I have a small office network of 4 Pentium PCs, all 5-7 years old, running Win 98 2nd, and peer-peer Windows network using coax cable without a hub. I use the old Microsoft Mail program to share Outlook folders. I do all my own software and hardware installation, and have been periodically upgrading components and software for 18 years, but I am not a "professional." Everything still works well enough, although slow in some cases, but we are having to install new software that will require upgraded PCs. What is the best way to replace all 4 PCs and install a network hub with an internet router, etc and move most of the applications, data, Outlook, email, etc. on the old PCs to the new ones with a minimum of headaches? I will need to do all this over a weekend. Is there a website I can go to for basic advice about upgrading? Is there software which might be helpful? Thanks.
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Best way to upgrade desktops and network?
- Thread starter cdharris
- Start date
For my 2 cents, which is more than it is worth anyhow, your migration path is to bring the new stuff up in parallel to the old, and to tie the old and new together for the cutover.
You get your 4 new working on the new network, with software and internet set up as you want in whatever timeframe you want. You just don't take it active except with test data that can be deleted.
At cutover, you tie the networks together to be able to copy stuff across.
What new and great OS are you going to have? And what will it impact that you want to continue to use? Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
You get your 4 new working on the new network, with software and internet set up as you want in whatever timeframe you want. You just don't take it active except with test data that can be deleted.
At cutover, you tie the networks together to be able to copy stuff across.
What new and great OS are you going to have? And what will it impact that you want to continue to use? Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
- Thread starter
- #3
I assume the OS on the new PCs will be Windows XP or whatever comes pre-loaded when I buy them. Doesn't XP come with peer-peer networking built-in like Win 98? If so, that will probably be the network. I really do not need or use interoffice email, but I have to have some way to share Outlook folders. I do not think I will be able to use Microsoft Mail (which is actually a Win 3.1 program) so any suggestions for that? Thanks.
Oh , yes ,XP has networking. I'll probably let some gurus give that advice since I'm suffering recurring pseudo pain from the scab that hasn't healed from beating my head against my last XP networking problem.
Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
![[lol]](/data/assets/smilies/lol.gif "[lol] [lol]")
Good one, ED! Jim![[thumbsup2]](/data/assets/smilies/thumbsup2.gif "[thumbsup2] [thumbsup2]")
XP is very easy to network peer to peer. Moving stuff will be the biggest problem. This would be my approach- time consuming, but pretty straightforward:
You would need 1 extra ethernet card and hub/swith capacity for 5 machines. Set up the new network with router, hub/switch, etc. and check for proper function. The existing machine with the MS mail post office will be the last to migrate. Add the extra ethernet card to one of the old pc's (if conflicts with existing coax adapter, just disable the coax adapter in Device Manager). This old pc will now be part of your new network (with proper network settings) and using File Sharing you can transfer whatever you need to the corresponding new computer. Remove the ethernet adapter then repeat for the remaining 3 old computers. When finished with the last computer (MS Mail PO), remove the coax card and leave it on your network.
Outlook on the new computers will still access the mail folders correctly (with proper settings again). The actual MS mail program and mail storage just can't reside on an xp computer, so leave it on a 98 computer.
You would need 1 extra ethernet card and hub/swith capacity for 5 machines. Set up the new network with router, hub/switch, etc. and check for proper function. The existing machine with the MS mail post office will be the last to migrate. Add the extra ethernet card to one of the old pc's (if conflicts with existing coax adapter, just disable the coax adapter in Device Manager). This old pc will now be part of your new network (with proper network settings) and using File Sharing you can transfer whatever you need to the corresponding new computer. Remove the ethernet adapter then repeat for the remaining 3 old computers. When finished with the last computer (MS Mail PO), remove the coax card and leave it on your network.
Outlook on the new computers will still access the mail folders correctly (with proper settings again). The actual MS mail program and mail storage just can't reside on an xp computer, so leave it on a 98 computer.
- Thread starter
- #8
That sounds like a great game plan. I can leave the machine with the MS Mail PO on the network for now as it is the newest and fastest of my old machines and I had thought of just using it as a server to store shared data and files. If and when I need to upgrade from Outlook 2000 to a newer version, what will I need to do about mail? Is there another easy and cheap program out there or will I have to buy Exchange Server or some other expensive MS program? Thanks very much.
There are many shareware mail servers out there. Have a look at and search for 'mail server'
While Smah is correct about MSMail and OXP, if you do a search for the following file name
MSMail4XP.EXE
this will enable the Mail feature - and it does work too. However you will lose shared folders on OXP.
Quickest way to upgrade would be to clone the old drive to a new drive, then when W98 starts up for the first time it will detect the new h/w and then ask for the latest driver disk.
Terry
Any opinions given are dependent on what brain cells were awake at the time
MSMail4XP.EXE
this will enable the Mail feature - and it does work too. However you will lose shared folders on OXP.
Quickest way to upgrade would be to clone the old drive to a new drive, then when W98 starts up for the first time it will detect the new h/w and then ask for the latest driver disk.
Terry
Any opinions given are dependent on what brain cells were awake at the time
- Thread starter
- #11
If I just "clone" the hard drives, will that mean the OS will be Win 98 SE istead of the Win XP that comes on the new PCs? Won't a new PC with newer drives, cards, etc. need different drivers and files that would be lost if I just cloned the old drive? What is the best way to go about "cloning" a drive? I think I have seen several software packages for this, but I don't know which is best, etc.
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