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re: need help desperately with saving PICTURES!! Friday, January 4, 2008 at 10:07 pm Posted by Matt (2 messages posted) Alright, this is what you do: 1. you plug in the external hard drive to one of the many USB ports in either the front or back of the computer... 2. the computer will install the drivers for it.... you go to explorer and look for the new hard drive that is 320 gigs 3.you browse that, and YOU DRAG AND DROP easy as that, doing the basic windows stuff will get you a long way in life ;) On Friday, January 4, 2008 at 7:45 pm, combsy1992 wrote: >I have Windows 98 and have tons of pictures saved here. I am trying to save the pictures. >I am having lots of problems with my pc and we are about to upgrade to Windows XP >and give to our teenagers and purchase a new computer for huibby and I. We went to >Office Max and they sold us a Seagate FreeAgent USB 2.0 320 Gigabytes external hardrive >and a Store 'n' Go USB Drive 2 GB Go......neither works. I am desperate to save the >photos as I have been taking pictures of my brother's fosterchild since birth and >he recently became my new nephew. I have other pictures and some of a child who passed >away...... all pictures that cannot be replaced should my computer crash or we lose >when we upgrade. We are not to smart about computers and the man who helped us several >weeks ago...... has caused other issues such as pages not opening and not being able >to read our mail or drop downs not working as well as not being able toplay any online >games so i am not comfortable with letting him take our computer again. I just need >some help desperately with saving these pictures to another drive. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: need help desperately with saving PICTURES!! Friday, January 4, 2008 at 11:07 pm Posted by C K (6910 messages posted) Sorry, this is Win 98, not XP.. Totally different problems and solutions for Win 98 as opposed to Win ME or XP.. You first have to see if the drive is recognized in the device manager and work from there in Win 98. On Friday, January 4, 2008 at 10:07 pm, Matt wrote: >Alright, this is what you do: > >1. you plug in the external hard drive to one of the many USB ports in either the >front or back of the computer... >2. the computer will install the drivers for it.... >you go to explorer and look for the new hard drive that is 320 gigs >3.you browse that, and YOU DRAG AND DROP > > >easy as that, doing the basic windows stuff will get you a long way in life ;) > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: need help desperately with saving PICTURES!! Friday, January 4, 2008 at 11:09 pm Posted by C K (6910 messages posted) No really easy simple answers here sadly by the sounds of it. First we need to know the specs of your computer. Is this Win 98 or 98SE. Since you probably have USB1.1, that can be a problem with new USB 2.0 devices. Some will work very slowly with USB 1.1, some won't want to work at all. Did you follow the installation procedure for the Seagate? Do you have a working USB controller showing in the Device Manager? Win 98 needs drivers and other componants installed where as Win ME shouldn't in most cases but may need the Windows install CD to add componants needed for the drive to be recognized and used. Before you upgrade the old PC, run the upgrade advisor from the XP install CD or online to see if it has compatible hardware and software installed. If there are problems with the hardware and the software, you will know before you have a disaster on your hands. Generally we don't recommend upgrading over Win 9X. With most XP install CD's you can do a clean install but will need qualifing media like your old Windows install CD. The safest way to transfer your data/pictures would be to remove the HDD and slave it into a new PC and transfer the data directly from drive to drive. (If you know how to remove and install hardware/drives that is) Or have someone do it that has the experience in working on PC hardware. Any trusted service shop should be able to do it for you if you give them the file/directory names or where to find the data/pictures.. (but a smart tech can usually find them anyway) By the sounds of it, the gentleman that worked on it isn't experienced enough to work on it. Check around for a better qualified tech and explain what you need. As for storage, external drives are all notorious for failing without warning so never trust an external drive alone. Always backup to multiple forms of media when the data is not replaceable. I use two HDD's mounted in removable drive bays as well as CD "AND" DVD media. CD and DVD media should be reburned to new media after about three to five years (five years max) for safe reliability, and should be burned to archival specs (such as burned at half the media's rated speed and DAO Disc At Once then closed so it can be read on any PC). To bad you don't live in my area (assuming that you don't anyway). I do this all the time for clients and neighbors most of the time for no charge since I don't have to depend on it for my living anymore. :-) On Friday, January 4, 2008 at 7:45 pm, combsy1992 wrote: >I have Windows 98 and have tons of pictures saved here. I am trying to save the pictures. >I am having lots of problems with my pc and we are about to upgrade to Windows XP >and give to our teenagers and purchase a new computer for huibby and I. We went to >Office Max and they sold us a Seagate FreeAgent USB 2.0 320 Gigabytes external hardrive >and a Store 'n' Go USB Drive 2 GB Go......neither works. I am desperate to save the >photos as I have been taking pictures of my brother's fosterchild since birth and >he recently became my new nephew. I have other pictures and some of a child who passed >away...... all pictures that cannot be replaced should my computer crash or we lose >when we upgrade. We are not to smart about computers and the man who helped us several >weeks ago...... has caused other issues such as pages not opening and not being able >to read our mail or drop downs not working as well as not being able toplay any online >games so i am not comfortable with letting him take our computer again. I just need >some help desperately with saving these pictures to another drive. