Using E: drive to copy transfer files from old 98se system

[Guest]

Ok, I give up! How in the world do I make this computer act as if the E:
drive is another disc drive so I can move the files that I had on my old
desktop win98se system to my new Compaq laptop running XP Professional?

Every time I put a CD with information on it from the old computer into the
E: drive, this system wants to start a download to "blank CD" using something
called "Sonic". I did succeed once in making a transfer, but I now have
another CD full of mixed files that continues to show up as "blank".

I had Direct CD on the old system, do I need to install that on the laptop?

So far, I am far from impressed with XP and am starting to wish I had bought
the Apple!

 

[Sharon F]

Ok, I give up! How in the world do I make this computer act as if the E:
drive is another disc drive so I can move the files that I had on my old
desktop win98se system to my new Compaq laptop running XP Professional?

Every time I put a CD with information on it from the old computer into the
E: drive, this system wants to start a download to "blank CD" using something
called "Sonic". I did succeed once in making a transfer, but I now have
another CD full of mixed files that continues to show up as "blank".

I had Direct CD on the old system, do I need to install that on the laptop?

So far, I am far from impressed with XP and am starting to wish I had bought
the Apple!

For disks that aren't finalized, they may or may not be readable on a
system with a different drive and with different burning software. In your
case, they are not readable.

Use the burning software installed on the Win98 machine to finalize the
disk before trying to read it with another computer. The wording in the
setting to finalize may be simply "finalize" or something like "for use
with any computer." If in doubt, check the help file of the burning program
being used.

 

[Malke]

Ok, I give up! How in the world do I make this computer act as if the
E: drive is another disc drive so I can move the files that I had on
my old desktop win98se system to my new Compaq laptop running XP
Professional?

Every time I put a CD with information on it from the old computer
into the E: drive, this system wants to start a download to "blank CD"
using something called "Sonic". I did succeed once in making a
transfer, but I now have another CD full of mixed files that continues
to show up as "blank".

I had Direct CD on the old system, do I need to install that on the
laptop?

So far, I am far from impressed with XP and am starting to wish I had
bought the Apple!

Well, nothing is preventing you from buying an Apple; however, this
particular problem is not XP's fault. You used packet-writing software
- Direct CD - to create those disks. You need to install a
packet-writing program on XP to read the disks. This is one of the
disadvantages of using packet-writing software and why I don't
recommend that method for backups.

Your old Direct CD will not work on XP. You apparently have Sonic
burning software installed on your computer; see what Sonic's version
of packet-writing software is and install it. Read the Sonic Help file
for more details. Your old Direct CD will not work on XP.

Malke

 

[Guest]

For disks that aren't finalized, they may or may not be readable on a
system with a different drive and with different burning software. In your
case, they are not readable.

Use the burning software installed on the Win98 machine to finalize the
disk before trying to read it with another computer. The wording in the
setting to finalize may be simply "finalize" or something like "for use
with any computer." If in doubt, check the help file of the burning program
being used.

Sharon-

Thanks for the input. It appears that I will be forced to use a separate CD
for each transfer and then toss the cd. Both systems had said that they could
use RW cd's, but apparently not. I know that I did use the CD once to
transfer information, and then when I refilled it, it now will not be
recoginized in the XP system.
How does XP handle transfering data to the removable memory? Must I always
use the Sonic method? Windows 98 used to handle this matter directly once the
cd was inserted. Now each time I insert a CD, I get the Sonic program.
XP is cetainly not as user-friendly as 98 was, which was also much harder
than the good old DOS command line.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Well, nothing is preventing you from buying an Apple; however, this
particular problem is not XP's fault. You used packet-writing software
- Direct CD - to create those disks. You need to install a
packet-writing program on XP to read the disks. This is one of the
disadvantages of using packet-writing software and why I don't
recommend that method for backups.

Your old Direct CD will not work on XP. You apparently have Sonic
burning software installed on your computer; see what Sonic's version
of packet-writing software is and install it. Read the Sonic Help file
for more details. Your old Direct CD will not work on XP.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Malke-
Thanks for your input. $1600 worth of computer and compatible software is
preventing the conversion to Apple.

