Computer Stuff - Sort of boaty.......

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alec

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I have been given an old laptop that I intend using on the boat.

I would like to replicate everything that I have on my home PC ( windows98) and put it on the laptop. It has stuff like tide programs that would be nice to have on the boat. The laptop has next to nothing on it other than windows98.

Is this a job for a pro or could I have a go at it ?

Many Thanks,
 
You can buy software that will produce a complete replication of the software on your current laptop. Mine is called Drive Image Version 7.0. You will need a DVD drive if you have much software already. I assume that you could image your current drive and load the whole lot onto another laptop.
 
For a few quid (about 20) you can buy a memory stick that will fit into a USB port. It can be used to transfer most programs between computers as they think it's a disk. I have a small 256meg one, and have transferred CMap etc successfully ( CM93 in two sections) You can also keep favourite and personal goodies on it and use them on any computer you meet. Use it as a keyring.
 
The first thing that comes to mind is that there is more than likely a difference in Hard Disk capacity between your home PC and the Laptop. That will give obvious restrictions, so you would have to decide what programs you will want on the Laptop.

I had a similar problem, and decided to make my Laptop a 'Navigation' computer. So I just transferred Passage Planning and other navigation related Software (including Autoroute). I have some 'Open Office' software on it so that I can easily transfer selected documents from/to my home PC to the Laptop. Also I have some photographic software, but I have to be careful as pictures can fill the HD easily.

I don't use access to the internet on it as a I use a PDA which gives me the access I need, for weather forecasting etc. and e-mails via my mobile phone.

But IMO I wouldn't replicate everything, just decide what you want acces to on the boat.
 
IMHO this plot (driveimage) won't work in 90% of cases. You can install the backup image only on a technically (nearly) identical PC , and certainly not on a laptop.
 
Quite right. Drive Image picks up everything including operating system and hardware drivers. Excellent for disaster recovery, but not for transferring stuff between different computers unless you are very careful. I have version 5.0 and have restored individual files from an image CD but am not sure if I could do so to a different computer.
 
It can work - but you usually end up having to do an almost complete re-install - I've certainly done it between several different makes of Laptop and PCs ...
 
I bought a memory stick just the other day to move some documents over to another identical laptop before it went away for fixing, i had bought the stick 1gb for 19.99, but it needed to be reformatted for windows 98...it might be the way to go as it will be easy to load up and transfer...
 
Are you sure Mark, the second edition of Windows 95 included USB support, after that I think all the operating systems included USB support.

I don't recall having any problems when I was running 98.

I do stand to be corrected, but think it would be odd for miconsoft to remove function, in fact they love to make each new one phatter and phatter, I mean, 500 odd Mb now for a minimum OS install, absolutely nuts. My first DOS 2 I think came on 3 off 5 <span class="small">1/4</span> disks.
 
norton ghost will mirror two HD but it would require 2 identical machines, it is used more for building company computers were they buy say 30 identical machines.
 
USB support in later versions 95 was very basic, and very bad
USB support in 1st version 98 was dire
USB support in 98SE was merely crap

Don't forget, it was nothing like the MS OS support now, with plug and play capability, sys tray icons, and most importantly drivers built into the OS. Back at 98, you were dependent on manufacturers usb drivers.
 
Isnt there some software which will synchronise 2 PC's??

Yes. And free - I use MS's Synctoy which is free (is easily found by a straight google or a search on MS's internet site) and will synchronise whatever folders and/or files you want between 2 drives in the same computer or on another computer accessible over a network. There are others but I have not tried them SyncToy doing all I wanted - so I am not saying it is the best (and for the Linux and Apple teenage geeks I'll get in first, NO I DON'T WANT TO CHANGE to Linux or Apple /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif).

Was developed by MS as a freebee for backing up collections of photographs etc but obviously can be applied to any files. I use it to synchronise my notebook and main machine and all works fine. One needs to understand the manual very well to make sure one knows what one is doing when setting sync up. For example, some programs redate/change attributes of the file if they open and close them even though you do not edit anything - Outlook does this - that means if you sync two machines 1 & 2 and later edit a file on machine 1, then open that file on machine 2 (ie the older unedited file) but not edit it, then sync the machines, the file on machine 2 will overwrite one's more newly edited one on machine 1 so losing your latest version of the file.

