The 40 MB (that's Megabytes, not Gigabytes) HD in the Epson Equity II+ probably had an ST506 or ST412 interface -- almost certainly not an IDE interface -- which means that it will not work in any external drive enclosure you can buy today. Any of the proposals for using a serial or parallel transport protocol won't work unless you have some way of getting the software onto the system in the first place, which means having either communications software already installed on the HD (and knowing how to use it), or having a working floppy drive, in which case there isn't much of a problem in the first place. I used to have Laplink-like program, the name of which now escapes me, that could install itself from a remote computer over a null-modem or reverse parallel cable (it worked with Laplink cables) but that would require having a second computer running MS-DOS to start up from. It might be worth finding out if the Epson can even boot from the HD in the first place. If not, the HD may be dead. The only way to find out would be to boot from a floppy and see if one could read from the HD. If the answer is yes, then the data may be retrievable. If not, the only option would be a drive recovery firm with the ability to access older disks. Ontrack might be able to do it, but it would cost a fortune. Jan Werner ________________ Greg Major wrote: > ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee. > ** You too can help the group > ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area. > ** If you did, we all thank you. > > > Don't make it so complicated. Get an external drive enclosure from > Staples (approx. $30.00) and put your old hard disk in it. Then it will > plug into any machine through the usb port and you will be able to > access all of the files on the hard disk. Just make sure you get the > right size enclosure. > > B. Kimo Lee wrote: >> ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee. >> ** You too can help the group >> ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area. >> ** If you did, we all thank you. >> >> >> Hi all, >> >> Steven Solomon's "pack-rat" post inspired me to move on this legacy >> issue. >> I have an ancient Espon Equity II+ (MS-DOS) on which are some original >> songs my ex wrote years ago. No, she doesn't have hard-copy printouts. >> Yes, it has parallel ports!! >> Thought I'd see if anybody has some thoughts on how to transfer the >> files onto an external drive of some sort? >> Is this even possible? I'm really curious if some of you ultra-geeks >> can recommend something. I'd like to recycle that thing and get it out >> of my basement once and for all. lol! >> >> Thanks, >> Kimo >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net >> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net >> >> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion >> list. >> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members >> page on the Hidden Tech Web site. >> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members >> > _______________________________________________ > Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net > Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net > > You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list. > If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members > page on the Hidden Tech Web site. > http://www.hidden-tech.net/members > >