Problem with Backing Up / Cd-Writer /Transferring from Xp to Windows 98?

KatCookie

The father has Alot of files and such, which all needs to be backed up badly! It hasnt been done in years (and i think it would kill him if he lost it!!)

Spec: Hp Laptop, Pavilion zv5000 working on Windows Xp, Service pack 2

The Actual Problem: the CD drive is not writing to disks
So a couple of days ago i tried to back up his files to a a blank CD. but it didnt work, Nero said that the CD had been burned successfully. but it was still blank.. (The second time i tried to burn to the disk, i ticked the box to verify that it copied, and then it told me that the CD had NOT been burned to)
Cause: about a year ago the Laptop broke and it was fixed by a cousin, i think he wiped the Hard drive and re-installed everything, and put back on all our files
Ever since then, there has been a small few things that hasnt worked properly(eg theres a missing Task Panes), and we have now realised that one of these things that arent woriking is the Writer part of the CD Drive.. (it reads and burns from disks perfectly though.)

Possible Solutions:
i could do one of these things:
A) try to fix the Writer
Transfer all of My Documents to our ancient Windows 98 and use the good Writer on that (installed in around 2001/02 ish and is the second Cd drive on that i.e two places to put Cd/DVD's into)
C) Buy an external Hard Drive

A) can i find the software that goes with the Writer part of the Disk Drive. is it hard to do?
would it work correctly as the files on the Laptop are mostly in Word 2000 format and the 98 works on older version of the software?
C) It would take a long time for him to spend the €100+ on an external Hard Drive

At this stage this Laptop is getting old, -battery is broken, doesnt hold charge so its constantly plugged in, also has broken hinge- cant be fixed.
It WOULD pay for my dad to buy an external hard drive, but he doesnt really think about that, i could back up his files onto about 3 RW Cd's and he would be happy

at this stage he is working hard on very important things anbd i honestly think it would give him a heart attack if he had to go through the stress of losing any of his work!

Any suggestions?

MunsterCycling

If the data is valuable then how much is it worth to him? Buy a HD and get that data off the laptop before it collapses.

MC

Ghost Train

with xp you shouldnt really need any extra driver for cd burning, should be picked up automatically

you could try burn with
http://cdburnerxp.se/

but laptop cd drives are not the best and often give trouble(even if they still read), so might just be the drive

external hard drive or external dvd writer probably the easiest solution or even a cheap usb memory key if theres not much data

Capt'n Midnight

a simple way would be to buy a USB key that has windows 98 drivers - check the website of the key
check if you have 98 or 98 SE - second edition , as they are different for USB,

KatCookie

well i know that the Computer has automatically downloaded a driver for one of the keys that are lying around here..
and the Xp downloaded the driver also, so thats not a problem.

if i moved the files onto the Win 98 computer, would it be possible that the data would have changed? because we are using a Microsoft Office Home Edition package(ie Powerpoint, Word etc) , that isnt standard on Xp and isnt used on the windows 98 computer
Because i know that if you tried to put a file that is using one version of Microsoft Office, and make it run on an older version, it will change slightly-these differences would change the data..
if it isnt changing the data..i could just put them onto a CD quite easily.. right?

or am i just wrecking everyones heads?

Ghost Train

if you just copy the file to the old pc and burn them then that would be fine. office only changes the files if you open them, alter them and then resave them

Col_Loki

If you are just copying the data to the computer it will not effect the data at all. It doesnt check to see if the files are in a different version of word etc...it just thinks of it as general data.

Why not invest in a 4GB USB Key? Great to transfer over the info, comes in very handy after that and it only costs ~€20 ... http://www.memoryc.com/usb/flashdrives.html?Capacity=4Gb

KatCookie

Thanks for all your info, moved the files with the help of 2 memoery keys, am about to starts burning now,
Today the father tells me that he would like to be able to update all his back up files about once a fortnight. im gonna tell him where to go! ... where to go to buy a hard drive, that is..

KatCookie

Just a little update, The Windows 98 computer deosnt do anything when you put the memory stick into it, it recognises it and all but when you try copy and paste or drag files from the memory stick, it doesnt work!
so since all that failed (and it would have taken me several trips with the 3 memory sticks we have) i've decided to find a cheap Hard Drive or one of those giant memory sticks..
thanks for your help!