How do you recommend that I backup to CDs, then? I must say that the Sonic
software appears to have no way of reading from the disk. And to write to a
cd, everything must go through it looks like about 3 steps, including
creating temporary directorys of the information to write to the disk.
Since Microsoft no longer provides user manuals for those of us who like to
read about how the software operates, I have no idea how XP handles simple
read/write to external media requests.
Perhaps you can help me.

Thanks for any information you can supply. What type of software would I
need to additionally purchase to facilitate simple CD read/write operations?

 

[Jim]

Malke-
Thanks for your input. $1600 worth of computer and compatible software is
preventing the conversion to Apple.

How do you recommend that I backup to CDs, then? I must say that the Sonic
software appears to have no way of reading from the disk. And to write to
a
cd, everything must go through it looks like about 3 steps, including
creating temporary directorys of the information to write to the disk.
Since Microsoft no longer provides user manuals for those of us who like
to
read about how the software operates, I have no idea how XP handles simple
read/write to external media requests.
Perhaps you can help me.

Thanks for any information you can supply. What type of software would I
need to additionally purchase to facilitate simple CD read/write
operations?

I use Easy CD Creator. I also suggest that CDs are only suitable for quite
small amounts of data. DVD+-R are much more useful.
It employs packet writing technique, and it allows backups that span disks.

The Drag to Disk application which Easy CD Creator provides creates all
types of CDs and DVDs, and it reads and writes to all media.

Nero is another product that lots of people suggest.

If I remember correctly, InCD was furnished with a much older version of
Easy CD Creator.
Jim

 

[Guest]

I use Easy CD Creator. I also suggest that CDs are only suitable for quite
small amounts of data. DVD+-R are much more useful.
It employs packet writing technique, and it allows backups that span disks.

The Drag to Disk application which Easy CD Creator provides creates all
types of CDs and DVDs, and it reads and writes to all media.

Nero is another product that lots of people suggest.

If I remember correctly, InCD was furnished with a much older version of
Easy CD Creator.
Jim


Jim-

Thanks for your very useful information. I will try installing Direct CD on
my XP system and see what happens. I have a very old version, and hope it
will work (pre the turn of the century). It sure seems like Microsoft is
making it harder and harder to understand how their software operates. I was
very much involved with personal computers from the 1970's, and used to write
programs under CP/M and DOS, but when Windows came about, everything got too
involved and expensive to keep the hobby up. Thanks for your help.

 

[Malke]

Thanks for your very useful information. I will try installing Direct
CD on my XP system and see what happens. I have a very old version,
and hope it will work (pre the turn of the century). It sure seems
like Microsoft is making it harder and harder to understand how their
software operates. I was very much involved with personal computers
from the 1970's, and used to write programs under CP/M and DOS, but
when Windows came about, everything got too
involved and expensive to keep the hobby up. Thanks for your help.

Do not install your old DirectCD on your XP box! It will not work and it
will mess up your drives and you'll be back saying you're getting error
messages and your drives have disappeared.

Either go to the store and purchase a current packet-writing package
from Nero or Roxio or whoever as Jim suggested OR simply burn to CD-R
with the Sonic you already have. Read the Sonic Help file or have a
knowledgeable friend show you how. It is very easy and your CD-R's will
be completely readable in any machine.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Do not install your old DirectCD on your XP box! It will not work and it
will mess up your drives and you'll be back saying you're getting error
messages and your drives have disappeared.

