Q on Data Transfer for Old DOS-style Program: Flash or CD?

[ahhaa]

Hi Guys-

I have a customer who runs a collectibles mall with multiple 'dealers'. They have just bought a new Dell (XP Home) for the store, it has a CD burner but no floppy drive. They use an old DOS-style niche market program to manage the books. The program and the data are installed now, but the data needs to move back & forth between the store machine and a home machine to do the books.

The software, tho upgraded to work on XP, still has that old backup method of selecting a single Drive letter (default A without any options for folders, etc, & its intended to create a bunch of sequential floppies.. This makes backing up to CD-R more complicated; I could do it but have my doubts about them doing it reliably.

I was thinking a flash drive might be a more convenient, as it would look like a giant floppy to the software (I think) and have its own Drive letter.

Are there other considerations I'm missing? Anybody using a flash drive like this?

[Nelson37]

Can you just copy the entire data file(s) to the flash drive, without using the antiquated Backup feature?

The prog may keep asking you to change floppies, it may not sequentially name the files, it may not recognize the flash drive.

[JerryB]

Hi Guys-

I have a customer who runs a collectibles mall with multiple 'dealers'. They have just bought a new Dell (XP Home) for the store, it has a CD burner but no floppy drive. They use an old DOS-style niche market program to manage the books. The program and the data are installed now, but the data needs to move back & forth between the store machine and a home machine to do the books.

The software, tho upgraded to work on XP, still has that old backup method of selecting a single Drive letter (default A without any options for folders, etc, & its intended to create a bunch of sequential floppies.. This makes backing up to CD-R more complicated; I could do it but have my doubts about them doing it reliably.

I was thinking a flash drive might be a more convenient, as it would look like a giant floppy to the software (I think) and have its own Drive letter.

Are there other considerations I'm missing? Anybody using a flash drive like this?

hi,
a few thoughts....
1. first..... instead of using the program "backup" procedure.... can you just copy the whole data file to a cd or some othere portable device... and then open that file in the other computer..... it seems like your program be able to open various different files.... it no different any other database program ... and you should be able to do this reliably and easy.....
2. flash drive.. sounds like a good idea... I don't use them however.. some of m friends do and plus comments on other boards.... since this is very important....... there been instances of where people have lost pictures/data or can't access thiere pictures or data files from a flash drive...!! if you go this route then suggest the following...
a. make two backups.....just in case one fails
b. a plan of action in case you can not retrieve a file from a memory stick for example.....
this program can recover files... http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec , not sure if this would surfice for you but something similar... the main point have a plan!! ..

[jagabo]

External firewire or USB2 hard drive?

[ahhaa]

the computer site at the counter is a zoo when in use, and they aren't good with computers. Working on it is like working on a car engine while its running.
I like the idea of them using a CD-R, then they have a 'frozen' dated copy in case of crashes or virii or whatever. I may be able to get it to backup to a special partition, then they could burn the CD... if they get all the steps right.
good ol' DOS days... the program has a password before you can backup the records, but yeah, you can copy the files directly from the HD. I can't get them to understand the diff between import/export & backup/restore (sigh)

[TBoneit]

Or just buy a USB floppy drive. Velcro it to the counter or side of the computer. Dell tends to not put the mounting hardware inside the case on their cheaper computers for floppy drive if it isn't ordered with a floppy drive.

[jagabo]

CD-RW formatted for packet writing. They'll look just like big floppy disks to the software. You'll get less data per disk but that may not be an issue.