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: need help desperately with saving PICTURES!! Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 2:02 am Posted by Jeff Tyson (1 messages posted) Im in a similar situation as yours, at least the dealer told me some problems with W98 so I didnt buy the USB2 drive before adding a usb2 pci card. However some motherboards can not support USB2 contrary to advice received. To save photos buy a CD writer(EXT USB1) and take a week or so to copy your photos( but make sure they are readable on a newer computer in case the photos are in an old code which may be unrecognised today- but whatever you do copy ASAP even in a format such as jpeg or gif as a precaution. Sorry about the low tech reply but needed before any fiddling around causes the loss of your photos and follow the advice of the other posts about backing up.. On Friday, January 4, 2008 at 11:09 pm, C K wrote: >No really easy simple answers here sadly by the sounds of it. First we need to know >the specs of your computer. Is this Win 98 or 98SE. Since you probably have USB1.1, >that can be a problem with new USB 2.0 devices. Some will work very slowly with >USB 1.1, some won't want to work at all. Did you follow the installation procedure >for the Seagate? Do you have a working USB controller showing in the Device Manager? > Win 98 needs drivers and other componants installed where as Win ME shouldn't in >most cases but may need the Windows install CD to add componants needed for the drive >to be recognized and used. > >Before you upgrade the old PC, run the upgrade advisor from the XP install CD or >online to see if it has compatible hardware and software installed. If there are >problems with the hardware and the software, you will know before you have a disaster >on your hands. Generally we don't recommend upgrading over Win 9X. With most XP >install CD's you can do a clean install but will need qualifing media like your old >Windows install CD. > >The safest way to transfer your data/pictures would be to remove the HDD and slave >it into a new PC and transfer the data directly from drive to drive. (If you know >how to remove and install hardware/drives that is) Or have someone do it that has >the experience in working on PC hardware. Any trusted service shop should be able >to do it for you if you give them the file/directory names or where to find the data/pictures.. > (but a smart tech can usually find them anyway) > >By the sounds of it, the gentleman that worked on it isn't experienced enough to >work on it. Check around for a better qualified tech and explain what you need. > >As for storage, external drives are all notorious for failing without warning so >never trust an external drive alone. Always backup to multiple forms of media when >the data is not replaceable. I use two HDD's mounted in removable drive bays as >well as CD "AND" DVD media. CD and DVD media should be reburned to new media after >about three to five years (five years max) for safe reliability, and should be burned >to archival specs (such as burned at half the media's rated speed and DAO Disc At >Once then closed so it can be read on any PC). > >To bad you don't live in my area (assuming that you don't anyway). I do this all >the time for clients and neighbors most of the time for no charge since I don't have >to depend on it for my living anymore. :-) > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: need help desperately with saving PICTURES!! Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 9:13 am Posted by Steve (23811 messages posted) Burn them to a CDR. [Reply or follow-up to this message] Copying off pictures from a hard drive & "upgrading" a box to XP Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 10:31 am Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) |[...]USB1.1[...]can be a problem with new USB 2.0 devices | C K | Yup. |Win 98 needs drivers and other compon[e]nts installed |[whereas] Win ME shouldn't[...] | Big YUP. |the gentleman that worked on it isn't experienced enough to work on it. | Unfortunate, but apparently true. ::[...]plug in the external hard drive to one of the many USB ports[...] ::the computer will install the drivers for it :: Matt :: :Sorry, this is Win 98, not XP.. :Totally different problems and solutions for Win 98 as opposed to Win ME or XP : C K : Matt sounds like the same sort of tech that the OP got before. 