adccommunitymod (AutomationDirect) asked a question.
Created Date: June 02,2014
Created By: Dean
**** This post has been imported from our legacy forum. Information in this post may be outdated and links contained in the post may no longer work.****
I know this is out in left field, but I figured some of the folks here might have fiddled with this kind of thing before. We have a couple of old machines with MS-DOS 6.22 OS computers that run the HMI software for the control systems. The two machines are identical, but here is the problem. The hard drive in one of them pooped out. This lost not only the OS, but the HMI software. These machines are old, (we bought them used to boot) and the documentation is limited to say the least. My co-worker had the idea of cloning the contents of the good hard drive onto a new one. Is this possible by hooking both of them to a third PC, and running some sort transfer utility? Any ideas are appreciated.
Created Date: June 02,2014
Created by: scott.lawrence
here's a decent, free cloning utility...
http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm
you should be able to use this to do an exact clone of the drive, and if you 're replacing just the HDD, then it shouldn't be an issue...
Created Date: June 02,2014
Created by: Dean
Scott,
I showed that to my co-worker. He has a bench PC with some spare IDE ports that he is going to try it on. Now we just have to find some laptop size to desktop size IDE adapters. These PCs are interesting. Basically a desktop motherboard with a bunch of ISA slots (Haven't seen those in a while. My co-worker had never even heard of that form factor.), a panel mount 14 inch screen, several custom panel or bezel mount keyboards, and a small (2.5 "?) hard drive. Definitely a custom job. Thanks for your suggestion.
Created Date: June 02,2014
Created by: jwbaker3
I normally use Norton Ghost. The HMI software maybe keyed to the hard drive or the NIC card or something else so even with a copy it may not work, but worth a try. If the HMI software manufacturer is still in around you may want to call to get some help. Most are helpful. Normally with something this old we would upgrade to something else that can be supported. Most companies that make P.C. based HMI are dropping support for XP and don't have anything that will run on MS DOS.
Good Luck,
JW
Created Date: June 02,2014
Created by: kewakl
I have used this for years.
Created Date: June 04,2014
Created by: Dean
Thanks guys. Yeah when we first bought these beasts we inquired about them. The first thing the manufacturer said was we will need to come and replace the whole control system. that was going to cost almost as much as the machines did. I like the USB to IDE adapter. So did my co worker when I showed him.
Created Date: June 05,2014
Created by: kewakl
Thanks guys. Yeah when we first bought these beasts we inquired about them. The first thing the manufacturer said was we will need to come and replace the whole control system. that was going to cost almost as much as the machines did. I like the USB to IDE adapter. So did my co worker when I showed him.
It does IDE 3.5, 2.5 and SATA. Just not at the same time.
Created Date: June 02,2014
Created by: Dean
I know this is out in left field, but I figured some of the folks here might have fiddled with this kind of thing before. We have a couple of old machines with MS-DOS 6.22 OS computers that run the HMI software for the control systems. The two machines are identical, but here is the problem. The hard drive in one of them pooped out. This lost not only the OS, but the HMI software. These machines are old, (we bought them used to boot) and the documentation is limited to say the least. My co-worker had the idea of cloning the contents of the good hard drive onto a new one. Is this possible by hooking both of them to a third PC, and running some sort transfer utility? Any ideas are appreciated.