' etc.

[Flybywyre]

Thanks Tinstaafl.............

[Tinstaafl]

Just a point. Why do you want to use the second computer? If you connected the new drive to C1 using the second cable connector OR another cable to the second IDE port then you should be able to use 'xxcopy' or the new HD manufacturer's supplied data transfer utilities.

[Flybywyre]

Both computers are operated by a KVM switch and I sometimes link them using a crossover cable. I thought there might have been some method of full HDD data transfer while they were connected.
Regards
FBW

[Mac the Knife]

FBW - as I said, what you want to do isn't impossible, just an order of magnitude more difficult than the standard answer that most of us have suggested.

You'll need to create a boot floppy that gives you access to the network. These are used in diskless workstations and by system installers. I've never done this so I can't give you any specific instruction. Mobos, network cards, protocols and network access are all pretty individual so the bootdisk has to be a bit tailored to your installation.

I searched Google for boot+network+windows and got you a couple of starting points.

Have a look at http://www.appdeploy.com/faq/browse.asp?category=networkbootdiskcreation which should give you some ideas. Also http://www.i386.com/default.asp?c=6&k=12 et. seq. and http://www.pctip.ch/downloads/dl/22842.asp

This looks promising: "Bart's msclient bootdisk http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/network is a customized TCP/IP network bootdisk that enables you to connect to a network share on a Windows NT/2K or Windows 9x/ME machine using a range of network cards." - seems as near to a generic bootdisk is you're going to get.

I think you should be prepared for a bit of hacking and relevant forum browsing. Unless you're very lucky first go, by the time you succeeded you'll know more about the esoterica of floppy and remote network boots than any of us, so _please_ keep us informed.

[Another alternative, if your mobo BIOS supports it, is PXE boot from Network. I don't know much about PXE boots, so you'll have to research it yourself. There are even PXE-on-disk utilities available (try http://www.argontechnology.com/mbadisk/index.shtml ) but pricey and I have no idea of the details of how they work.]

Once you've gotten C2 connected to C1 _without_ the aid of the original HDD but _with_ access to it, you can dump the contents of that drive onto C1 using xxcopy. You can then install the new HDD onto C2, fdisk it, make the boot partition active, format it, reconnect to the network with your boot floppy and xxcopy the copy of the original HDD back to the boot partition of the new HDD on C2. With a bit of luck it'll boot cleanly and you're away.

I think this is actually the answer that you were looking for, but it really would have helped if you had started off by explaining just why doing this fairly routine task the easy/usual way wasn't appropriate for your situation and not SHOUTING.

Edited to add: Curiosity has got the better of me (as usual) - I'm now buidling a Bart's msclient bootdisk for my own system - it isn't a trivial task. Interesting. The instructions are a bit terse but I should be able to work it out eventually.

[Mac the Knife]

Hmmm.. Okay, done! Quite interesting. I'm booting a P2 off the floppy exclusively and can logon to my workgroup. I can map my shares on the other PC to a driveletter on the P2 and do a DIR no problem.

I'm just seeing the 8.3 names right now and Network Neighborhood and find are having trouble seeing the P2, but this should be overcomeable (?). If not, then losing the LFNs is a bit of a problem, particularly for what you want to do.

[On second thoughts, it isn't overcomeable, because the network client is DOS based and knows nothing about LFNs]

I shall explore this further.

Thanks Flybywyre for inadvertently setting me an interesting exercise. Hope things are going better with you.

Edited to add: S'pose you could do it by backing up and restoring the LFNs [Use DOSLFNBK from http://www8.pair.com/dmurdoch/programs/doslfnbk.htm - shareware $10, rather than the awful and dangerous Win95 LFNBK]. On the other hand you could buy a copy of Norton Ghost ($70), which will backup an image over a network and do lots of other magic.

[BEagle]

Simpleton's question - this time involving 2 laptops. Old one runs Win95, new one runs WinXP Pro.

I wish to transfer several large files from old to new. Slow way is to transfer them to floppy, then upload from floppy into new computer.

But can I connect the 2 laptops together with a serial cable or USB cable, put all the files I want to transfer into a specific folder (let's call it 'Transfer') and then copy 'Transfer' down the cable to the new computer's C-drive?

No doubt that'd be far too easy and I would probably need some geeky software or somesuch. Don't intend to do that - or to fart about with IR ports - so can it be done simply and easily?

[BOAC]

FBW - WHEN everyone got to page 3 you told us what you really wanted! I do not moderate THIS forum, so EMFBI, but I know Crash asked everyone to give as much detail as possible on P1. Your P1 post was misleading, and thereby a few collars have become heated unecessarily. There is a large number of helpful and patient people here and they have been trying to help. This sort of help would cost you big dollars in the commercial world. 'Sorry' would not go amiss! Nuff said?