8-( Finding a tech to work on your W98 box these days can be like finding a mechanic these days who can work on a car with a carburator. |The safest way to transfer your data/pictures |would be to remove the HDD and slave it into a new PC | BINGO! |As for storage, external drives are all notorious for failing without warning |so never trust an external drive alone. |Always back[ ]up to multiple forms of media when the data is not replaceable. | ...and "A backup isn't a backup until it is OFF-SITE". Think: Fire; flood; earthquake; burglary. http://www.google.com/search?q=Francis-Ford-Coppola+stole+backups Think: Mom's house; at work; in a safety deposit box. |CD and DVD media should be reburned to new media |after about three to five years (five years max) |[...]and[...]burned at half the media's rated speed | This guy is GOOD. 8-) ...and it is often advised to store the optical media OUT OF SUNLIGHT, as that seems to accelerate data degradation. The OP didn't put a number on "tons", but modern flash drives (USB thumbdrives) can hold a bunch of stuff for a pretty nice price these days (~$8/GB). Filenames are a lot less restrictive on those as compared to ISO 9660 optical media. cache of http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/jolspec.html#recording Write speeds on thumbdrives are much faster as well, if that is ever an issue. (I alway think of those silly movies where the good guy is supposedly copying the bad guy's HDD to removable media in 30 seconds. Heh.) |Before you upgrade the old PC, run the [XP] upgrade advisor | GIANT YUP. It's amazing the number of folks who think they can transplant a 427 into a 1939 Volkswagen--with no problems. My 2 cents. C K has hit pretty much all the high points. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: need help desperately with saving PICTURES!! Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 2:09 pm Posted by combsy1992 (3 messages posted) Thanks to all who responded to my plea for help. I have a Hp cd-writer 8200e series but it will not work either :( My system is a Microsoft Windows 98 Special Edition 4.10.2222A Computer is an AuthenticAMD AMD Anthlon Processor 208.0 MB RAM. There is NO working USB controller showing in the Device Manager that I can find searching for those specific words. I am so stuck now I am worried about what will happen to my Reborn website and pictures I have uploaded there. We live in a pretty small town and when my sister took her pc to the local shop....it came home as an empty shell the hard drive was gone and the shop tried telling her she was crazy so I tend to be weary of going to someone I do not know personally , the guy who did previos work was my husband's co-worker. Anyway thanks to all who tried to help. Kim :-) On Friday, January 4, 2008 at 7:45 pm, combsy1992 wrote: >I have Windows 98 and have tons of pictures saved here. I am trying to save the pictures. >I am having lots of problems with my pc and we are about to upgrade to Windows XP >and give to our teenagers and purchase a new computer for huibby and I. We went to >Office Max and they sold us a Seagate FreeAgent USB 2.0 320 Gigabytes external hardrive >and a Store 'n' Go USB Drive 2 GB Go......neither works. I am desperate to save the >photos as I have been taking pictures of my brother's fosterchild since birth and >he recently became my new nephew. I have other pictures and some of a child who passed >away...... all pictures that cannot be replaced should my computer crash or we lose >when we upgrade. We are not to smart about computers and the man who helped us several >weeks ago...... has caused other issues such as pages not opening and not being able >to read our mail or drop downs not working as well as not being able toplay any online >games so i am not comfortable with letting him take our computer again. I just need >some help desperately with saving these pictures to another drive. [Reply or follow-up to this message] USB device doesn't show in Device Manager & pics on website Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 5:01 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) |My system is a Microsoft Windows 98 Special Edition | combsy1992 (Kim) | Mine is special too--but *it* is called Second Edition. 8-) |There is NO working USB controller showing in the Device Manager | A pretty good indicator that one needs to be installed. |that I can find searching for those specific words. | "Universal Serial Bus controllers"--alphabetically last on the list. What "mounted" means in the hardware sense (not what UNIX refers to as "mounted"): physically bolted into the computer's chassis and connected with the proper cabling. This is seperate and distinct from... What "installed" means (in the computer world--to include Windoze): A DEVICE DRIVER (a small bit of software) has been loaded as an adapto-kit between the hardware and the operating system. *These* are what show up in Device Manager--not hardware. When the hardware is physically connected to the system and the OS doesn't find a driver for it (or every time you boot with the device connected without a valid driver), the OS should bitch about that. Some USB hardware requires that the device driver be installed *first*. Read the paperwork that came with yours. |I am so stuck now I am worried about what will happen to my Reborn website |and pictures I have uploaded there. | It is unlikely that the website is on your computer. It is likely on a "server" which is at the location of your site's "host". As long as you pay your hosting bills, everything should be fine. If this is on your ISP's site, in the X megabytes of space that they have allotted to your account, just continue to pay them. