Backing up an Old 286

steviec · 01-06-2005 3:19pm #1

The job have just asked me if I'd be able to do this. Its an old HP Vectra 286 running DOS. I haven't seen it yet so don't know any other details but I'm told it doesn't have a network adaptor or anything. I'm thinking the best approach would probably to remove the hard drive, hook it up to a new machine, and copy everything across. But I know nothing about computers of this age. Would the HD be IDE? Any other suggestions? It probably has a serial port but I wouldn't know where to start linking a Windows machine to a DOS machine that way...

mp3guy · 01-06-2005 3:23pm

yeah, if its not IDE anyway, you probably get an adapter.

astrofool · 01-06-2005 3:24pm

how big is the drive? Surely a few floppies would do?

steviec · 01-06-2005 3:30pm

astrofool wrote:

how big is the drive? Surely a few floppies would do?

I have no idea... I think around 50 megs or more is typical of a 286 so thats a lot of floppies!

mp3guy · 01-06-2005 3:31pm

find out what you have to back up. I don't think winzip will even work on a 286, so find out what kind of drive.

steviec · 01-06-2005 3:32pm

Yea I'll be finding out all the details tomorrow anyway and look into what I can do. Just thought I'd ask around first so I can go in prepared

SouperComputer · 01-06-2005 3:36pm

its more than likely a ESDI or maybe even a RLL drive. Of course, it could have been upgraded (or a later 286 model) and it may have a later IDE type of drive. Some later ESDI models came with an IDE interface. Bit like the way we see PATA drives with SATA boards today. These usualyy lurk in the 200-700mb range though.

winzip will work on a 286, should you need it.

maybe try to get your hands on an ISA network or SCSI card?

[edit] seial link could work too. Although slow, at least its unattended, unlike using 50 feckin floppies! [/edit]

stevenmu · 01-06-2005 3:45pm

Winzip probably won't work on a DOS, machine, you should be able to find pkzip somewhere around the net to download. Depending on the type of data, it could zip it down to only a couple of floppies worth.

SouperComputer · 01-06-2005 3:48pm

stevenmu wrote:

Winzip probably won't work on a DOS, machine, you should be able to find pkzip somewhere around the net to download. Depending on the type of data, it could zip it down to only a couple of floppies worth.

lol, yea, winzip wont work. Ahhh the days of pkzip! DOS usually came with a backup util as well.

Capt'n Midnight is very good with legacy stuff. im sure he'd have a trick or tw up his sleeve.

steviec · 01-06-2005 3:51pm

Yea I'll look into how much data there is and what I can do with it tomorrow.

If I were to link up by the Serial port how would that work? I'd have no idea how to deal with networking in DOS. Would there be any simple way to link them up and just get the files on the 286 to show up in Explorer on the Windows machine?

stevenmu · 01-06-2005 3:55pm

You'd need software running on both machines to handle it, I think older versions of PC Anywhere used to this, not sure what's available at the moment.

BrianD3 · 01-06-2005 3:57pm

I backed up stuff from a 286 and a 386 to a Windows 98 P2 machine a few years ago. I used a laplink cable (parallel port connection) and a DOS program called interlnk/intersvr. I am not a techo head but even I found it very easy

Wez · 01-06-2005 4:01pm

Yeh, I was gonna say you might wanna try pkzip instead of Winzip.. I think this is it, kinda hard to find tho..

http://www.census.gov/population/software/pkz204g.exe

Spocker · 01-06-2005 4:23pm

mp3guy wrote:

find out what you have to back up. I don't think winzip will even work on a 286, so find out what kind of drive.

PKZIP (the original DOS based verision) will work though. I have a copy of it floating around somewhere, let me know if you want it an I can mail it to you

Spocker · 01-06-2005 4:31pm

Wez wrote:

Yeh, I was gonna say you might wanna try pkzip instead of Winzip.. I think this is it, kinda hard to find tho..

http://www.census.gov/population/software/pkz204g.exe

Sorry Wez, didn't see your post before me

Khannie · 01-06-2005 4:48pm

Average compression is usually around 50% with pkzip. That's still a lot of floppys (though it will conveniently split into 1.44MB file sizes for you, and you could do it one at a time (though you will need to recopy the final one methinks)).

The hdd will probably be IDE, but you will need to make absolutely sure that DMA is turned off. A 286 HDD is likely to puke at the idea of DMA. Possibly unrecoverably so.

Capt'n Midnight · 01-06-2005 4:53pm

First make a boot disk for the PC.
Format A: /S (make sure it's A: you are formatting !)

CHKSDK to see the size of the data to be backed up - will also count the hidden files - there are two in C:\ (3 or 4 if Dos 6)
don't forget to DIR

- in case there is a second partition as there was a 32MB limit on very old machines.

Which version of DOS ?
If it is 3.3 or earlier there well be some strange HP backup utility there too.

There is a Backup program for DOS - but PKZIP/PKUNZIP would be better and will do hidden files etc.

Other options INTERLNK boot disk and serial cable - painfully slow but you only have to do once. - I've the sytax on a boot disk somewhere

Parallel Port Zip drive will take 100MB and will run off a boot floppy too.

MFM/RLL drives have thier own controller and TWO DATA cables instead of one like on an IDE drive - if so don't touch.

If Dos 6 is installed MSD can be used to look for the BIOS on a RLL/MFM card - usually around c800 - but can vary in weird systems.

Another way to check for RLL/MFM is
DEBUG
D c800:0
D
Q
sometimes it lists the manufacturers name there - best to avoid DEBUG if at all possible as there is a utility there to low level wipe those drives :eek:

kasintahan · 01-06-2005 5:14pm

Most 286's I've seen in Ireland were later units and used IDE interfaces.

If it's IDE whip out the drive (carefully) and do it that way. You may need to manually setup the drive in the BIOS (land zones etc) - just copy them from the donor pc.

If it's an older type then it's going to be very low capacity (I have a 20MB here beside me) - use floppys in that case (they really aren't that slow).

Shane O' Malley · 01-06-2005 8:13pm

An earlier post mentioned Laplink.

Used to use that myself. I found a site for Laplink for dos

http://www.laplink.com/products/llv/overview.asp

but i am sure there are old copies on the web somewhere which you may not need to pay for. It is fairly simple to use and will allow you to connect a laptop to the 286.

You will need a crossover serial or parrell cable which you can get from Maplins or places like that.

Anyway good luck.

Ahh the good old days

Backing up an Old 286

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