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Converting OLD computers to VM's

J

jadams

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Mar 14, 2010
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I have a client whos an accountant who has some very old DOS machines and Win 3.1 machines that he wants to get rid of but still wants to keep the data. These machines contain some of his customer's data and wants to keep the data available.

Hes quite thurough, and while I'm not clear I'm accounting procedures, I'm pretty sure these no reason why he has to keep these things.

Nonetheless, what a customer wants, they tend to get. So I'd like to convert them to VM for him so that he can get rid of the old machines but still keep the data. Is this even remotely possible?
 
Is there some sort of legacy software that ONLY runs on DOS/Win 3.1?

What is the software?
 
katalDT - yes, there still is.

Some tools will do an offline convert.
 
If it's one piece of software, I'd set up a single (small) DOS VM that runs the software, and store the data on a file share. Even in DOS it's pretty easy to mount a network share, SMB or Windows.
 
thats the thing... the software. If i just backed things up to a network share or even a single external hard drive he would still need the old software if he ever needs to retrieve. He at first just wanted me to pull the drives and junk the machines. Then i told him without software you cant do anything with the files.

I dont think he still has software. I really think the only way to do what hes asking and to actually create a good backup of the data is to turn it into a VM if possible.

lopoetve, an offline convert?

If i plop one of those drives into a machine here as a secondar drive, then just convert the hard drive to a VHD will it boot in vmware? Hopefully its IDE :/
 
Pretty much - use acronis or the like to convert the drive to a vm. Converter won't do it for dos, I don't think - I've honestly never tried O_O
 
lopoetve said:
katalDT - yes, there still is.
Click to expand...

I'm aware there is PLENTY of software that's legacy and only runs on old OS's, I was more looking for the name of the software. :)


OP, what is the software? A lot of the older DOS software isn't as complicated to install as modern software. It's most likely as easy as copying the folders over, and copying the appropriate sections of autoexec.bat/config.sys over to the VM.
 
There is a tool called P2V (Physical to Virtual) that can help you with this
 
lopoetve said:
Pretty much - use acronis or the like to convert the drive to a vm. Converter won't do it for dos, I don't think - I've honestly never tried O_O
Click to expand...

You got it! Acronis and maybe ghost will be able to do this. You'll need to do an off-line clone to image file. Then build yourself a Virtual Machine shell for example lets say in vmware server. Boot up the Acronis restore disk navigate to the image and restore it. VMWare converter will not support dos.
 
backing up dos is pretty easy lol


you setup a network share and then do copy c:\ m:\
 
Verge said:
backing up dos is pretty easy lol


you setup a network share and then do copy c:\ m:\
Click to expand...

Its a little more than that. Its more about clearing out old junk, in this case PC's that are more than a decade old. I could easily backup files in DOS but you'd still need that DOS system for any of the data to be usable.
 
If this is just accounting data, why can't it be saved in spreadsheets or a database instead of relying on a piece of software that's out of date? Chances are anyone wanting to actually use that data won't be able to without conversion anyway unless they have the same software themselves. If it's 16 bit DOS I can't see there being that much data involved with the partition limits being as small as they are under it.
 
If you can convert to virtual box, i have had dos and 3.1 running smooth in VB before
 
KatalDT said:
I'm aware there is PLENTY of software that's legacy and only runs on old OS's, I was more looking for the name of the software. :)


OP, what is the software? A lot of the older DOS software isn't as complicated to install as modern software. It's most likely as easy as copying the folders over, and copying the appropriate sections of autoexec.bat/config.sys over to the VM.
Click to expand...

Lots of old POS software stuff does. A few others - some financial apps that are ancient and have no upgrade path, etc.
 
lopoetve said:
Lots of old POS software stuff does. A few others - some financial apps that are ancient and have no upgrade path, etc.
Click to expand...

I know all this, I even stated that in my post. :confused:

I'm asking the OP what the specific piece of software is that needs to be run.
 
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