Transferring files on a Windows 95 IDE hard drive to Windows XP PC

[Guest]

I have a lot of old photos and other files on my Dell Dimension PC running
Windows 95. I've tried cabling this PC to my newer Dell Dimension PC running
Windows XP home edition (SP2) to transfer files, but to no avail. It
occurred to me that a simpler solution might be to physically remove the hard
drive from the Windows 95 machine and add it as a second hard drive inside
the Windows XP machine. Is this feasible? Will Windows XP recognize the
file names and folders from Windows 95?

If so, what would this entail (I assume that there is something needed in
the way of removing a jumper or whatever to make the second drive the slave,
or some such)?

 

[Lil' Dave]

I have a lot of old photos and other files on my Dell Dimension PC running
Windows 95. I've tried cabling this PC to my newer Dell Dimension PC
running
Windows XP home edition (SP2) to transfer files, but to no avail. It
occurred to me that a simpler solution might be to physically remove the
hard
drive from the Windows 95 machine and add it as a second hard drive inside
the Windows XP machine. Is this feasible? Will Windows XP recognize the
file names and folders from Windows 95?

If so, what would this entail (I assume that there is something needed in
the way of removing a jumper or whatever to make the second drive the
slave,
or some such)?

Not really an XP thing. Its more centered around the former PC and the PC
you want the hard drive mounted. Its a bios thing involving interpretation
of CHS of the hard drive. If that's hunky-dory, no problem.

If you ever used a bios extender on the old hard drive, it may also be a
problem. A bios extender allows the PC to use a larger capacity hard drive
that its native bios could not. The PC its mounted in must boot from that
drive to use it for reading that hard drive.
Dave

 

[philo]

Not really an XP thing. Its more centered around the former PC and the PC
you want the hard drive mounted. Its a bios thing involving interpretation
of CHS of the hard drive. If that's hunky-dory, no problem.

If you ever used a bios extender on the old hard drive, it may also be a
problem. A bios extender allows the PC to use a larger capacity hard drive
that its native bios could not. The PC its mounted in must boot from that
drive to use it for reading that hard drive.
Dave

Not a problem...
just set the bios to auto detect the HD.

Note: even if the bios is set to "none" XP will still see the 2nd drive...
if a drvie letter is not automatically assigned,,,just go into disk
management and assign one

 

[Guest]

Do you know if I'll need to install or remove any jumpers, or if I just plug
it in, inside the XP machine? If you don't know, any thoughts as to where I
might find out?

 

[Bob I]

It depends on where you plug it in and whats already there. Do you have
Sata or Pata in the new PC? If PATA, then what cable will you attach it
to? Are there drives already on the header?

 

[Paul]

Do you know if I'll need to install or remove any jumpers, or if I just plug
it in, inside the XP machine? If you don't know, any thoughts as to where I
might find out?

There is a backgrounder here on IDE.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf.htm

Picture of jumpers here:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/jump_IDE.htm

The hard drives also have a label stuck to the drive,
with some jumper info on it.

Paul

 

[Lil' Dave]

Not a problem...
just set the bios to auto detect the HD.

Note: even if the bios is set to "none" XP will still see the 2nd drive...
if a drvie letter is not automatically assigned,,,just go into disk
management and assign one

If the bios does pick up the moved hard drive, the CHS layout may be
different per that PC's bios. If terribly different, there will be no
visible partition. If somewhat different, folders and files may read
gibberish from explorer. If a little different, the internal data of the
files may be incorrect. That was my point. Not if the bios didn't "see"
the drive.
Dave