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General discussion

Hard Drive Swap IMB Aptiva .....problems

May 17, 2005 4:33PM PDT

Hey Gang, I am trying to upgrade my sons pc. He has an IBM Aptiva, pentium w/ 24 megs ram that runs Win 95. I have a hard drive that is the same make, only instead of a 1.5 gig it is a 2.0. It also has win 98 on it. When I plug it in the system bios doesn't recognize it. Can I just download a bios update or something? My 98 install CD has a scratch on it, and I can't use it to install anymore, only to add components, so I was hoping to use the hard drive with 98 on it. Any ideas? besides getting a new one, though for the amount of time this is taking.... I would be saving some. Thanks, NewYorker

Discussion is locked

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Just asking.
May 17, 2005 9:21PM PDT

After this many years, why wasn't a copy made of that Windows 98 CD?

I use my "copy" and the original is stored in the fire vault. If I scratch/break my CD, I go get my original, duplicate it and then put the original back.

Bob

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timing
May 20, 2005 1:13AM PDT

Yes, that is a great idea. I suppose the first excuse I would give you is that when I purchased the CD I did not have and RW drive, so no copying done then, and then over time....just didn't get around to it. Actually, I wasn't sure that it could be done in the first place. Oh well, I'll chock it up to learning.

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It may be possible to resurrect that CD.
May 20, 2005 1:20AM PDT

Said CD doesn't have to be bootable, just have the Win98 directory intact. For most Windows 95 and 98 CDs the one directory you want to copy off is the Win98 directory (yes the Windows 95 had another name) and then create a new CD with that content.

That leaves you to find the drivers for the machine, but after this many years that should be all too easy.

Put that Win98 directory onto a new CDR and store it away with the original and use a copy of your new creation.

Bob