Member Avatar for freeboard

I have 98SE on one computer, WinXP Pro on another. I want to Backup the 98 onto the XP machine, Then perhaps vice versa. I have a crossover cable and network cards in each machine.

What are my best options?

Up next is a second HD for the XP machine. I have the HD on hand. Can I partition it in a particular way to facilitate the backup?

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Two practical approaches will solve ’s scenario: (A) attach the 98SE drive directly to the XP machine and copy or image it locally, or (B) copy/image over the crossover link. correctly noted both are possible; below are concrete steps, partition guidance, and troubleshooting details that were not covered yet.

Attach-the-drive (fastest, simplest)

  • Power both machines down, unplug, move the 98 drive into the XP box on the secondary IDE channel (set jumpers to slave/cable select if required).
  • Boot XP; do NOT initialize or format the disk if prompted. The FAT32 volume will appear as another drive letter and files can be copied with Explorer or imaged with a sector copier.
  • Advantages: no network drivers, faster. Cautions: watch jumpers and power connectors; make a copy before any partitioning.

Network method (useful if you prefer not to open cases)

  • Assign static IPs on both NICs (example: XP = 192.168.0.1, 98 = 192.168.0.2, mask 255.255.255.0). Ensure link lights show activity and ping works.
  • On XP, create an NTFS folder for backups and share it; set permissions to allow write access from the 98 machine or create a matching user account. Temporarily allow File and Printer Sharing through XP’s firewall.
  • From 98 map the share (example command):
    net use Z: \\192.168.0.1\BACKUPS /user:BackupUser BackupPass
  • Copy files or images to that share. Note: FAT32 single-file limit is 4GB−1 byte—use NTFS on the target if images may exceed that.

Full-disk imaging

  • Boot the 98 machine from a live-CD/USB imaging tool (Clonezilla or a Linux rescue disk), save a disk image to the XP share (Samba) or the attached backup partition. Make sure the imaging option includes the MBR/boot sector if a full restore is desired.

Partitioning on the XP host

  • Create a dedicated NTFS partition sized at least as large as the 98 disk for images. If the backup must also be read directly by 98 later, add a small FAT32 partition for that purpose.

Troubleshooting quick checks: NIC link lights, correct static IPs, ping both ways, ensure 98 has TCP/IP client installed, and temporarily disable XP firewall to confirm sharing works. If restoring to different hardware, expect driver and HAL issues; a clean reinstall is often simpler.

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Member Avatar for alc6379

In your situation, I'd just back up the files you know you want to save to the network share, and leave it that. You're going to have trouble backing up the whole OS, unless you wanted to boot to DOS, get the appropriate NIC driver loaded, map the network share to a drive letter, and then use Ghost to dump an image of the entire 98 drive over.

Member Avatar for Catweazle

I'm not understanding your question here. Are you asking how to use the network feature to copy files from one machine to another? Alternatively, are you asking how to back up the whole system onto a different machine, so that it can be loaded back in working order later?

Both can be done.

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