Looking for ideas to get info off HDD

Hi. I've got an old eMachine here that is absolutely loaded with parasites, trojans, spyware/adware, etc. I want to format and reinstall the Win98 OS because it will never be fully cleaned, I'm afraid. Before I do that, I put Driver Magic Lite on it, and backed up the drivers (to C:\...driverbackup\...) that are not included with Windows (which is about 4.5MB).

Here's my problem - no way to get the driver backup file off the C: drive. The A: drive (1.44MB floppy) doesn't work - matter of fact there's something lodged in there.... The D: drive is only a CD-ROM. There is no secondary internal HDD (and I don't have an external one to hook up). The Sandisk Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive is not recognised by Win98.

I'm thinking perhaps I can partition some of the C: drive and back up to there before reinstalling the OS - is this possible? is it a good idea? anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks.

Download a driver for the usb stick. Plenty free downloads for 98 this is one:
http://www.softwarepatch.com/utiliti...zer-micro.html

Super! Cheers!

Nope, no good. I even tried installing an external HP USB CD-RW; no good. Everything installs, but after a reboot, nothing is there. There must be something left on this computer preventing me from installing. Although, I've installed AdAware, HijackThis, Spybot (although I haven't run that yet, as I haven't put the computer online), CCleaner, Driver MagicianLite, Belarc Advisor, AVG Anti-Virus Free, TVMD Removel Tool; all (but Spybot) have run fine and it appears I have the system cleaned.

Is there a way to put a partition on C: and move my driver backups there? Win98 is such a pain when it comes to drivers when doing a clean install.....

Thanks.

Hi,

You need something like Partition magic to alter partition sizes without losing data.

How big are the files you want to back up, could you zip them up and email them to someone with a cd writer ?

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Partition Magic? Ok. I am very hesitant to put the thing online - it was so full of trojans, parasites, malware, spyware, etc...I can't be sure I've cleaned it - matter of fact, I probably haven't cleaned it, if it won't properly load/install for USB stick or external CD writer....thinking I'll just reformat and lose the data - it wasn't much except I would really like a backup of the drivers - Win 98 is such a pain to reinstall because of the minimal drivers it has.

I have another question for you - I always thought that Win98SE was a service pack and you could get all the updates in the MS webupdate site - is this not true? Was Win98SE sold as a separate OS? In other words, unless I come up with a SE disk, this computer will never be to that level?

Thanks.

Windows 98 can be patched to Windows 98SE with updates, as far as im aware only ICS (internet connection sharing) comes with SE and you cannot download it to upgrade. apart from that there shouldnt be any difference really

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FYI - After many unsuccessful tries, I finally found the "secret" to installing the drivers. Seems SanDisk KNOW there is a problem, and have a work-around....but will not document it! At any rate, I've finally got the Cruzer Micro working on Win98; unfortunately, too late to save all the driver info I lost reformatting the HDD. If you think there's any interest, I can post the instructions here.

Yes Please post the information.
What was the reason for SanDisk to exclude W98se in the first place.
Thanks

Here you go:

1. Got rid of all the mucking around I had done by removing the Cruzer from the computer;
deleting any leftover references under My Computer/Properties/Devices; Uninstalling
the software under Add/Remove Software. Re-booted.
2. Re-installed the SanDisk Windows 98SE driver that I got from their website. Re-booted.
3. Plugged in the Cruzer.
4. Chose Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location, so you
can select the driver you want.
5. Chose Hard disk controllers.
6. Chose SanDisk from the list of manufacturers
7. Chose Cruzer Micro USB-Flash-Drive from the device list.
8. Clicked Yes at the warning that I had picked the wrong driver.

When I went to My Computer, I could see the drive, browse and transfer files.

Driver:
http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/D...amily_98SE.zip