File Transfer from Old PC?

besty

Hi, I'm getting rid of my old PC in my room. It's from 1999 so not the hottest piece of technology around. Still, there is some stuff on it that I want and am wondering what is the best way to transfer it to my laptop. (Bear in mind that it has no internet connection).

Can I run a LAN cable from it to my laptop and send files that way?

Thanks.
Besty

Sandals

yeah sure, of course just use an ethernet cable, you'll have to reset IPS however;

besty

Reset IPS? Sorry I'm a bit of a novice. Thanks for the help.

layke

Get an ethernet crossover cable and run the home networking wizard. It's the easiest and fastest way of doing it.

bpmurray

If you run a LAN cable directly between machines, you have to switch some of the signals. This is called a crossover cable.

The IP (Internet Protocol) address is what uniquely identifies each machine. It is usually presented as 4 numbers in the range 0-255, separated by ".". When you connect the machines, their IP addresses may have to be set to allow them to talk to one another. If you usually connect to a DHCP server which will automatically set up the address for you, you'll have to set up the address manually. Without going into the reasons why, the easiest solution is to give one machine the address of 192.168.0.1 and the other 192.168.0.2.

besty

bpmurray wrote:

If you run a LAN cable directly between machines, you have to switch some of the signals. This is called a crossover cable.

The IP (Internet Protocol) address is what uniquely identifies each machine. It is usually presented as 4 numbers in the range 0-255, separated by ".". When you connect the machines, their IP addresses may have to be set to allow them to talk to one another. If you usually connect to a DHCP server which will automatically set up the address for you, you'll have to set up the address manually. Without going into the reasons why, the easiest solution is to give one machine the address of 192.168.0.1 and the other 192.168.0.2.

OK, I'll try that then. I'll have to disable DHCP and do it manually? Will the networking wizard not do it automatically for me?

Oh, I just remembered they are running different windows platforms. (Laptop XP Pro and PC Windows 98)

besty

layke wrote:

Get an ethernet crossover cable and run the home networking wizard. It's the easiest and fastest way of doing it.

Is this the same as a normal ethernet cable?

conzy

No, It look the same but some of the wires are physically crossed, you will need to buy one.

Or if you have a hub or a switch or a router, you can use that and standard patch cables.

P.s If you have a router it will assign IP addresses and you can leave it to "obtain an IP address automatically"

besty

I have a router alright. What would the setup there be then?

conzy

Connect both PCs to a port on the router (not the uplink port)

Make sure both pcs are set to receive an ip address automatically

Run the network setup wizard on both

Give them different names, but the same workgroup

Now right click on the C drive of the PC you want to take files off, click sharing and security.

Share the drive, click ok to a few warnings.

And thats it.

P.s if you are running a firewall on the PCs you will need to click Allow when one tries to access the other, if you have no firewall, then dont do this;)

netwhizkid

Another way to get the old files is to take out the physical hard drive from the old PC and get yourself a USB 2.0 IDE Adaptor off eBay and transfer the important old files to your new laptop. I am not endorsing the eBay product as the seller has only 6 pieces of feedback but just using it for an example. Then I presume you will be throwing out the old PC for recycling. Keep the old hard drive and blank it out after saving the important files to the Laptop. Then come along and copy all your important files Old & New onto the Hard Drive. Then should you have the misfortune of your laptop getting stolen (like this guy) or broken you will have them archived there on the old Hard Drive safe & sound. Providing the HD is big enough it will do the job fine. You said 1999 so I am assuming it would around the 20GB range. I took the old HD out of my PC and inserted it into my Dell Dimension 8400 Desktop temporarily and copied over the files. See what I did here

SeanW

I had to do the same thing when I bought my (then) new computer back in 2002.

No CD Recorder on either machine.
Floppy drive on the old machine busted
No network capabilities on either machine, nor would I have had the skill 2 use
Inadequate paralell ports on the new machine.
dial-up internet (no chanc of putting the contents into an on-line store)

I got some simple, but effecive advice - pull the hard drive from the old machine, put it into the new one and copy the stuff across.

kaimera

A crossover cable and lan pump

Allows downloads to be paused and resumed. Handy if using a wireless link just in case it drops the connection.

besty

OK, thanks for the advice guys. The old computer has no ethernet port so it would appear that taking the actual hard drive from the old PC may be the only way and I really don't have the ability or confidence to do that.

Thanks though.

Capt'n Midnight

you could still use a laplink cable serial or parallel

www.marxcomputers.ie also used to do a USB transfer cable for about €30
course that may not work on windows 95/98/98se/me unless it states it - it almost certainly won't work on DOS/Win3.x/NT4

or borrow a usb HDD

you can also get a usb network adaptor

lots of options - what OS and what ports ?

besty

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

you could still use a laplink cable serial or parallel

www.marxcomputers.ie also used to do a USB transfer cable for about €30
course that may not work on windows 95/98/98se/me unless it states it - it almost certainly won't work on DOS/Win3.x/NT4

or borrow a usb HDD

you can also get a usb network adaptor

lots of options - what OS and what ports ?

I wouldn't be too confident of any USB device working to be honest.
It's Windows 98'. It has 2 USB ports. The last time I tried to use one of them though, (with a Dell USB Memory Key) it wouldn't work.

Capt'n Midnight

98 or 98SE ? they were different mainly in USB support.

Also unless the dell usb key came with a driver for 98/98se I would almost guarantee it NOT to work (and in a good few cases I've had usb keys not work in 98 even with the latest driver off the companies web site)

check your windows version and then check what drivers come with the device be it usb nic or cable or usb hdd or usb memory stick - one gig at a time

or try to get a laplink cable and then there is another level of pain with getting it running