PC crashed, Motolab dyno software gone. Help please?

[Stormer]

Hi Everyone,

My friend owns a bike shop, and thay have a Motolab dyno. Unfortunately, the controller PC died, and they have lost the dyno software that was on it. Yes, I do admit that it is quite old, and unfortunately, no one made a backup of the software.

Just wondering if anyone knows where to get the software, ie, knows any place that has another installed Motolab dyno that still works?

The software is in DOS, so it is easy enough to just copy the entire directory, zip it up, and email it to me. I have contacted the manufacturer, but so far they have not replied.

Just so you can narrow it down, the manufacturer is at www.motolab.net. The card in the PC is an ISA version, and has 2 inputs, the roller sensor, and the rpm (from the HT lead)

Really hope someone out there can help. Thanks.

[ben2go]

AHHHHH man,you're screwed!Dos programs went out with the 80's.Gooder luck anyway.

[yamahonkawazuki]

how did teh pc die? can you elaborate?

[galahs]

Was thinking the same thing.

Can't recover the hard disk? Put it in another computer? Use a file recovery program to find the missing files?

[Stormer]

Thanks for the reply, ben2go. I know that DOS programs went out with the 80s 
That's why I posted here, just in case there was any software still floating around.

The bad thing is it is DOS. The good thing is it is DOS - no need for any installation, just copy and run.

As for recovering from the hard disk, well that is not possible from what I have tried. The hard disk itself has developed bad sectors, smack in the clusters that has the Motolab software. So no go on the recovery there (Just so you know, the computer is a Pentium, with 16 MB RAM and a 2.1 GB hard disk!  Talk about ancient!)

Thanks for the replies. I hope you guys don't mind if I bump the thread over the week just so that I am sure someone can't help me.

[Toledo Jim]

Try Spinrite: http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

[Stormer]

Thanks everyone. I have tried much software to recover the hard disk, but the only file managed was the motolab.exe executable.

At least now I know it is version 2.46e. So, anyone out there with the same version?

[CasiUSA]

I'm sure it has already been thought of, but just in case: Is there a software hack to use an alternative Dyno software with the Motolab hardware? If so, maybe that means better software possiblity for use on the dyno.
Just a thought

[Stormer]

This is the final update to this story.

Firstly, thanks CasiUSA. I actually did not think of the suggestion you made. After reading, I tried downloading some other dyno software. (Burgerman, sportdyno, etc) They sort of worked, but the problem was I did not know the settings of the data capture card. So that was a dead end.

About 10 days back, Motolab Spain did contact me. After sending them the Parallel Port dongle via DHL, I got the dongle and software (on 3.5" diskette!) back. A quick install of FreeDOS and the dyno software to a new computer, and I am now once again good to go!

And for all of you wondering, a backup (actually 3) has been made, and there is also a backup system on the PC.