Beags - I would offer Laplink for starters. You can run another PC via its screen - either by cable or even down the modem, as well as up and download files to your heart's content! I got my copy (free!) from a mag. PM me. The 'cheap' built-in option is MS Direct Cable Connection which uses serial or parallell ports. There is also a USB connection cable that costs around £25 and does the biz. Floppy would take forever and we are all finite(!) and would entail disk spanning no doubt?

[Mac the Knife]

Yes, through M$'s Direct Cable Connection facility/utility (included in all versions of Windows). Help should walk you through it and I don't think it's too complicated.

Never used it, just anecdotal stuff from friends. Certainly slow, but apparently works fine, esp. if you have not too much to transfer. Some assembly required unfortunately (not too much), batteries not included....

http://www.tecno.demon.co.uk/dcc/dcc.html seems good

http://www.wown.info/j_helmig/wxpdcc9i.htm points out some XP traps. Also http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/answerstips/story/0,24330,3000467,00.html and http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/dccmain.htm or Google for Direct Cable Connection

[BEagle]

Cement and paint not included either!

Thanks chums - shall have a hunt for the 'direct cable connection' facility!

[25F]

Mac,

An alternative to making up a Windows boot floppy would be using a Knoppix Linux CD. Never tried it, but I understand it's a full Linux distro that boots off the CD and would therefore (I assume) allow you to run Samba to mount the remote drive. Actual copying of partitions could be done using the "dd" command. You'll find it on knoppix.com. I'm downloading it now so if you want I can report back on how well it seems to work as a bootable environment. Don't expect me to start copying partitions around!

I'd still copy direct from old disk to new disk rather than via another machine...

One possible "gotcha" that nobody seems to have mentioned so far is Windows XP product activation - "If you overhaul your computer by replacing a substantial number of hardware components, it may appear to be a different PC. You may have to reactivate Windows XP" says M$.

[Mac the Knife]

Hi 25 - ya, thought of doing it through Linux & I'm sure it's possible somehow using customised boot and root disks. Probably the best/easiest(sic) way. Since I'm moving away from 20 years of monopolistic M$ avarice via Suse 8.1 I'll investigate the matter further. AFAIK many of the Linux distros support booting off the CD, so that should be OK, but how do you write your samba.conf file on a RO medium? If the kernel supported it, perhaps you could load it dynamically as a module?

The "Bart's msclient bootdisk" isn't a Windows boot floppy, but DOS 7 using a real-mode network driver - the modular boot sequence is quite clever and works nicely. The instructions on the site are terse and the location of one of the boot files was incorrect & needed fixing. I'm still playing with it. Nevertheless, the network IS accessible.

However, copying Windows HDDs in real mode is fraught with problems as Kan Yabumoto of XXCOPY warns:

Q: "Can I stay in DOS (real mode) to duplicate the disk using XXCOPY16?"

A: "We strongly recommend the use of XXCOPY.EXE (the 32-bit version which must run under the Win32 environment), as described in this page. When you stay in the DOS (real mode) environment, you may not be able to access all the files and directories in your disk drive. This is due to the fact that the DOS environment cannot handle a pathname which exceeds the 80 character limit. Although each long name comes with its short name (8.3 format) alias, there could still be a heavily nested, very long path which exceeds the 80-character limit after converting all of the long directory names into their short name alias (for the same reason, SCANDISK fails on certain volume in 16-bit mode).

If all of the files in your drive have a full pathname less than 80 characters, you can use XXCOPY16 with the /CLONE switch to create an interim copy of the source disk which can be made bootable. After you boot into the Win9x environment, you should convert all of the shortnames in your system disk into the corresponding longname using the following command (assuming the D: drive is the original source drive)XXCOPY D:\ C:\ /S /NL

This procedure lets you restore most of the long filenames. However, there will be a small number of files and directories which are made prior to this XXCOPY run (immediately after the first Win9x initialization). That is, you need to perform additional procedures by hand to make necessary adjustments. In short, this procedure is troublesome at best and we don't recommend it to anyone who asks this question in the first place."

Perhaps DOSLFNBK would help and I bet that it is actually possible to do it, though not without considerable effort & tears.

"I'd still copy direct from old disk to new disk rather than via another machine..."

Me too, but although he doesn't explain why he can't go that route I assume that for some arcane reason it is impossible.

FBW seems to imply that only C2 is running XP, so C1 _may_ be using a non-copyprotected OS - anyway, he'd just have to reactivate it if XP got upset about finding itself on a different HDD - as mentioned on another thread it might not notice if the volume ID was set to be the same as the orginal drive.

Curious topic. I wonder what the professionals would say.

Goodnight all....

