Move hard drive to recover data

[ralph]

I am trying to help someone over the phone who has some technical ability with his 2 WIN98 (???SE) PC's. Unfortunately I have not used WIN 98 for a
very long time. His problem is that his Logitech PS2 mouse has stopped working on PC #1. It works on other machines and it appears that the computer's PS2 connector is damaged. Both machines have a single hard drive
(IDE interface).
He needs to recover valuable data on PC #1. (Of cource he has no backup!!). Can he simply remove the hard drive from PC#1 and put it in PC#2 (configured as a slave on IDE1 or a master on IDE2)?
Are there any problems with this solution?
thanks....ralph

 

[Rick]

A silly suggestion, but how about a USB mouse?

I've also had customers very adament that their PS/2 mouse port quit working, but in reality they had the keyboard and mouse plugged into the wrong PS/2 ports. Oddly enough, a keyboard can still work in a mouse port on some systems, but I've never seen a mouse work on a keyboard port. And even more oddly, because PC99 color coding hasn't always been a standard, mice connectors and ports (traditionally seafoam green) can be any color, including that easter egg purple the keyboard port and connector should be... as it often is on old computers.

He needs to recover valuable data on PC #1. (Of cource he has no backup!!). Can he simply remove the hard drive from PC#1 and put it in PC#2 (configured as a slave on IDE1 or a master on IDE2)?

He sure can. Infact, he can probably get away with replacing the drive with his as Master. 98 will attempt to redetect and install his 'new' hardware. For whatever doesn't get installed automagically, he should be be able to download drivers for online.

Alternatively, plugging it in as a slave should be no problem. This will give him access to his data with little fuss.

 

[Nodsu]

No problems.. If there are multiple partitions on the system drive, then the drive letters may get shifted around, but otherwise everything should Just Work.

Mind you, he could just attach a serial mouse to the broken system..

 

[Nodsu]

Heh.. Nice timing..

Unfortunately, USB is not quite plug and play in Windows 98, so you'd have to install drives for a USB mouse first. And I gather that your friend is not quite capable of using Windows without a mouse

 

[ralph]

Many thanks for the replies:
1: Having him use windows without a mouse was my first thought but that did not work out very well.
2: Neither machine has USB ports.
3: Using a serial mouse is a great idea. However, I have been unable to find one for sale- and don't have one in my junk box- any idea where I can find one?
regards......ralph