Extracting Data from Old Systems Safely
Over the years, RWAP Software have been asked some odd questions, some of which lead to nothing, but others that lead to an interesting avenue to explore. The fact that we have a large customer database and manage several online communities, means that we can draw on the knowledge of over 50,000 people with vintage computer experience, where our own knowledge fails us.
QDOS – the Sinclair QL operating system or something else?
For example, thanks to our knowledge of the Sinclair QL Home computer and in particular, its QDOS operating system, we were once asked by a legal firm if we could assist them with migrating data from a QDOS accounts package to something more modern. On further investigation, this was nothing to do with the Sinclair QL (or its QDOS operating system), but was in fact a QDOS accounts system which used a proprietary disk format – it could have been written to run on the infamous “Quick and Dirty Operating System” which was created in 1980 by Tim Paterson at Seattle Computer Products and later formed the basis for MS-DOS.
We made some enquiries and managed to track down someone who had been involved with the original QDOS accounts package and still had the tools necessary to extract the data from the physical hard disk and convert it for import into modern accounts packages. We charged a nominal introduction fee and that was the best outcome for the original contact.
Progress 4GL Database Package
More recently, we were approached by a customer whose business carries out electrical testing and retains records of all of the tests carried out for each of its customers going back to at least 1999. The database runs on an old Unix box and there were concerns that if the computer fails that it would seriously impact the business. The customer was of course concerned that they could not make any changes to the system, as it might affect the database or computer, so a method of extracting the data and saving it was required.
The first step the customer decided to take was to get all of the records off the database by printing the records for each customer. This is where our Retro-Printer module came in – the customer did not want to print 1,000s of sheets of paper per customer and then scan them in. So with some assistance from the Retro-Printer module, backed up with remote support and some bespoke programming for the Retro-Printer, we set up a system so that the customer could print a batch of reports for each customer, which were then named according to the Customer ID and Report ID, ascertained from the printer output as we capture it.
This all fits nicely in with our approach to saving machine printouts, reducing the carbon footprint and saving valuable resources, without loss of functionality.
The customer had already been in touch previously with Progress who still exist, but as the software was v6 of the original software (copyright 1994), they could not offer an out of the box solution for extracting the data and importing it into a modern database, simply recommending that they find a Progress developer to assist. We therefore took the step, whilst the customer was busy printing off customer records, of tracking down a suitable Progress developer who has confirmed that they can help extract and convert the data when the customer is ready for that next stage.
That is just part of the added value which we provide to our customers, which helps with long-term customer retention.
If you want to find out more about how RWAP Software can assist you with recovering / extracting data from old systems safely, then please contact us.