[25F]

Mac, I've been playnig with Knoppix on the box that usually runs Win98 and I'm impressed. If you've got the bandwidth, I'd recommend burning yourself a CD. Unlike other distros it's designed specifically for booting off CD. It uses compression so it comes with ~1.8 gig of software, including open office, web browsers etc... TCP/IP worked automagically. Could be quite fun to stick in a mate's machine to show them Linux. It mounts the hard disk, read-only. It also creates a ramdisk. And it's got WINE so you can run Windows programs.

So anyway, back to the problem in hand: Knoppix has a full Samba on board so you can use smbmount to mount a remote MS box's drives. Alternatively you could run smbd and use an smb.conf in the ramdisk (check the man page for the magic runes for this) if you want to share a drive that way.

Unlike xxcopy, dd does a sector by sector copy when you give it partitions rather than files to copy; so you don't get the 8.3 problem. And I'm assuming that a FAT based filesystem will survive being moved onto a larger partition...

Here's some stuff about using dd across a network, by using netcat (which is new to me):
http://www.rajeevnet.com/tips_hints/os_clone/os_cloning.html

[Mac the Knife]

Ho 25F! That sounds neat. Obviously a better solution, though it has been instructive to think about other possibilities. I checked the Knoppix site last night and it seems pretty interesting. I'll follow your advice & look at it. Thanks for the tip!

Now all FBW has to do is to learn a few temporary rudiments of Linux... Akcherly I'm sure one could compile a stripped-to-the-bones kernel with not much more than Samba and a shell script to do the job that just might fit of a floppy or two. AFAIK the files won't care what sized partition they're on or whether it's FAT or FAT32 so long as they get there and are correctly entered in the table?

For the non-hacker to do the required unusual operation with the least tears then from what I can gather Ghost (or the 30 quid) would be the answer. I hope FBW will tell us what he eventually did!

[25F]

On second thoughts a secto-to-sector copy of a partition to a larger partition is unlikely to work with a FAT-based filesystem - the File Allocation Table is going to be the wrong size. So you need to make the filesystem first. (Format, in DOS-speak). Then when it comes to copying files I would not trust M$ not to have "optimised" something somewhere so that it expects to find exactly as they were, so I'd only be happy if the short and long filenames and all other attributes were preserved.

FWIW, www.acronis.com is yet another option for disk management tools.

[BEagle]

Thanks everyone for your advice.

The new computer (Dell Latitude X200) has a file transfer wizard; the instructions are very straightforward. Copy the relevant file and settings transfer program to a floppy, feed it to the old computer (Dell Latitude LT), connect the two together with a £20 serial file transfer cable and then watch the little dears merrily chatter away to eachother.

One snag - it took ages! I only wanted to transfer 350Mb of data from the folder I'd already prepared in 'My documents' - the transfer process took 16, yes, sixteen hours to complete!

[Flybywyre]

:8 New project

Having read some very interesting posts from Mac the knife, 25 etc and others I have decided to have some fun/torture with Linux on P2
Thanks to all those who were able to offer the usual helpful and friendly advice
Regards
FBW

Nearly forgot......BOAC instead of having a cheap shot at me on a public forum you can Email me direct....otherwise SHUT UP...nuff said?

[Mac the Knife]

Beags - a serial DCC at the maximal 115200 baud (COM port with a FIFO-buffering 16550A) works out at a theoretical 9-10Kb/sec or about 36Mb/hr, so 16 hours for 350Mb of data sounds about right. Yawn....glad it worked anyway.

Using the parallel printer port for the DCC-connection allows a much higher transfer rate, with a Basic 4 bit "LapLink type" should be around 60-80 Kb/sec. With a "DirectParallel® Universal Fast Cable" supposedly 300-600 Kb/sec. An Ethernet 10 MBit connection through-put is approx. 300 Kb/sec, so 30-150 times faster than a serial connection.

[BOAC]

Well FBW - you are consistent. I don't think I am alone in thinking a 'public' apology would be in order. It was not a 'cheap shot' . You chose a 'public forum'. I could list those you have 'rattled' but there is no need. They all started out assuming a certain level of knowledge from your post and answered appropriately. That assumption proved to be wrong - their fault? Let me quote TINSTAAFL - just ONE of our invaluable contributors "Carping at people who are trying to help doesn't do you any favours, FBW. It makes us all think twice about even trying to help you. I know I hummed & ha-ed over responding..."



Beags - as Newswatcher and I said - Laplink is ok for what you want. It supports parallell connections which are 'n' faster than serial.

[BEagle]

If I'd known quite how long it was going to take, I might have used another method! But it's done now - and it had the advantage of keeping me off the Internet for 16 hours+ !

Now, what do I do with this nice new DCC cable?