Easy Transfer Cable Questions

I hope this is the correct forum to post this in.

About 2 months ago we had a bad lightning storm where I live, and my computer (a windows 98 first edition) was online at the time. Something happened during the storm, and the windows 98 can no longer get online. I've had the computer for 12 years.

So, I bought a new computer, a Compaq Presario with Windows 7 Home Premium edition. It's a 64bit system.

My old Windows 98 first edition is a 32 bit system, and has a CD-R drive, a removable ORB drive, and a floppy drive. I also have an external ZipCD (flash) drive for it with the software already installed but it won't work due to the fact that Windows 98 didn't support USB mass storage, i.e. no driver for it. It also has USB 1.1 installed.

My new computer (Windows 7) has a CD-RW drive. It's a 64 bit system. It has USB 2.0 installed.

I've been trying everything I can think of to try and get my files from my windows 98 transfered onto the windows 7, but everything I've tried has failed.

I have an HP pocket drive, and a Corsair thumb drive, but they won't work with the 98 either because of the lack of driver support in the windows 98 with regard to the USB mass storage driver.

So, my last hope is to try doing it with the Easy Transfer Cable.

If someone could please let me know what Easy Transfer Cable to use, that'd be great.

I need it to be compatible to transfer files From a Windows 98 First Edition 32 bit system with USB 1.1 -- TO -- a Windows 7 64bit system with USB 2.0

Is there any hope of finding an easy transfer cable that will work with these two systems? If not, does anyone have any ideas what else I could try?

I've been trying to solve this problem for two months now, and I'm getting a little frustrated with the whole mess.

Thanks in advance.

Debg said:

I hope this is the correct forum to post this in.

About 2 months ago we had a bad lightning storm where I live, and my computer (a windows 98 first edition) was online at the time. Something happened during the storm, and the windows 98 can no longer get online. I've had the computer for 12 years.

So, I bought a new computer, a Compaq Presario with Windows 7 Home Premium edition. It's a 64bit system.

My old Windows 98 first edition is a 32 bit system, and has a CD-R drive, a removable ORB drive, and a floppy drive. I also have an external ZipCD (flash) drive for it with the software already installed but it won't work due to the fact that Windows 98 didn't support USB mass storage, i.e. no driver for it. It also has USB 1.1 installed.

My new computer (Windows 7) has a CD-RW drive. It's a 64 bit system. It has USB 2.0 installed.

I've been trying everything I can think of to try and get my files from my windows 98 transfered onto the windows 7, but everything I've tried has failed.

I have an HP pocket drive, and a Corsair thumb drive, but they won't work with the 98 either because of the lack of driver support in the windows 98 with regard to the USB mass storage driver.

So, my last hope is to try doing it with the Easy Transfer Cable.

If someone could please let me know what Easy Transfer Cable to use, that'd be great.

I need it to be compatible to transfer files From a Windows 98 First Edition 32 bit system with USB 1.1 -- TO -- a Windows 7 64bit system with USB 2.0

Is there any hope of finding an easy transfer cable that will work with these two systems? If not, does anyone have any ideas what else I could try?

I've been trying to solve this problem for two months now, and I'm getting a little frustrated with the whole mess.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum,

Not sure if this will help you but you can give it a try, there a couple possible drivers here, you could put them on a cd to load them on the 98 machine.

Windows 98SE/ME F.A.Q. - The Corsair Support Forums

I found a couple of cables, but I really can't say if they would work, here's one,

High Speed USB 2.0 Data Link Bridge Cable



The only other suggestion I can think of is taking the hard drive out of the 98

machine and connecting it to the windows 7 machine with an adapter cable.

If you can't network them, and can't use an external USB drive, then the easiest way is what was mentioned above. Pull the HDD out of the old system and connect it to the new system, either internally, or with an external USB housing/cable setup.

Thanks for the welcome, and the replies.

@derekimo -- I just looked at the cable site that you linked to, and it says it supports Windows 98SE (not windows 98 first edition)

That's the problem I've been running into. It seems there's all kinds of drivers that support 98SE but not 98 1st edition.

@DeaconFrost -- I wish I could just pull the HDs out and do that, but I'm almost blind so that's not an option. We don't even have any computer shops out where I live. In fact, I bought my new windows 7 online through bestbuy.com. I had to use my little boy's computer to do that.

My Windows 7 came with Easy Transfer pre-installed. All I need to be able to do is find a USB cable that's backwards compatible with USB 1.0 and supports Windows 98 as the "transfer from" computer.

I'd be launching the Windows 7 computer and use Easy Transfer that's installed on it, connect the USB cable from the Windows 7 machine to the Windows 98 machine, and transfer all of my text files and images from the Windows 98 to the Windows 7.

If anyone has any suggestions, or knows of a cable that would work ... I'm all ears!

Thanks guys.

@derekimo -- I forgot to add, I've already been to the Corsair forums (last week, same username as here) and it was of no use. The drivers they have are not compatible with windows 98 first edition.

I'm just really bummed about this whole situation.

I don't want to sound like I'm being cold or mean, but if you can see to use a computer, removing the hard drive is quite easy. Don't take that to mean I'm being insensitive. I have a good friend who's completely blind thanks to her diabetes not being held in check.

Anyway, I don't really trust the Easy Transfer Wizard anyway. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a software app trying to decide what was important to me and what isn't. I would prefer to do it myself, as I'd be much more accurate.

As another idea, do you have a spare NIC that you could pop into the Windows 98 computer? My guess is the existing one was blown out in the storm.

