old hard drive compatibility problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ben
  • Start date Start date
B

Ben

I've recently acquired a new machine with windows xp, and
it has a wd 7200rpm 80GB hard drive. I've added my older
5200rpm hard drive and I can access most of my old
files/folders on this drive without any problem.

However, some folders are not accessible at all. In
particular Program Files. Windows 98 is still installed
on the older drive, but I can't understand why I can't
read some folders (unless they are specifically created
by win98 which i think program files is). Both hard
drives are formatted to fat32.

Some of the folders come up as unrecognisable folders
e.g., POR~1 and when I click on it it says "...is not
accessible, the file name, directory name, or volume
label syntax is incorrect".

Any ideas? The only solution I can think of is to network
the two computers so I can access the older files that
way. Is there a quicker solution that anybody knows off
being as the hard drive is already installed in my new
machine?

Thanks in advance

Ben
 
-----Original Message-----
Hi, Ben.

Nothing that you've told us should produce the problem you are describing.

Are you saying that you can still read these folders and files from your old
computer? Then you should be able to read them from your new machine, too.
If the old machine can read them and send them over the network, then you
should not need the network. (I've never had a network or learned anything
about them, so maybe there is some magic here, but I don't think so.)

If the ONLY problem is in the unreadable filenames, then you should be able
to determine the valid 8.3 filenames by simply opening a "DOS" window and
using the good old Dir command with the /x switch to show the SFNs in a
column before the LFNs. Then use the SFNs to copy or delete or otherwise
access the folders and files. Chances are, though, if something has messed
up the filenames, it also messed up the rest of the directory entry, which
shows where the file starts on the hard drive, how many bytes are in the
file, etc.; without this information, you can't access the file even if you
know its name. :>(

The Program Files folder contains primarily the executable files and other
components of the various applications installed on your computer.
Applications can reside in other folders, and other kinds of files can be in
the PF folder; the only thing special about it is that Windows installs them
there, by default, if you don't specify another folder. Win9x/ME and WinXP
behave the same way in this regard, so moving your old HD into your new
computer should not have made any changes in the PF folder. When you
install a program under Windows, it writes many special settings into the
Registry of whichever version of Windows is running at the time; the setup
program makes different entries in the Win98 Registry than in the WinXP
Registry, but these Registries are not in the PF folders.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP

I've recently acquired a new machine with windows xp, and
it has a wd 7200rpm 80GB hard drive. I've added my older
5200rpm hard drive and I can access most of my old
files/folders on this drive without any problem.

However, some folders are not accessible at all. In
particular Program Files. Windows 98 is still installed
on the older drive, but I can't understand why I can't
read some folders (unless they are specifically created
by win98 which i think program files is). Both hard
drives are formatted to fat32.

Some of the folders come up as unrecognisable folders
e.g., POR~1 and when I click on it it says "...is not
accessible, the file name, directory name, or volume
label syntax is incorrect".

Any ideas? The only solution I can think of is to network
the two computers so I can access the older files that
way. Is there a quicker solution that anybody knows off
being as the hard drive is already installed in my new
machine?

Thanks in advance

Ben


.
I may have missed it but, did you try the FILES TRANSFER
Click to expand...
WIZARD in XP to bring the folders over to XP first? Unless
you are planing to run a DUAL BOOT SYSTEM I think having
98 and XP running together will cause problems. On M.S. I
have read so many things about this and that are not inter-
changable between XP and 98 or 95 for that matter. M.S.
does say that you can transfer all of you old files into
XP although XP must convert them or keep special settings
just for those files. Last but not least, these unreadable
files can be caused by the degredation of the IDE
instructions on the old drive. Very possible. I had a 2-
month old MAXTOR-80Gig harddrive to go belly up on me but,
not not before corrupting many files in the process.
 
Back
Top