Either go to the store and purchase a current packet-writing package
from Nero or Roxio or whoever as Jim suggested OR simply burn to CD-R
with the Sonic you already have. Read the Sonic Help file or have a
knowledgeable friend show you how. It is very easy and your CD-R's will
be completely readable in any machine.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Malke-
Why won't it work? Is it outdated? I use it to format the cd's on my 98
system, then, like Sharon said, if I "close" them, I can read them and copy
them into the XP system.
What does Microsoft offer as the built-in reader/writer, or don't they
provide anything and expect people to find, somehow, the perfect 3rd party
software without having to buy 4 or 5 or 20 different programs to find the
one for them.
I don't mean to sound a churlish as I do, but the complexities that keep
getting added into each version of MS OS's just seem to keep on coming, and
MS offers less and less written explainations of how their stuff works.

curmudgeonly,

 

[Malke]

Banjo Brad wrote:

Malke-
Why won't it work? Is it outdated? I use it to format the cd's on my
98 system, then, like Sharon said, if I "close" them, I can read them
and copy them into the XP system.

Yes, it is outdated. It was written for a different operating system.

What does Microsoft offer as the built-in reader/writer, or don't they
provide anything and expect people to find, somehow, the perfect 3rd
party software without having to buy 4 or 5 or 20 different programs
to find the one for them.

Because an operating system isn't a grab-bag of applications. It is a
platform on which you *run* applications. I can't answer why MS chose
to even offer a simple built-in burning capability since I don't work
for them. My own preference, since I come from the Linux world, is to
have no programs built into the operating system and only install what
I want. MS wants a one-stop-shop. They always have.

I don't mean to sound a churlish as I do, but the complexities that
keep getting added into each version of MS OS's just seem to keep on
coming, and MS offers less and less written explainations of how their
stuff works.

Well, you *are* whinging rather a lot. Don't use Windows if you don't
like it. Buy an Apple. I won't suggest Linux because I don't think it
would work for you. There is a vast amount of written information on
how "their stuff works". You just need to make the effort to find and
learn at least some of it. Start with the Help & Support built into XP;
it is much better than the Help in Win9x/ME.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Banjo Brad wrote:



Yes, it is outdated. It was written for a different operating system.


Because an operating system isn't a grab-bag of applications. It is a
platform on which you *run* applications. I can't answer why MS chose
to even offer a simple built-in burning capability since I don't work
for them. My own preference, since I come from the Linux world, is to
have no programs built into the operating system and only install what
I want. MS wants a one-stop-shop. They always have.


Well, you *are* whinging rather a lot. Don't use Windows if you don't
like it. Buy an Apple. I won't suggest Linux because I don't think it
would work for you. There is a vast amount of written information on
how "their stuff works". You just need to make the effort to find and
learn at least some of it. Start with the Help & Support built into XP;
it is much better than the Help in Win9x/ME.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

OK, I guess you're right. I just miss the good old days when CP/M came with
a BIOS and source code printed[i/] manuals. Computers were command-line
driven and everything (program and data files) ran in 64K of RAM. And like I
said, I just put $$$ into this system, and can't afford to junk it. I thought
that I at least had a headstart with previous knowledge of MS stuff.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Jim]

Thanks for your very useful information. I will try installing Direct CD
on
my XP system and see what happens. I have a very old version, and hope it
will work (pre the turn of the century). It sure seems like Microsoft is
making it harder and harder to understand how their software operates. I
was
very much involved with personal computers from the 1970's, and used to
write
programs under CP/M and DOS, but when Windows came about, everything got
too
involved and expensive to keep the hobby up. Thanks for your help.

Banjo Brad, I never intended to imply that Direct CD will function under
Windows XP. What you need it Easy CD Creator V8.
This package includes (among many other things) the Drag to Disk capability.
Jim

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

OK, I guess you're right. I just miss the good old days when CP/M
came with a BIOS and source code printed[i/] manuals. Computers
were command-line driven and everything (program and data files) ran
in 64K of RAM.

In my view, there is hardly ever anything good about "the good old days."
With rare exceptions, almost everything--especially those things that
involve technology--get substantially better all the time.

But if you yearn for the "the good old days," what's keeping you from going
back to them? I'm sure you can buy whatever you need to run CP/M and a 64K
machine on eBay for very little money.

Not me, though. I'm much happier with these "bad new days" than with what
you call the "the good old days." And my knowledge of those old days very
likely goes back a lot farther than yours does. I first started working on a
computer in 1962, and it had only 4K, not 64K.