3" disk burn to CD??

R

railroy19

New member
Hi

I would like to ask the computer experts a question.
I have a program for making up switchlist for my layout downstairs,and it's on those old 3" disk so I can't load it in this computer.
I have a laptop that I have this program loaded in.
Is it possible that I can burn this program to a cd on the laptop so I can use it on this computer??

Thanks for your help.
Bob
 
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I dont think so I know what you can do is yank out that hard drive:hehe: and put it in the new computer and put the drive from the other computer into the laptop thats the quick and for sure way to get it to work
 
Can you network the two computers together? If so, then simply 'share' the floppy drive on one computer and use the other computer to access the floppies and store their contents on the hard drive of your second computer.

I'm assuming your computer with the floppy drives doesn't have a CD burner.

EDIT: Or did you mean a 3.5" Hard Drive?

Bill
 
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I'd get that program off that disk while you can. If it fits on a floppy, it's small enough that you can email it to yourself.

Otherwise, burning to a CD is probably the easiest solution to move the program to a newer machine unless the old machine has an ethernet port.
 
Great ideas.
I did not even think about e-mailing myself the files.
And I'm pretty sure I have a rewrite drive in the laptop it's not that old it's a dell and it has a cd drive and an external drive that uses the 3" disk.
I thought I would lose all the files I had in the laptop.

I'm going to try some of these ideas and see if I can figure it out.
What is simple for you guys is rocket science to this old guy:)

Thanks,
Bob
 
Why not try copying the files to a flashcard inserted to the USB port on your laptop and then transfer them to your other computer.
 
No it's not a floppy it's a hard disk.
I thought I could burn the file to a cd but the laptop is not recognizing my disk drive for some reason. The disk drive works ok I tried an audio cd and it worked.
I can't connect to the internet for some reason or I would e-mail myself and return the e-mail with the folder attached.
This laptop has me trapped:D
It won't give up the file.
Dammed computer!!
 
I also tried to use one of those flashcards but this laptop wont even work with that. It just won't cooperate.

It has a demon inside of it:'(
 
Thanks Bill

This looks like the answer to my problem. I can give this a try. All I have to do is remove the hard drive in the computer hook it up to this and plug this device into the usb port on my new puter and it will recognize it?
That would be great.

Thanks again.
Bob
 
Yep. Be sure to follow directions on hooking it up. For the 3.5" drives I don't think you need the external power supply unless the HD is a SATA drive. This device works with everything you're likely to have lying around the house.

I have a pile of old drives ranging from 500Mb to 100Gb that I use for storage of various bits of software I've developed. That way they don't get mixed up.

You can also install software on one of the spare drives and it won't take up any room on your inside HD (other than Registry entries). That way, to run your software, just plug in the right disk and away you go. I have a geo-mapping suite that takes up 25Gb. I just used a 100G drive and installed away. If you try to run the software you just get a "Windows can't find this program" warning which tells you you need to plug in the right drive.

Bill
 
I would buy a newer version of this program but I would have to input all the information about my layout and industries and all my rolling stock with their identification numbers and products. As I recall it took me weeks to enter all that information. The program is called Ship-It by rail.
I can print up switchlist for running my railroad and keep track of all my rolling stock and engines. It really is a lot of information.
So this new item looks like the way to go for me.

Thanks Bill
 
You might email the manufacturer of the program and ask if the new software will bring in files/data from your older version. If it does, and most of them do if they're reputable software houses (mine do). then all this exercise in drives is a moot point.

Bill
 
Bill
I have a seperate external drive that came with the computer to use the 3.5: disk in but I have no connection for the cable to plug into my new computer.
So this new device probably would work with this drive and I could put the disk in it and load it into my new computer.??
 
This device will work if you have a USB 1.5, 2.0, or 3.0 port free. If your external drive came with the computer, shouldn't it have a place to plug in? Look carefully at the back panel. It is quite possible that one of the ports you think is USB is actually an external SATA port.

Bill
 
Yes Bill

The cable has a connector like the one on a printer. Don't know what the name is but most of the older computers had them. I think it's a serial port?
No Matter it's worth a try just to save all the info I have in this laptop. Do the hard drives have a connector like that?
 
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A DB-25 port is a printer port OR a 25-pin serial port. There is a variation, a DB-9, that is also a serial port.

An external drive port would look similar to a USB port, but have a small convex triangle at one end. Sometimes this is called a Firewire port.

Hard drives (nowadays) are either E-IDE or SATA. Most modern, up to the minute, drives are SATA. An E-IDE plug for a 4.5" HD is square and contains 40 pins (20 to a side). The plug for a 3.5" drive is smaller, but similar to the E-IDE plug but has 44 pins. A SATA plug looks like a USB port but is skinnier and has a little "L"-shaped tab inside it for polarity.

It's a long shot, but I bet your external hard drive is something that used to connect to the serial port of very old computers and used for external back-up. Magnetic tape drives used to hook up that way also.

On the whole, I'd advise getting one of those Rosewill dongles, connect up your laptop drive temporarily, and copy everything you want over to your desktop computer. Then, put the drive back in your laptop.

Bill
 
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