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: need help desperately with saving PICTURES!! Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 6:09 pm Posted by Steve (23811 messages posted) If you know someone with a working CD Burner, then download one of the Linux Live CD's like Puppy Linux, only 70 megs. Burn the ISO File to a CDR, and then boot to the Puppy CD on your Computer. It will have probably have all the Drivers to use your usb devices. You insert your USB drive after Puppy has booted, first Mount the USB Drive, and then mount the Windows Drive, and navigate to the Picture Folder, then drag the Picture files to the USB Drive. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: USB device doesn't show in Device Manager & pics on website Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 7:41 pm Posted by combsy1992 (3 messages posted) Duh..... this is a Windows 98SE Second Edition too... Last device listed is Universal Serial Bus Controller with two drop downs labeled AMD 756 PCI to USB Open Host Controller & USB Root Hub......double duh.... I am not to computer savvy as I am positive you can tell :) I did contact my web designer who built and set up my site and she has assured me all will be well there too so thanks for your info also. Gateway has advised us that if we cannot save that they will help us to clear out and upgrade to a different Windows I am leaning that way but I am so sad to lose my pictures. I have thought about just keeping this one as it is but we have so many problems and the pictures do me no good just stuck on computer. The FreeAgent external drive comes with a small foldout page that consists of p1) This won't take long, p2) Take out your FreeAgent desktop drive and cords out of the package 0:39, p3)Plug in the power crd 0:59, p4)Plug in the USB cable.1:11, p5) A few seconds after your FreeAgent desktop drive lights up, you're ready to go. 1:36, p6) Please Enjoy ..... LOL...:-) and two days of trying and finding no phone number for support has rendered this pretty much useless for me :-( Thanks for helping me. Kim On Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 5:01 pm, gewg_ wrote: >|My system is a Microsoft Windows 98 Special Edition >| combsy1992 (Kim) >| >Mine is special too--but *it* is called Second Edition. 8-) > >|There is NO working USB controller showing in the Device Manager >| >A pretty good indicator that one needs to be installed. > >|that I can find searching for those specific words. >| >"Universal Serial Bus controllers"--alphabetically last on the list. > > What "mounted" means in the hardware sense > (not what UNIX refers to as "mounted"): >physically bolted into the computer's chassis >and connected with the proper cabling. > >This is seperate and distinct from... > > What "installed" means (in the computer world--to include Windoze): >A DEVICE DRIVER (a small bit of software) has been loaded >as an adapto-kit between the hardware and the operating system. >*These* are what show up in Device Manager--not hardware. > >When the hardware is physically connected to the system >and the OS doesn't find a driver for it >(or every time you boot with the device connected without a valid driver), >the OS should bitch about that. >Some USB hardware requires that the device driver be installed *first*. >Read the paperwork that came with yours. > > >|I am so stuck now I am worried about what will happen to my Reborn website >|and pictures I have uploaded there. >| >It is unlikely that the website is on your computer. >It is likely on a "server" which is at the location of your site's "host". >As long as you pay your hosting bills, everything should be fine. > >If this is on your ISP's site, in the X megabytes of space >that they have allotted to your account, just continue to pay them. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: USB device doesn't show in Device Manager & pics on website Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 10:45 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) |[...]Gateway has advised us that if we cannot save that | combsy1992 | From what I am hearing, I don't think much more of Gateway than I thought of the previous guy who messed with your system. Getting files off a drive should be duck soup for Gateway. If they are going to touch your computer, INSIST that they do NOTHING until those files are backed up. |they will help us to clear out | The lazy tech's way is to wipe the drive and start fresh --and to hell with YOUR data. See INSIST (above). |and upgrade to a different Windows | I don't know how old your system is, but I'm thinking that you (and Gateway) are going to try to make a barely-passable bogged-down system out of something that could easily be restored to original specs. I used a 1939 Volkswagen analogy previously. |I am leaning that way but I am so sad to lose my pictures. | The items in your latest post (which weren't meant directly for me) were all covered by C K earlier in this thread. I suggest you go back and read that. |The FreeAgent external drive comes with a small foldout page that... | It doesn't sound like before you gave the cashier your money for the drive you read the side of the box. We are seeing this sort of thing all the time these days: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/1175704328 This is yet another aspect of the 1939 Volkswagen thing again. