Transfering Stuff From PC to PC

[jordan]

I just bought a new laptop for college!!! Now what I want to do is transfer stuff from the desktop I've been using for the past few years to the laptop. What's the easiest way to do this? I'd assume setting up a network but I really don't know what's involved in that. It should be basic stuff transfered like a few word files and some music. Can anyone tell me the easiest/cheapest way to do this? Thanks.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Buy a $20 flash drive and plug it into the USB port on one. You can copy it and paste it on the other computer.

[Callipygous]

cheapest would be to get a hotmail or yahoo account and mail everything to yourself. easiest would be the flashdrive capn refsmmat mentioned.

[Douglas]

cheapest would be to get a hotmail or yahoo account and mail everything to yourself. easiest would be the flashdrive capn refsmmat mentioned.

I third the motion on the flash drive. I transferred all my stuff from desktop to laptop, including the address book and my 'favorites' using a 256 Mb flash.

[jordan]

Well, I have a 512MB flash drive. It'll take a while to do the music that way I think but I guess it's not too bad. Is there no way to hook it up through the router we have and just send everything all at once rather than making a bunch of trips back and forth? Let's say I bought and external harddrive, wouldn't I have to be able to just move stuff freely from one to the other? Wouldn't this be the same sort of thing?

[Pangloss]

Yeah you can do it across the network, and it's really pretty automated to set up networking across a home router/hub/switch these days, but you have to learn how to access another computer through the network. I'm not sure what operating system you're using (maybe I just missed it), but there are various ways to do it, and I'm sure we'd be happy to help you figure that out.

 

An external hard drive is a pretty good solution as well, yes.

[jordan]

I'm not going to use an external hard drive, just comparing moving from computer to computer to it.

 

I'm using XP home to XP Pro.

[Pangloss]

That can be a bit problematic, as XP Home's networking capabilities are a bit thin and unreliable. You may have trouble finding the XP Pro computer on the network. But give it a shot, it USUALLY works, and it would be much faster.

 

This is a three-step process:

 

1) Configure the networking components on each computer. This is usually more or less automatic, but you will want to have your Windows CD-ROM ready.

 

2) Configure a share on one of the two computers (the one you want to pull files from or push files onto, your choice). You do this by opening Windows Explorer, right-clicking on a folder, and clicking on Sharing and Security. In the lower half of that window you'll see the Network Sharing section. I'm having to go by memory on this at the moment, because I've disabled it on this computer, but if I remember correctly you just click on "Share this Folder". Then you click on the Permissions button and give the "Everyone" group "Full Control" (click the checkbox).

 

3) Open Windows Explorer and click on My Network Places on the left side. In My Network Places you click on "Entire Network", and then "Microsoft Windows Network", and then "Workgroup", and it should show all of the available computers on your network in the main window on the right. Expand the computer's icon and you will see the shared drives.

 

That should be it, but if you run into any problems, feel free to holler.

[radiohead]

Install apache on your desktop and connect the two comps via a router. Put your whole C:/ drive on teh web server and just transfer the things you want, you get like 4-8 megs a second and it seem steh fastest and most reliable to me...

[H2SO4]

why dont you just get a cat5e cable, and connect the computers together with their RJ45 (ethernet) ports and run windows file transfer wizard.

 

Seems the cheapest and easiest way to do it.

[Dave]

For very simple applications like this, Windows file sharing is fairly easy as mentioned above. It's the method I'd use, at least.

[eon_rider]

You don't need a router

if you use a cross over cable.

 

You can buy a cross over cable for

1 dollar or less from your local tech store,

or have a tech friend make one for you.

 

A cross over cable takes the router out of the equation.

You just plug one side into your laptop and the other

into your desktop. And network away.

 

But sure you can use a router also.

What ever's simplest for you.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Otherwise if you have an IPOD with a 10/20 or 40 gb hard drive use that.

OR BURN A CD with all your stuff on it.

 

XP pro and XP home can network without any issue 90 percent of the time.

 

Good luck.

 

Eon.

 

PS... I hope you've been backing up your data

on a regular basis as it's a best practice.

Especially if you run into trouble during the data transfer.

 

best of luck again. I'm sure it will go fine.

 

Also you can find shareware programs that will allow you to transfer data under DOS using a laplink cable (serial or USB) (cheap to buy) if windows networking gives you problems. You shouldn't try any USB cable.

You need a specialized one to avoid shorting the power supply.

If that sounds too un-safe, then DON'T DO IT. Do the network thing.

[TheGeek]

In my opinion as mentioned before you should just connect the two computers with a crossover cable or just connect them using a usb.

