# More File Transfer Trouble: USB Jump Drive **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832 "2004-04-30T11:42:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/1 "2004-04-30T11:42:43Z")
OK, I bought a new computer and I’m trying to transfer mp3’s and pictures from old PC to my new one. I’m [giving up](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=253588) trying to do it through serial cable. Also, though I appreciate the suggestions to install my old hard drive as a secondary hard drive on my new PC, that’s not an option: we’re giving our old PC to my mother in law and I’m pretty sure it will need a hard drive. So I bought a Lexar Media USB 2.0 128MB Jump Drive. Apparently it’s compatible with all recent OS’s except Windows 98. For Windows 98 you have to download a driver. So that’s just what I did- downloaded and installed the driver. This damn thing STILL does not work. I put it into the USB port and nothing happens. I’ve used the Windows 98 Add New Hardware utility, and it seems to recognize that there’s _something_ plugged into the USB port, and it recognizes what it is. So I get this little error message that says (paraphrased) “This device was installed but there was a problem. Update driver? Yes/No” I’ve clicked yes, it runs through the installation process again, restarts the computer… and when I plug in the Jump Drive… still nothing. I’m about to lose my mind here. Does anybody have any idea what I’m doing wrong? TIA ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/2 "2004-04-30T12:06:22Z")
98 is not very USB “aware”. Is the OS Windows 98 or Windows 98SE? The Jumpdrive drivers will only work properly with 98SE. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/3 "2004-04-30T12:20:08Z")
> [@astro](#): > > 98 is not very USB “aware”. Is the OS Windows 98 or Windows 98SE? The Jumpdrive drivers will only work properly with 98SE. Windows 98. When you say “Jumpdrive” are you talking about a specific brand, or all of them? The reason I ask is that I intend to take this one back and exchange it for a different brand. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/4 "2004-04-30T12:23:27Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Also, though I appreciate the suggestions to install my old hard drive as a secondary hard drive on my new PC, that’s not an option: we’re giving our old PC to my mother in law and I’m pretty sure it will need a hard drive. I think people meant that you should install it just long enough to copy all the files over, then put it back in the original PC. Depending on how the cases are designed you might not even have to take any of the screws out. The ribbon and power cables from your new computer’s CD-ROM drive might reach to your old hard drive if you place the machines side-by-side. I use this technique all the time. If anyone asks what I’m doing I tell them it’s a data transfusion. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/5 "2004-04-30T12:29:48Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Windows 98. > > When you say “Jumpdrive” are you talking about a specific brand, or all of them? The reason I ask is that I intend to take this one back and exchange it for a different brand. [Here is the Jumpdrive support page](http://www.digitalfilm.com/drivers/) with the driver you spoke of. It only references WIN 98SE as a compatible OS. WIn 98 (non-se) does not play that nice with USB devices. Most of the thumbdrive units I’m familar with specify 98SE as the only OS they are guaranteed to work with. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/6 "2004-04-30T14:08:26Z")
_sigh_ Looks like I’ll be transferring the hard drive. Thanks for the help. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/7 "2004-04-30T16:44:44Z")
**HeyHomie** , you’re making this far too complicated. Just do what Q.E.D. says to in the your first thread - open the case, remove the hard drive, open the case on the new PC, install as secondary master, boot into Windows, copy your files over, remove the old drive, place back in old PC, close both cases. It goes without saying that you should power off the PCs before you unhook or install any items in them. I can’t tell you how many dozens of times I’ve done this professionally when a client would get a new PC… aside from burning the files to CD or copying the files over to another PC temporarily via network, this is the only way to go. In any case, it’s certainly the _fastest_ way to copy files from one PC to another. In your first thread, you mentioned that you had MP3s and such… I don’t know how much all this data is, but I know that on my PC I have far too much stuff to be copying data via a serial port or thumb drive. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/8 "2004-04-30T16:55:43Z")
I just, as in Wednesday evening, used my Lexar JumpDrive Secure on a Windows 98 (not SE) machine with no problems at all. I downloaded the drivers, installed them, rebooted the machine WITH the JumpDrive still in the USB port and the OS saw it just fine. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/9 "2004-04-30T16:58:06Z")
Are you sure you downloaded the drivers for the JumpDrive you’re using? Lexare makes several kinds. Make sure you link to the picture to see that it matches the one you’re using. Also, does 98 see other USB devices in the port? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/10 "2004-04-30T17:19:19Z")
Can we assume the jump drive works in the new computer? Because there is always the possibility that the drive itself is defective. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-file-transfer-trouble-usb-jump-drive/242832/11 "2004-04-30T18:15:08Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > Can we assume the jump drive works in the new computer? Because there is always the possibility that the drive itself is defective. The new computer recongnized the Jump Drive just fine. But it’s all moot now-- I’ve already gotten my money back on the Jump Drive and made a 2:00 appointment with The Computer Guy™. Sorry, **Rex** and **Q.E.E.** , but me + computer + screwdriver is likely to result in … well I don’t know what, but undoubtedly it’s something terrible.