If I remember correctly one of the main features of Win 98SE was greatly improved USB support. USB support in Win 98 was spotty at best. Do any USB peripherals work on the Win 98 machine at this time?

USB 2.0 is backwards compatible with USB 1.1 but will operate at 1.1 speeds so I don't believe USB 1.1 vs 2.0 is the issue. Maybe the lightning storm affected your USB ports as well?

Since the old machine has a floppy drive, one possibility is to transfer your files via "sneaker net" (copy to floppies). Most likely your new machine didn't come with a floppy drive and may not even have support to add a floppy drive. You could buy a USB floppy drive like this: External USB floppy drives for 3.5 inch disks. There are 2 models there, the generic for $19.99 should work fine for your needs. Depending on how much data you need to transfer this can be an OK solution but if you have Gigs of data it will be tedious. If you have any files that are larger than 1.44M you will need to use a program that can split large files over multiple floppies.

Another possibility would be to use a USB thumb drive, if you can find one that still comes with Win 98 drivers.

Debg said:

Thanks for the welcome, and the replies.

@derekimo -- I just looked at the cable site that you linked to, and it says it supports Windows 98SE (not windows 98 first edition)

That's the problem I've been running into. It seems there's all kinds of drivers that support 98SE but not 98 1st edition.

@DeaconFrost -- I wish I could just pull the HDs out and do that, but I'm almost blind so that's not an option. We don't even have any computer shops out where I live. In fact, I bought my new windows 7 online through bestbuy.com. I had to use my little boy's computer to do that.

My Windows 7 came with Easy Transfer pre-installed. All I need to be able to do is find a USB cable that's backwards compatible with USB 1.0 and supports Windows 98 as the "transfer from" computer.

I'd be launching the Windows 7 computer and use Easy Transfer that's installed on it, connect the USB cable from the Windows 7 machine to the Windows 98 machine, and transfer all of my text files and images from the Windows 98 to the Windows 7.

If anyone has any suggestions, or knows of a cable that would work ... I'm all ears!

Thanks guys.

Sounds like you've got a bit of a dilemma, If you could give us the specs on the

windows 98 computer we could probably talk you through taking the hard drive

out, if you really don't want to go that route, how about using cd's to transfer

your data, not the best way to go about it, but at least it would work, how much

data are you trying to move?

DeaconFrost said:

I don't want to sound like I'm being cold or mean, but if you can see to use a computer, removing the hard drive is quite easy. Don't take that to mean I'm being insensitive. I have a good friend who's completely blind thanks to her diabetes not being held in check.

I can use a computer only because the font can be enlarged to size 22 pixels. That's the only reason I can use one. I am not able to see any further away than 3 inches in front of my face. I was born with Progressive (High) Degenerative Myopia. I'm almost 50 now, and can see very, very little.

DeaconFrost said:

Anyway, I don't really trust the Easy Transfer Wizard anyway. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a software app trying to decide what was important to me and what isn't. I would prefer to do it myself, as I'd be much more accurate.

As another idea, do you have a spare NIC that you could pop into the Windows 98 computer? My guess is the existing one was blown out in the storm.

By NIC do you mean some kind of network router or something? If so, I don't have that here. I live out in the boonies and the only thing we have is dial-up Internet.

The modem on the 98 is a Diamond 56k Modem. There's no Ethernet port on it either.

The windows 98 is a 550 MHz Pent. 3, 13gig HD, 96mb memory, with CD-R drive, floppy drive, removable ORB drive, and 2 USB 1.0 ports.

It was custom built for me by my brother-in-law 12 yrs ago. That's how long it's lasted. I've only had to have the fan changed in it once, and only had to have the battery changed once. My brother-in-law did that for me when he visited about 6 yrs ago. He's in France, so they don't get here often.

The new Windows 7 is a Compaq Presario, AMD Sempron Processor, 320 gig HD, 2GB memory, SuperMulti DVD+R/RW drive, has Ethernet port, and 4 USB 2.0 ports.

I thought by providing all of the system specs for both, might help a little more.

strollin said:

USB 2.0 is backwards compatible with USB 1.1 but will operate at 1.1 speeds so I don't believe USB 1.1 vs 2.0 is the issue. Maybe the lightning storm affected your USB ports as well?

The mouse on the computer is a Logitec cordless mouse and it uses USB port to run, and it's working fine. So I know the USB ports are still working.

strollin said:

Since the old machine has a floppy drive, one possibility is to transfer your files via "sneaker net" (copy to floppies). Most likely your new machine didn't come with a floppy drive and may not even have support to add a floppy drive. You could buy a USB floppy drive like this: External USB floppy drives for 3.5 inch disks. There are 2 models there, the generic for $19.99 should work fine for your needs. Depending on how much data you need to transfer this can be an OK solution but if you have Gigs of data it will be tedious. If you have any files that are larger than 1.44M you will need to use a program that can split large files over multiple floppies.

Another possibility would be to use a USB thumb drive, if you can find one that still comes with Win 98 drivers.

Thanks for the links to that. I'll check it out. I have tried to use the USB thumb drive that I have (Corsiar) but it doesn't work on the 98 due to the fact that there's no driver support in windows 98 for USB mass storage device. So, out of luck with that one.

I can transfer some of my images and text files using the external floppy as you've suggested.

I have a few programs that I need to transfer over as well. In total, I only have 1.8 GIG worth of stuff that needs to be transfered with the largest file size being around 100 MB.