Hello everyone,

My problem is that I have a series of 5 disquettes made by Win 3.1 MSBack-up from a "deceased" hard disk. I'm trying to recover the files so that I can install them on a new computer running on Win98.

I have access to computers running Win98, Win95, Win 3.11 for Workgroups and DOS 6.22.

I tried to recover the files but Win 3.11 failed to recognize them as a usable back-up file. It said that they were made by a Previous OS like 6.22 or 6.2. So I tried to recover them using the DOS 6.22 Restore command to still no avail. Message was that there was no back-up file on the source disquette.

So what are my options now ? Any opinions ?

Thanks for your help which is greatly appreciated !

Roger

Hi Roger:
The backup you made on old PC is really a DOS backup, & depending on what version of DOS, the MSBACKUPs are different for each version.
I think the main problem you have is that your Win 98 is FAT32 & older DOS uses FAT16.
If you know someone with a Win 95 using FAT16, then you might be able to copy just the MSBACKUP files from someone with that version DOS. Create a new directory in Win 95 machine to copy MSBACK files, then run backup in DOS to try to recover data. Once in Win 95 try linking PCs to transfer data, or if Win 98 can recognize Win 95 backup, that might work. The only way I can think for to cross over to different OSs is to use a tape backup device that can be installed to Win 3.1, 95 & 98 for future backups. But you need to use the same company tape backup, because other companies can use a different backup recognizing software, not compatable. I use an old HP T1000 & T3000 which can be read in DOS Win 3.1 & Win 95, but not sure about 98.
If you need MSBACKUP files for DOS 6.22 send me an e-mail, & I'll make a zip file with these backup file to attach to e-mail.

Hope this helps, good luck.
Z

Hello Z,

Thanks for answering to my call for help. The problem that I have is that even though I have access to a PC using DOS 6.22, the OS still doesn't wan't to recognize the Back-up files either with MSBACK-UP or RESTORE in the DOS directory. I even tried to copy them from the disquettes to my hard disk to no avail. So, I'm at a loss to know what to do next.

Is there a so big difference between Win 3.1 and Win 3.11 so that it would not recognize the back-up ? It's possible...

Is there an application that would retreive the data from the back-up disquettes other than the original software ?

Roger

I recently moved mwbackup which is the symtec windows backup I use on my windows 3.1 onto a computer using windows 95 in 32 bit. To solve the installation problem I had to make sure the vintd.386 file was installed correctlly in the config.sys and all the .dll files were available. You should probablly make sure your catalouge numbers are available to your backup program. It seemed to work fine on my system.