Im trying to help a friend transfer files from her old computer w/ OS Win95 to her new laptop w/OS Vista. I thought I could just use a flash drive (which would be so easy) until it occured to me that the flash drive driver may not be recognized by Win95. Any suggestions on this? I was really trying to get away with NOT having to use a data transfer cable. Thanks!

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This helped a lot. REMEMBER! Read the instructions on the webpage. http://toastytech.com/files/cruzerwin95.html

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If the 95 PC can not be made to handle the USB flash drive, consider removing the 
hard drive and either (1) mounting it inside the Vista PC, or (b) mounting it inside 
a USB 2.0 encloser (cheap from any PC store).  

Note that if you choose plan (b), then after you have transferred files, you can 
toss the 95 hard drive (likely very small) and replace it with any modern IDE/ATA 
hard drive that you happen to find on sale, or one that someone is tossing due to 
upgrading their PC to an even larger hard drive.  The result will be a modern USB 
2.0 external hard drive that is perfect for saving backups of personal files.  

An exteranl USB hard drive is also be a good place to store images of the Vista C: 
drive for that day, eventually, when something will go wrong and the Vistas PC will 
not boot.  Common imaging software includes Norton GHOST and Acronis TrueImage.  
Other options are mentioned at the following website, under backup (left side of 
main screen).

http://www.majorgeeks.com/

Site is currently down, but was up yesterday, and I expect it back soon.







On Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 4:42 pm, debbie wrote:

>Im trying to help a friend transfer files from her old computer w/ OS Win95 to her 

>new laptop w/OS Vista. I thought I could just use a flash drive (which would be 
so 

>easy) until it occured to me that the flash drive driver may not be recognized by 

>Win95. Any suggestions on this? I was really trying to get away with NOT having 
to 

>use a data transfer cable.

>

>Thanks! 

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Plan (c):  Get a LINUX "live" CD, boot the PC for it, and use it to transfer files. 
 For years many flavors of LINUX have supported USB.  By default, "live" CDs do NOT 
install onto your hard drive, they just run directly from the CD, so they are safe 
to try.  The trick to this plan is to find a LINUX version old enough to work on 
the hardware of the win95 PC.

A very large list of live CD images are available free at:

http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php

My favorite is KNOPPIX, which is available at:

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Info about KNOPPIX and usage is available at:

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Main_Page

Note:  Nearly all "live" CD images are *.ISO files.  Such files must be transferred 
to CD via an option like "burn from image".  Nero and Easy CD Creator both support 
this option, but the native XP software does not.

Note:  In the case of KNOPPIX, download the oldest version available, as that is 
more likely to be compatible with your hardware.  Checking the hardware requirements 
might also be a good idea.

Note:  I am assuming that the PC has USB ports.  Many win95 age PCs did not.  If 
not, you could physically install a USB card (1.1 or better yet 2.0), and that should 
be detected and configured by the live CD.  Think about borrowing a card for this 
one time usage.

Note:  While many LINUX CDs support plug&play and hot-swapping, I have found it best 
to first attach the external USB device (e.g., pen drive) to the PC, then boot into 
LINUX.

Note:  If your PC is not already set to boot from CD, go into the BIOS settings and 
check for an option under the "BOOT" tab to add CD as a boot option, and then to 
promote it to the top of the list.  save&exit the BIOS setup, then reboot with CD 
inserted.

Good luck.









On Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 4:42 pm, debbie wrote:

>Im trying to help a friend transfer files from her old computer w/ OS Win95 to her 

>new laptop w/OS Vista. I thought I could just use a flash drive (which would be 
so 

>easy) until it occured to me that the flash drive driver may not be recognized by 

>Win95. Any suggestions on this? I was really trying to get away with NOT having 
to 

>use a data transfer cable.

>

>Thanks! 

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