Back to DOS

[frostbite]

Having bodged an old PSU for my old machine (why do I bother?) I have now managed to get DOS 6.22 on C via A.

Still not out of the woods though because it can't see the CD drive or the other HD.

From my hazy memory of DOS, I put LASTDRIVE=Z into config.sys thinking that might wake it up to the other drives - it hasn't.

Have I forgotten something?

[MacBoero]

This might help:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1148865&page=1
:ok:

[Loose rivets]

I would have thought 6.22 would have seen both drives without prompting, providing the LASTDRIVE is not set to D

Have you tried it without the CD connected?

In the olduns, the drive could be connected totally reversed. Never seemed to hurt them. But check all is okay and the drive is spinning. etc etc

[Saab Dastard]

It is quite possible that the drive is larger than that recognised by fdisk in DOS.

It is also possible that it is not yet recognised in the BIOS.

It is possible that it is not partitioned in at most 2GB chunks, and that at least one primary partition is not set to active.

It is possible that it is not formatted with FAT 16 (although it should still be recognised).

SD

[frostbite]

Thanks everyone.

I suspect one of those gotchas applies, SD, but why does it not see either of the CD drives? Both CDs & both HDs are acknowledged by BIOS on startup.

[Saab Dastard]

why does it not see either of the CD drives? Both CDs & both HDs are acknowledged by BIOS on startup.

For a CD-ROM drive to properly work in MS-DOS, it is required that the CD-ROM drivers be loaded in the Autoexec.bat / Config.sys.

Below are examples of the format of how the drivers should be loaded in the autoexec.bat and config.sys.

AUTOEXEC.BAT:

LOADHIGH=C: \Windows\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001

CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICEHIGH=C: \CD-ROM\NEC_IDE.SYS /D:MSCD001

Bear in mind that the location and name of the relevant device driver (nnnnn.sys) will vary dependent on your configuration - e.g. it may be on the floppy disk. Also you may not be using high memory, in which case just use Load and Device.

SD

[vapilot2004]

MSCDEX.EXE

I recall this bit, SD. :)

[Keef]

Goodness me, that takes me back! I had terrible problems with that stuff when I got my very first CDROM drive.

It was years before I realised my "new" machine could boot from the CDROM.

[Saab Dastard]

Indeed, takes me back too!

But while 'twere undoubtedly simpler, 'twere in no ways better!

We have come a looooooong way in 15 years!

SD

[Jhieminga]

Saab D. provided the trick to get the CD working, one thing though is that you might need a correct .SYS driver for you CD drive. Check the link in MacBoero's post as that leads to a set of drivers complete with Autoexec and Config files that might work.

Good luck in getting this to work! (Takes me back a bit too I must admit...)

[frostbite]

Thinking about revisiting the beast in the cupboard.

What's the best (cheapest) way to attach the HDs out of the old girl to my current machine, externally?

That way I can take any useful stuff off and then, hopefully, put something useful on.

[Saab Dastard]

Assuming you are talking about standard 3.5" IDE / ATA disks, you could buy an external USB enclosure. Make sure you get one designed to fit your own disk into! You can always buy a big disk to fit into it when you've finished transferring data.

Careful of SATA / PATA interface, obviously.

SD

[frostbite]

Thanks for that, SD.

Yes, confirm IDE 3.5". So, would this enclosure (which sounds ideal) come with a psu or does the power come from the USB?

Had a quick look on Maplins website but their search doesn't seem to understand the question.

[Saab Dastard]

I suggest a google search for "hard disk usb caddy".

Take it from there! Lots of places sell them, ebay, amazon, ebuyer etc. Maplin look to be pretty expensive.

These units should come with external power supplies. Don't buy one that doesn't.

SD

[jimtherev]

Agree with SD. Maplin not only expensive, but seem only to offer SATA enclosures these days. I haven't ever seen one offered without mains power supply, btw. These use a fair bit of juice to spin the hard disk - would prob. overload the USB.
Jim

[Jhieminga]

3,5" external caddys need an extra power supply, many 2,5" caddys don't.

[Saab Dastard]

3,5" external caddys need an extra power supply, many 2,5" caddys don't*.

True, but we were talking explicitly about 3.5" disks.

*And some 3.5" drives have 2 x USB connectors to get sufficient power, or for early 2.5" drives, a mouse port pass-thru connector.

SD

[frostbite]

Just bought a 3.5" caddy, complete with psu and all leads for £12.99
Amazon.co.uk: 3.5" HDD USB 2.0 EXTERNAL HARD DISK CASE ENCLOSURE: Electronics & Photo (http://www.amazon.co.uk/EXTERNAL-HARD-DISK-CASE-ENCLOSURE/dp/B000SIQNGY/ref=pd_cp_ce_2?pf_rd_p=136153791&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000PKIXMW&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1W20D0VZA452JX24G0EB)

Ordered Weds night, delivered this morning! Not tried it yet.

[Saab Dastard]

Just curious as to why not the TeckNet one for £5 less?

SD

[frostbite]

It's 51p less acksherly, and delivery 4-5 days quoted.

Other than that, it looks like the same item.

[Saab Dastard]

Ahh - free shipping vs. 4.49 shipping! Yes, I see!

SD

[frostbite]

Well, aside from the rather dubious build quality, it works well.

Which is more than can be said for the 3x HDs pulled from the old machine, or two of them anyway. The 20gb one partitioned into 3 performs well. The earlier 10gb addition is only showing 2gb capacity (faint bell ringing here). The original (6.4gb IIRC) does not show up at all, although it is running, the red light turns green, and windoze knows something is on the umbilical.

All drives set as Master because nothing else appears to work.

Worth the purchase price.