So, with Outlook, for example, where one will often open it just to read existing emails, contacts, calendar, etc rather than edit anything, one has to be specially careful how one manages it ( I use discrete .pst files on each machine sync'ed onto both machines so can be opened as separate files, but can be managed other ways using the SyncToy options eg if all email comes in on one machine only then one can have the other machine just subscribing to the other for a copy of that file but not synching back).

But for the original poster one needs a network or else sync via a USB drive of sufficient capacity to swap between the machines (assuming USB capability). I am just assuming SyncToy will work with Win98 but does not cost anything to try.

One can also get USB file transfer cables with a black box type gubbins in them that transfer files between computers via a direct connection (Belkin do one, for example) but have never tried them.

John
 
Hi Ive have done this in the past.
You remove the hd from the laptop and put it in your desktop with an adapter cable available from maplin. http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=28724&criteria=2.5%20hard%20cable&doy=5m11
The use norton ghost to replicate your primary drive onto the laptop drive.
Replace the laptop drive and boot up. It will complain like hell about missing device drivers, make sure you have these available on cd or floppy. Eventually it will boot and hey presto. This wont work with any machine after win98.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi Ive have done this in the past.
You remove the hd from the laptop and put it in your desktop with an adapter cable available from maplin. http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=28724&criteria=2.5%20hard%20cable&doy=5m11
The use norton ghost to replicate your primary drive onto the laptop drive.
Replace the laptop drive and boot up. It will complain like hell about missing device drivers, make sure you have these available on cd or floppy. Eventually it will boot and hey presto. This wont work with any machine after win98.

[/ QUOTE ]DONT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE AN EXPERT, AND FROM YOUR QUESTION I ASSUME YOU ARE NOT.

I would say the simplest (**) would be to buy a portable hard drive, at least big enough (*), and copy all the stuff you want onto it. Then plug into your laptop, and copy it all onto there. Copy can include copy+delete (that is, copy the whole of a drive, then delete those parts which are OS on the old machine).

This will get DATA onto your laptop, but programs which ran on your old machine will just act as data, unless they are installed, which means having the installation disks, or a raw installable copy on the drive.

* These hard drives are getting bigger all the time, MByte/£ going up, so you can buy one big enough for your purposes, and with a bit of spare quite cheaply. Without checking, I would suggest one with a mains adapter, as I am not sure that USB under old Win9x will provide the power through USB.

** easiest, IMO, but not necessarily the cheapest. But you will have that portable drive handy forever.
 
ah but good old 98, unless it is SE doesnt like usb and in fact a lot of pooters with 98 on didnt have usb ports and any way it is a right royal pain in the butt to put drivers on etc. sorry to be a whatever but!!
stu
 
Hi Alec,

I am a computer consultant that ran my own computer repair shop for a couple of years.

I have read the many replies to your question with interest and couldn't help but posting to put you and the other posters straight on this matter.

Sure, there are many ways to copy stuff from one PC to another and several of the other posters have mentioned many of them... memory stick, CD, drive copy software etc etc.

There are a few important thing to remember when considering doing what you want to do and I will try to cover the main ones...

Firstly, drive copy software or backup software. These copy an entire disk including the Windows installation. It is intended as a backup in case your system breaks or as a way to upgrade your hard drive. One poster said that if you use this type of software then your laptop will complain about missing drivers etc and this is true. However, unless you have all the necessary drivers for your laptop on CD and know how to install them then this is really beyond a beginner.

As for memory sticks, CDs, DVDs, synchronising disks etc... none of these are likely to do what you want. Yes, they can be used to copy files, photos, music etc but programs are a different matter altogether. When you install a program on a Windows system it updates a thing called the registry and installs things called DLL or library files. The registry is unique to each PC and if you just copy the files from the "Program Files" folder to the laptop then in all but a very small number of programs they will not work. Instead you have to have the original CD and install it onto the laptop. That is the only way you will have any success.

So, in short, the answer to your question is that the only sensible or guaranteed way to copy the software to your laptop is by using the original CDs and installing them again onto the laptop. My advice is don't try any of the other ways mentioned... chances are that it won't work!

There is another aspect to all this that most people ignore and that is licensing. Most software only allows a single version to be used... copying it to a laptop (even if it did work) would, in all likelihood, breach the licence agreement and be illegal /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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