I would appreciate opinions on the best method of transfering files from one computer to another. The old computer is an H-P running Windows98; the new computer is a Dell running WindowsXP. WindowsXP help file says the two computers should be connected to one another via a “null modem serial cable.” I am unable to locate a source for said cable; most places I’ve tried want me to buy a flash memory device. I am completely confused by the entire process and would appreciate any and all inputs. Thanks in advance.
Does the old machine have a CD burner (burn data disks) or a network card (crossover cable)? USB (they make usb cables for this task and the software for both machines(I read this in another thread here last week))?
There are several ways to transfer data from one to the next. You might even be able to set up the old harddrive in the new machine as a slave device, depending on if you have PATA or SATA in the new machine. Not sure if FAT32 drive will play nice with NTFS OS or not.
Others will be here shortly with more info, but the good news is there are several ways to do this.
The old machine does not have a CD burner or a network card.
A null modem cable (aka a crossover cable) is simply a cat5 network cable (ethernet) with a twisted pair. You connect both computers via Ethernet cards with this cable, and establish a network connection. It has been some years since I have done this, so I don’t know the step-by-steps.
Of course, without an Ethernet card on the old machine, this is not possible.
Although, etherent cards are fairly cheap these days.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812117821 <-- $1.50 for the cable
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833117108 <-- $6.00 for the card
Bzzzt. Wrongo. A null moden cable is a serial cable with crossover links.
Here’s a wiring diagram for them:
http://www.loop-back.com/null-mod.html
You can get them at the usual places like CompUSA.
But… It’s one of the all time slowest and most painful ways to transfer files. You need to set up something like Direct Cable Connection on both machines, etc. Ick.
A flash drive is a really great idea. But barring that, I would just stick the old drive in the new computer temporarily and copy the files.
The USB flash drive is likely the easiest solution. Of course, make sure that both pcs have USB connections, and that you get a drive big enough to hold your biggest file you need to move (assuming you go that route).
I personally already have too many damn cables, and would avoid using more if at all possible. Plus, USB flash drives are neat and cheap. I think you can get 256 mb for like 20 or 30 bucks now.
A few years ago I was faced with this problem and although I was a bit nervous about it, the solution I used was very easy.
I removed the hard drive from the old computer and put it, temporarily, in the new one. The new computer instantly recognized the new drive and then it was just drag and drop my old stuff into new folders.
I have a 256mb flash drive that I bought to move stuff from a WindowsME machine to a Windows2000 machine—both those OSs accept the flash drive w/o a driver. The Windows98 machine I am dealing with now insists on having a driver installed from a CD, which I don’t have—in fact, I don’t remember ever having had one. I’ve tried downloading the driver from the PNY Technologies website, but the Windows98 machine refuses to recognize it—it recognized the flash drive okay, but insists the driver be installed from a CD (or disk). If there is a way around that problem, I would love to know about it. I’d really like to use the flash drive but the driver problem has me stymied.
Maybe put the driver on a floppy or CD.
I guess the best ideas are the most simple—the instant I read this reply, I smacked myself upside the head. I’ll definitely give this a shot.
Zebra, the new computer belongs to my sister, as does the old one. She has a lot of financial info on the old one and I think she would probably fall down dead if she saw me ripping the machine apart. If Revtim’s idea re the floppy doesn’t work out, I might have to resort to doing as you suggest.
If you go this route (the harddrive swap (as I suggested in post #2)), check the new computer and see how the hardrive is connected before ripping the drive out of the old machine. You may not be able to do this if the new machine has different (SATA) connections then the old one (PATA). Also, check to make sure you have an extra plug for the harddrive in the new machine to power the old harddrive. If not, you can get an adaptor/splitter and that will work for you, but again, the new machine may have different types of power connectors for the harddrives.
You’ll need to open up both machines and examine the connectors closely before going ahead with this.
The hard drive transfer is definetly the best way. Barring that, I would buy an external hard drive with both USB 1 (for the old machine) and 2 (the new, much faster standard) support. I recently bought an 80Gb one for 80 dollars. You can just plug it into the old machine and write the entire hard drive to it. It will be slow copying from the old machine but lightning fast once you get it to the new one. It should be pretty trouble-free in both directions. The beauty of that solution is that you have a back-up or portable drive to keep and everyone should really have one of those anyway.