Kaylee: Can I? Zoe: Sure. He's out, though. Kaylee: He did this for me, once.

'Safe'


Buffistechnology 2: You Made Her So She Growls?  

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


DXMachina - Oct 10, 2005 8:03:55 am PDT #4865 of 10003
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

Nutty, you might think about contacting one of the local computer repair stores, because they could probably pull the hard drive from out of the old and put the info on a DVD for you, for a modest fee.

Or I could come up do it for free some time.


Nutty - Oct 10, 2005 8:07:23 am PDT #4866 of 10003
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

Well, it turns out XP has a connections wizard that might help me a bit. Of course, I think I will have to plug the monitor into the old box to configure the host PC properly.

Does that sound logical? I'd like to avoid downloading any new software if I can get away with it, because OldPC cannot handle downloads. (It's only got a phone modem, and I have no home phone line.)


Nutty - Oct 10, 2005 8:34:54 am PDT #4867 of 10003
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

Crap. This is what happens when you only buy a computer every six years, isn't it? I guess that grabbing the old hardware and putting it into the new machine might be my only option.

Of course, I've never seen the inside of a PC in my life. (Not in person, anyway.) So this will definitely be a job for Superman someone else.


Consuela - Oct 10, 2005 8:36:26 am PDT #4868 of 10003
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

You should give it a try, Nutty. It's not as hard as you think. You're Power Tools Gal, right?


Nutty - Oct 10, 2005 8:44:51 am PDT #4869 of 10003
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

There are power tools and then there is frying my only copy of a mangum opus because you zigged instead of zagged. Drywall will forgive you (or let you make it up with spackle) if you fuck up.

My brother fried somebody's motherboard when he was in highschool, by putting a piece somewhere backwards, and I am not a fan of the words "fry" and "computer" together in my presence. I think if it were straight electrical conduction, I would be willing to give it a shot; but when it's pieces that talk to each other, with electrical current running through them, then I will ask for help.

Signed,
has installed own phone jack, but made Other Flatmate set up the wireless router


DXMachina - Oct 10, 2005 8:51:53 am PDT #4870 of 10003
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

How big is the mangum opus, anyway? Can you just copy it to a floppy for the time being while you move the hard drive?


Dana - Oct 10, 2005 8:54:01 am PDT #4871 of 10003
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

If it's too big for a single floppy, you can use WinZip to create a zip file that spans multiple disks.


Nutty - Oct 10, 2005 9:03:07 am PDT #4872 of 10003
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

Ha ha ha. The old PC does not have a working floppy drive. Its CD drive is also spotty, and that is not writeable anyway. If I owned an external CD burner, I would be all set, but I do not.

I could probably recover most of what I want from my old backups, if I could find them. I misplaced the computer box in the move, and I know it is around here somewhere, for all values of "somewhere" that are invisible.

(If I had the comp box, I would also have the MS Office software and a CD of files from my previous employment -- movie files and some personal stuff. The only computer-oriented CDs I have found so far are one full of vids and a video of Casper from two summers ago.)

Don't be a space cadet, people! Learn from my example.


Theodosia - Oct 10, 2005 9:19:33 am PDT #4873 of 10003
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

resists the urge to jump into car, drive over, and forcibly move drive into the new computer


Theodosia - Oct 10, 2005 9:20:58 am PDT #4874 of 10003
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

Seriously, though, you can actually pay people to copy stuff off your old hard drive into the new one! Call up a couple of the little stores in Somerville, like Satellite Computer Repair. This stuff is easy-peasy for them, and should be priced accordingly.