Transfer data from old pc to new pc help!

Didihno

Hi there,
I bought a new Dell Dimension 9200 with Vista.
Nice but expensive.
Anyway my old pc a Dell dimension 8200 runs XP.

I'm trying to hook them up so I can transfer the hard drive info from one to the other so I bought a usb male to male cable thinking it would be a plug and play operation. Wrong!
I shared the harddrive in the old pc, but the new one wn't see anything connected. Smart transfer doesn't pick up anything either.
Do I really need to go and buy a smart transfer cable to do this?

Help!

Soundman

Why don't you just remove the HDD from the old computer and slave it in the new one. Just transfer from there or else leave the HDD in as a spare.

Didihno

Soundman wrote:

Why don't you just remove the HDD from the old computer and slave it in the new one. Just transfer from there or else leave the HDD in as a spare.

Yeah that was my first option, but when I went to put the old drive into the new pc, WTF? the connections are all different!!! Technology has moved on it seems.

I know I could buy an external 500gig and just copy the stuff, but I want to try this first.

Soundman

Aha. Fair enough. Get yourself an external enclosure then? Or perhaps an adapter so you can use the old HDD internally. ~Presumably it would be an IDE-SATA adapter you would need.

John2002

It might be possible to disconnect the IDE cable from the CD-ROM drive and connect it to the HDD from the old PC.

matt-dublin

there should be IDE connectors on the motherboard, if in the even ou would like to connect an IDE device...

take the hard drive and IDE cable out of your old pc and plug it directly into the motheboard in your new one...

ethernet

The newer Dell machines have SATA connectors instead of the older IDE connectors. Your old HDD probably has an IDE connector.

I'd suggest getting networking running and retry sharing the drive in your old machine. To save yourself the strain, buy a 3.5" IDE enclosure for the HDD.

This is a HDD with an IDE connector:

mike65

you need one of these

http://www.inmax.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=59&products_id=2443&zenid=469c140c12aef763630e06185ce5014b

I think.

Mike.

555guy

Why don't you get yourself a crossover network cable to hook the two machines together, setup a workgroup and share the folders you want to transfer.

Mr. Presentable

Get yourself a crossover ethernet cable and network the machines. I assume both have network cards in (standard on machines in the last 5 years). Share the old drive and transfer .

If you need a crossover cable, I'm certain somebody here can help you out. I may even have one lying about.

Edit: Snap!

mike65

Would'nt it be better to simply stick the old ATA drive into the new PC and use a converter card (as linked above)? Or am I showing my iggerance?

Mike.

Mr. Presentable

mike65 wrote:

Would'nt it be better to simply stick the old ATA drive into the new PC and use a converter card (as linked above)? Or am I showing my iggerance?

Mike.

Sound advice as always, Mike. But he probably wants to do it now, rather than wait for a convertor, and he probably wants to put the IDE dirve back in the old PC to use/sell on so the convertor'd only get used once, and a Xover cat5 might cost as little as nothing.

mike65

this decive is proberly better

http://www.usb-ware.com/serial-ata-ide-converter.htm

and I'll need one myself if I want to add my biggest IDE drive to the Insprion which I've ordered. You can't have too much memory be it RAM or ROM.

Mike.

Cassiel

You don't need the posh smart transfer cable by Belkin and others. As recommended, get a ethernet patch/cross cable, shouldn't stand you more than a tenner. And use the Smart transfer program on the Vista machine to create a CD-ROM which you stick on the XP machine. Worked without a problem.

Didihno wrote:

Hi there,
I bought a new Dell Dimension 9200 with Vista.
Nice but expensive.
Anyway my old pc a Dell dimension 8200 runs XP.

I'm trying to hook them up so I can transfer the hard drive info from one to the other so I bought a usb male to male cable thinking it would be a plug and play operation. Wrong!
I shared the harddrive in the old pc, but the new one wn't see anything connected. Smart transfer doesn't pick up anything either.
Do I really need to go and buy a smart transfer cable to do this?

Help!

Naikon

nipplenuts wrote:

Sound advice as always, Mike. But he probably wants to do it now, rather than wait for a convertor, and he probably wants to put the IDE dirve back in the old PC to use/sell on so the convertor'd only get used once, and a Xover cat5 might cost as little as nothing.

Yeah, I think might be the way to go for ease and time saving.
Ethernet is a better solution than USB tbh.
Crossover cables are very easy to get these days.
Gigabit ethernet ftw:D

Didihno

Wonderful stuff lads, many thanks.
To answer a few questions:
No network card on the old Dell, which is why all this is happening.
I took it out to fit in the usb 2.0 card and a raid card. Do'h.

Don't want to get into adaptors as I don't want to keep the old drive.I thought I'd be able to do this with a standard usb cable and some wonder software from the essential thread, I'm out a fiver on that!!! I can get the smart cable for a few bob more on ebay, or I might just drop into maplins.

Or I might ask IT for a network card.

Mr. Presentable

Didihno wrote:

Or I might ask IT for a network card.

And a crossover while you're at it

mike65

Bump! Didihno did you get the transfer done yet and was it painless?

I got my new PC today so I would like to know how it went

Mike.

Didihno

mike65 wrote:

Bump! Didihno did you get the transfer done yet and was it painless?

I got my new PC today so I would like to know how it went

Mike.

Hi Mike,

Well let me tell you that was an ordeal!!!

I eventually got a loan of a PCI network card and crossover cable.
The card went in easy peasy and cable connection straightforward, as was copying and installing 'smart transfer'
But it didn't work.
The two pc's would not see each other.
After several reinstalls and much messing about with the 'setting up a network wizard' I gave up for the night.
Next day I started up both machines but instead of trying the 'smart transfer' I just went into the Vista machine and tryed looking at available network drives. There it was, my f: drive shared from the old pc.
After jumping around like I just scored in front of the Kop I copied all my info across the network. Took 8 hours for the 160GB, not too shabby.
I'm sure there was something ITish that I missed but that was a nightmare, and it wasn't over.
Somewhere along the line I completed screwed up my BB connection.
Had to reinstall it from scratch and even then I had to manually enter DNS numbers etc. Eventually got that working today.

So if you know your stuff better than me (likely) give the network a try.
Or pay for the fancy cable, I believe its idiot proof.

Thanks to all for the advice, I'm sure I'll be back soon!!!

mike65

Ah you're scaring me now.

I think I'll buy an adapter card so the ATA disk can work with a SATA mobo.

Mike.

BostonB

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=48965&doy=15m7