[Hidden-tech] More packrat stuff... files off an ms-dos system?

[B. Kimo Lee]

Hi Jan and Greg,

I ran the thing a couple of years ago and it booted up fine. I'm going  
to get it out and start it up again just to make sure.
Hah! I bet I'm going to have to take photos of the screens and  
transcribe the stuff. Interesting problem though, huh?
I think the floppy drive might be the answer. I might have one of the  
old Double Density disks in a box. And I have a USB SmartDisk floppy  
drive. Do you think it will read the old DD disk? Though, there must  
have been a reason why I didn't try that before. Oh, I remember, it  
has a 5.25" floppy drive. The real "floppy" disc.

My how computers have evolved. Yes, I think the hard drive is only  
30mb. With 10k of memory!
If I remember correctly, the files are Wordperfect files. Since it's  
MS-DOS, does that mean they are already ascii text?
It'll be a stroll down memory lane to turn that thing on... from NYC  
to Hawai'i and back.

Thanks,
Kimo




On Jun 10, 2008, at 12:33 PM, Jan Werner wrote:

> 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
>>>
>>>