[H2SO4]

ive found it isnt this easy (the way i mentioned above)

 

 

oK, SO I BOUGHT A LAPTOP, SAME SITUATION, HAVE A DESKTOP,WANNA TRANSFER STuff. So i connected the two via rj45 cables, and, and ran file transfer wizard. It wants me to run the progrm on the other computer and nothing will happen. I try to set up a home network between the to, but my network has limitied or no connectevity (WTF!, I HA TE NETWORKING) SO i cant get it to work..

 

 

But even early, i set up my wireless router, and tried to set up a home network so i can share files and the printer with the desktop. I ffailed miserabley. I setup the router fine, but not the network thing i was talking about.

 

 

 

Is this even possible through a wireless router?

 

And also, the router is a netgear. I set it up today, and was like, ok, so how do i secure this network so only i can use it. I cant figuer out how to secure my network. Right now it configuered for open access. Which sucks.

 

please help my guys.

[Pangloss]

More information is needed in terms of what you tried, what you were unable to do, and what sorts of error messages you received.

 

Regarding wireless security, if you're using Windows XP you need to go to Windows Update and download all the patches and service packs. That will provide your computer with WPA authentication. If your router has WPA (which I assume it does, being a new router), you should then be able to configure it with some straightforward button clicks. Holler if you have any problems.

[5614]

H2SO4:

Transferring files: This didn't work... why not? Could you not see the other computer or could you see it but not have access. You can transfer files over a wireless network, it works exactly the same as a wire network but via radio waves.

 

Security: I assume you are talking about encrypting your network so that not everybody can use it... (funny story: yesterday my cousin brought her laptop over and we using the internet from 2 houses away so she could send stuff to my computer via email, using neighbours internet, was very funny!). Encryption runs differently for different routers. There may be a tick box on the router config page, or something else, it should be documented either in a manual or on the internet.

 

Jordan: You should be able to set up a network between winXP and winXP Pro... I don't know what issues Pangloss was talking about when you mentioned networking them, I've never had any issues with XP vs. XP Pro.

[H2SO4]

ok, the thing is, i cant see my other computer on the network. On the other compuer it tells me im vonnected to the lan, and can get internet fine. Im wondering, does the whole thing have to be using crossover cables, becasue there all patch cables connecting my router to my modem to my computer. I bought a crossover able on ebay last night to set up a LAN just between the two computer is i cant get this netork to work. Ill post a picture of what i want to do in a second here, i just have to draw it and scan it (dont realy like paint)

[Dave]

Are you running any firewall software? I had multiple problems getting File Sharing to work between my computer and fileserver because of ZoneAlarm. Also, the default windows firewall might not be configured to allow filesharing, so it's probably worth checking that also.

[H2SO4]

windows firewall asked me to change the setting on it when i tried file transfer, so i did. Heres the picture of what im trying to do.

[H2SO4]

wow, that thing got HUGE!

[ecoli]

yeah, I recently networked my computers together and came up with the same problem. However, after a reboot, the problem went away, and I was able to "see" the other computer. I know this is probably not the problem, but just makee sure. It takes a while for the computers to recognize each other, even with a restart.

[H2SO4]

ya, i irebooted my computers and turned of all my network hardware and then restarteed everything, and t still wouldnt find the other computers. I get internet great though.

[5614]

So you can't see the computer, but can you communicate with it? Go into DOS by going to the start menu>run>cmd and then type the command "ping" (withouth the "") followed by the IP address of the other computer, so for example I would type:

ping 10.0.0.12

to ping the computer in the study in my house, note this is the internal IP of the computer, it is not the same as what you get when you go to a "what's my IP" website. If you do not know the internal IP of the other computer then go to it (physically) go into DOS and type "ipconfig" (without the "") and it'll bring up some info you want the part which says "IP Address.....:" and then it says it there.

 

What "ping" does is send a packet of data to the computer who's IP you enter. If it says "request timed out" then it can't send the packets, if it says "reply from..." etc etc then it means you can communicate with the other computer. It will work regardless of firewalls and the fact you can't "see" the other computer.

 

I'm tired, can't be bothered to type more (nothing personal!), try above, I'll come back to this later or tomorrow or some time!

[H2SO4]

i tried pinging my other computer with command propt, and the request timed out.

[Pangloss]

Did you share your printer or any folders on your computer? You have to actually tell it to do that at the folder/printer level.

 

Try this:

 

- Open the Run window (Windows-R)

- Type in the following: \\computername\c$

(replace "computername" with the name of the computer you're accessing)

- Enter "Administrator" for the username, and the password you created for the administrator when you installed Windows XP. (If you don't know it, this won't work.)

 

That should show you the root of the C drive, indicating that file sharing is indeed working.