Old files

[BeeE586]

Please, can anyone help ?

My Christmas present to myself was new laptop and I am having difficulty with old files. The previous laptop had only a small (8gb) hard disc and I had lots of floppies as back-up and also used a USB add-on drive for extra space. I do not want to buy an add-on floppy drive for the new machine, so I have carefully gone through about 70 old floppies, transferred what I wanted to keep to the USB and then to the new machine. Some of them are VERY old, I have little idea now what programme they were done on and when I try to open them I get lines of squares, dots, colons and other assorted squiggles. I can convert most database programmes to EXCEL, but it is Word Processor programmes which are giving problems. Most of what I want to restore are transcripts of 16th century probate documents over which I sweated blood at the time.

-- Any suggestions most gratefully acknowledged

Eileen --

[arthurk]

Can you tell us a bit more, please? It would help to know:
What the format of these files is (i.e. the ".xxx" at the end of the filename)
What word processor programs you have on your new computer
What word processor programs you had on the old one (which for now I'm guessing you would have used to create these files)

With the programs, it would also help to know which version you use(d) - with some, although the file format appears to be the same, they aren't always 100% compatible.

I'm not a great expert, so can't promise to be able to help much more, but with this information someone should be able to help, I think.

Good luck,
Arthur

[Barbara Wilkinson]

I agree that if you could give us some more information more people may be able to help!

You usually get the squares, circles, etc that you mention when you try to open something "alien" into a program - probably your word processing program. Try opening them directly from the file folder, then your computer may be able to tell which program create them originally. The files as listed in your file folder will have an icon before the name of the file, which also may give you a clue, eg a blue W for a Word file, green X for Excel, etc - that may help.

[Kath Betts]

In the absence of the file extension details you could try Inserting the file into your word processor (which I guess may well be Microsoft Word). Open a blank document and go to the Insert menu click on File & select the file that you want to try opening. It may sort it out automatically for you.

Could be worth a try.

Kath

[robdurk]

Hi Eileen

A problem I've not seen for quite a while now, I must admit, but the answer is quite straightforward, if a bit time-consuming. But much less time-consuming than retranscribing things!

The problem is that the two versions of the word processor that you've used aren't totally compatible; this sometimes happens if major changes are made to the software.

Go back to the version on your old laptop, and look at the 'Save as' options. There should be an option to save as 'Rich Text Format'. This is a format intended to be compatible between many different computers & pieces of software. Saving your files in this format should mean they can be opened normally on your new laptop once transferred across.

The RTF format will keep most formatting options (bold, italic, tables) but it's worth checking a few before doing the whole lot!

Hope that helps

Rob

[BeeE586]

Thank you all for your suggestions, details as follows (and I did say they were VERY old files)

The legend attached to the icon for two of the files is XTX, one modified October 1996 and the other April 1997. At that time I think I was operating on Windows 95 and Works 3. Would I have had Office then ?

The legend for the other two is Microsoft Works Word Processor, one file modified March 1994 and the other January 1995. These must have been done on my first IBM machine Windows 3.1 and Works ? - I have no idea.

My grand-daughter has inherited my old lap tap Windows XP and Works 5 I think, but I borrowed it back and they don't come up on there either. I think my son still has the machine before the 1st laptop in his loft; failing any other solution I could smile sweetly, offer to buy him a pint and ask him to unearth it for me.

Thank you again --- --- Eileen

[Barbara Wilkinson]

Don't suppose you still have the installation disk for your old version of Works hidden away somewhere ........???

If you did have - I know it is a remote possibility! - you could install it on your new computer.

Failing that, you may have to buy that pint ...!!

The other solution is to take the disks to a computer specialist shop - not a main dealership like PC World, but a place offering repairs. They may be able to retrieve the information as they will probably have access to all sorts of old software. It should not be too expensive ..!!

[BeeE586]

Kath - you are brilliant. After some 20 years with computers I have learnt something new, although this is something I have never needed to do before so never bothered with it.

I did as you suggested, opened MS Word (which is 2000) and inserted the files. With one XTX file there was no joy, with the others PARTS of them were legible but there were also some pages of squiggles. I have saved these with a different name and have hopes of restoring the remainder with the help of other kind posters. One file is a Land Sale Terrier of a small estate in DBY Beighton for 1633, which predates the Parish Registers by some 20 odd years so is useful for names, but also identifies furlongs in named open fields. I still have the original photocopy so all is not lost.

--- Eileen

[Guy Etchells]

Click the link below and insert the file extension in the box.
This will tell you what program made the file
http://filext.com/

Cheers
Guy

[Peter Goodey]

"With one XTX file there was no joy..."
Might be worth trying to open it in Notepad or Wordpad. Might be no help but worth trying and it won't cost anything!