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Asked: 2021-11-06T13:13:32+00:00 In:

Need To Restore Old Backups Made In ’91.

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Backup files on 3.5″ floppy. Probably from WfW3.11. Made is ’91, file name is arc.001.

Can I get the operating system so I can put it on an old computer????

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    2 Answers

    1. If it was truly from 1991, then it couldn’t have been WfWG (Win3.1 didn’t exist before Apr. 1992, WfWG 3.11 until Nov. 1993):

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeli…

      Likely it’s a DOS-based backup (DOS 5 would be the latest version available in ’91):

      http://www.computerhope.com/history…

      Your best bet would be to find someone with an older machine running DOS to salvage the data. Don’t hold out too much hope though; floppies sitting for that much time will quite possibly have many errors and most backup programs of that day placed a catalog file on the last disk (to determine how many disks in the backup). If the catalog file is damaged, then the data is likely not salvageable…

      “Channeling the spirit of jboy…”

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    2. Again, if it’s from 1991, then Windows 3.0 would have been the latest version available again. Irregardless, you’d almost certainly have to have the “new” program to restore the backup data, since compression/encryption methods would vary from program to program. MS-DOS 3.3 thru 6.22 was available on both 3 1/2″ and 5 1/4″ disks, but if it was a Windows-based program doing the backup, then it may not matter which version was being used. Plus you need to completely install DOS and whatever version of Windows was being used with the “new” program. Here’s a site for Ver 5.0 to 6.22 DOS bootdisks (earlier versions may be difficult to find):

      http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

      “Channeling the spirit of jboy…”

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