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: USB device doesn't show in Device Manager & pics on website Sunday, January 6, 2008 at 5:24 am Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) I agree with gewg's comments regarding Gateway's tech support people. I have three old Gateway boxes and while I have no complaints about the quality of their hardware their tech support staff are the laziest most uninformed group of tech support people I have ever dealt with. The solution they recommend to problems is the one that is the most convenient to THEM. Fortunately I haven't had to deal with them for years. Having said that, Gateway along with many other computer suppliers outsource their tech support to companies which specialize in that business. So when you said you talked to Gateway you didn't really talk to Gateway. Don't let them talk you into wiping your hard drive clean until you have those pictures saved!! One thing that has been overlooked with the problem at hand is that Seagate FreeAgent isn't designed to run on Windows 98 98SE or ME. It states quite plainly in their data sheet that it requires Win 2000 or XP and that the drive ships preformatted in NTFS which Win 98 98SE or ME cannot read. http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_fa_desktop_us.pdf The salesperson who recommended FreeAgent to you for your Win 98 machine deserves a smack on the head. It would be nice if we knew more about your computer like how old it is, the chipset on the motherboard, how many hard drives the case has room for etc. There is more than one way to save your pictures but since you already said you wanted to upgrade to Windows XP if I were in your shoes I would remove the old hard drive with the pictures on it and replace it with a new one and do a clean install of XP on the new drive. Then I would install the old drive as a slave so you can copy your pictures to the new drive and to FreeAgent. If your hubby can change a sparkplug or battery in a car he can install a hard drive. There are a couple of things to keep in mind: The odds are that your old motherboard cannot recognize more than 127 Gigabytes of hard drive space (and perhaps less) so there is no point in getting one too big. For example, you could install a 160 Gig drive but your motherboard won't be able to see more than 127 Gig of it, the other 33 Gig would go unused. 120 Gig is the largest I would install. (Don't worry about the computer being able to see all 320 Gig of the FreeAgent drive. A drive connected by USB uses a different system than one connected directly to the motherboard by IDE cable.) When setting up Master and Slave drives pay particular attention to the jumper settings on the drives. The settings for master and slave are different for each brand. [Reply or follow-up to this message] Copying off pictures from a hard drive; "upgrading" a box to XP Sunday, January 6, 2008 at 10:31 am Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) |[...]The solution [Gateway will] recommend to problems |is the one that is the most convenient to THEM[...] |Having said that, Gateway along with many other computer suppliers |outsource their tech support to companies which specialize in that business. |[. . .] |The salesperson who recommended FreeAgent to you for your Win 98 machine |deserves a smack on the head. | Arminius | These days I just shake my head at the mess my species has made of the way things are done on this planet (...and I start with Micro$oft). |There is more than one way to save your pictures |but since you already said you wanted to upgrade to Windows XP[,] |if I were in your shoes I would remove the old hard drive with the pictures on it |and replace it with a new one and do a clean install of XP on the new drive. | Not a terrible idea--and something C K didn't address directly. It does, however, fail to include an admonition about the all-important Is-Your-Hardware-$talwart-Enough-To-Run-XP (compatibility) check as previously mentioned by C K. ...not to mention the Are-Device-Drivers-Even-Available-For-This-Hardware aspect. There's nothing worse than paying M$ for something you can't use anyway. |Then I would install the old drive as a slave |so you can copy your pictures to the new drive and to FreeAgent. | This *may* turn out to be the least painful solution. Once you remove the $$ factor (what with Linux being FREE software --both gratis and libre), it rivals Steve's **bootable Linux CD** notion. Alternately, if the OP's hardware is going to run like a snail under XP (or not at all), she could put W98 on that new drive and proceed as stated. She would end up with an old drive (of somewhat questionable reliability) as extra disk space. To the OP: Take this experience as a warning from your preferred deity or philosophical concept. Establish a **PERIODIC** backup regimen and start maintaining backups. You have evidence of what heartaches result from NOT doing this. Do NOT rely on a single copy; DO locate a copy remotely (as I already advised); and especially do NOT make that "backup" copy the slave hard drive located in the same box as your boot drive (a "mirror" is NOT a backup). See also "questionable reliability" (above). |The odds are that your old motherboard cannot recognize |more than 127 Gigabytes of hard drive space (and perhaps less) | A bit more related stuff: cache of http://www.hexff.com/w98_hd.php Boiled down, it says *If you can avoid it, don't use Micro$oft's crappy utilities; use the ones the hardware vendor supplies.* [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows 98 Discussion Forum