pavane - I thought people who still run Win98 probably like opening cases and swapping drives and reinstalling OSs. They have to be masochists - or maybe closet 'NIX wannabes. (Or maybe just po' folk like the rest of us.)

(I hope it's obvious that's a joke.)

If you had a Point-to-Point setup that you knew how to use, like Laplink or another zero-modem method, it would obviously be easy to hookup to another computer (if there's one close enough). Any of the "simple" methods I've seen do require software, machine/port configuration settings, and a bunch of other "adjustments" that make them less simple in practice than in theory. You also have to learn to use the software that goes with the file transfer system you choose - and again the theory is simple but the practice can be a trial.

I tried Laplink (and a couple of similar ones) seriously back when DOS was the only world there was, and have looked at it a couple of times since when special needs popped up. It's okay when you have your systems up and running, and have nothing else available; but I had enough problems that I abandoned it and went back to sneaker net for critical transfers. I wouldn't recommend trying to install it on a crippled machine and trying to learn how to use it on critical (one copy only surviving) data, although it is an option for the brave (and/or foolish). IMHO.

I'd be more inclined to suggest zero-modem transfer to someone with current experience with DOS, or someone with UNIX/LINUX experience, but most Windows users who are forced into DOS are not well equipped to deal with it, or with most similar transfer schemes.

Assuming that the machine has a USB port, an external USB Hard Drive sounds like a simple option (and might be really handy later), but most such drives rely on Windows PnP for setup, and if Windows isn't up, you'd have to configure (at least install the right driver) manually to get one to run. Manual USB driver installation isn't too tough, but it's one of the easier places for people to screw things up.

Yanking the drive, or letting your techie do it for you, is really the simplest obvious option. We never know for sure what "secret tricks" people have on their own setups, so I won't discount other possibilities out of hand.

John