Inter-Computer Transfer

Hey everyone,

I'm currently awaiting delivery of a M1530 I ordered (a month ago) and I was wondering how I can get all the files I need (porn, schoolwork, etc.) off my old desktop (Dell Dimension 4600) onto my new laptop.

I don't have an external hard drive, a DVD burner, or a USB flash drive so how can I do this? Just plug in a USB between the two and hope it recognizes?

If it matters, I'm running XP SP2 on my desktop, and my laptop will have Vista HP 32-bit.

A little help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

No, you wouldn't just get a plain USB cable and slap it into each computer (you would probably have a hard time finding a USB cable with the same plug on each end - they're available, just hard to find). Instead, you want to use a transfer cable such as the Belkin Easy Transfer Cable (I'm no Belkin fan, that was just the first link that I came to when I did the following google search: " vista usb transfer cable" (without quotation marks, of course).

 

If you have a wireless or wired router, you can share files on the computer that you will be transferring from, and see them on your new laptop by looking in My Network Places (or its equivalent in Vista), and drag the folders over. If you have lots of junk, it'll take a while because you will be transferring at or less than 27 Mbps (3.38 MB/s) if you have a wireless G router because the wireless equipment operates at half-duplex. If you don't have a router, I would consider getting a Wireless-N router because they can theoretically transfer at much greater speeds so that you can have all you files faster. Just another way to transfer files...

 

Thanks for the reply guys, I think I might go with the Belkin cable (but search for a cheaper equivalent first) because I won't have very long to transfer the files over (long story).

But if that falls through I'll use my router.

Thanks again!

 

I use Radmin to transfer files from my desktop to my notebook and vice versa. It is not free though, a free alternative is RealVNC and UltraVNC.

Other than that, I just share the folder in the network.

 

I would just save the money and use your router.

 

Transferring via a shared folder on the network sounds really good in theory, but it can be torture in practice if, like me, you have a pokey little 802.11b wireless with a theoretical top speed of 11Mbps - I made the mistake, once, of trying to transfer 2GB of pictures I had taken with my DSLR and stored on my notebook from the notebook to my home "server" without thinking it through, and ended up committing myself to a several-hour transfer. Ouch!

EDIT: I re-read my post, and realized that, while my point is valid, I may have unfairly implied that KarenA's solution wasn't a good solution, and that simply isn't the case. In fact, if you have a router, particularly one that can do Gigabyte internet, then the best, and the cheapest, solution is KarenA's; namely, use ethernet cables to connect both computers to the router, and then you can transfer at the highest rate of throughput that the computers can handle - that will almost certainly be faster than the usb transfer cables I linked to earlier.

 

Yeah, I have nearly 60G of stuff to transfer. Thanks for the suggestions Karen.

 

The Tornado works GREAT! We ordered several of these at work to send out to some of our remote users when we upgraded their laptops. Built in software recognizes each machine, and moving the files is simply drag and drop. Its expensive ($49 at Staples) but is so simple to use.

 

Why not just plug both the new laptop and the desktop into a switch (built into any recent router) by hard cable? It is only for the one transfer and you'll get 200Mbps full duplex speeds! Faster than any wireless unless you spend out the nose for N for everything from the same company using the same product revision lol...

Depending on what your desktop has you might even be able to throw a gigabit switch on the network (the M1530 should have a gigabit port) and then you're sitting on 1000mbps full duplex...

And the cost would be far cheaper than wireless mess and your speeds would be nicer...

I never use wireless for large data transfers it is just crap for it. The Belkin cable is a waste of money too. You could achieve better results with the method I mentioned above and it is something that will be guaranteed to work no matter what OS or computer you use today or in the future.

 

Well damn, that sounds great frazell.

I have high-speed internet cables so I can definitely hardwire both computers into the router.

How do I set it up so I can transfer files between them?

 

Yeah, hardwired network is they way to go, and probably the cheapest. If you have a wireless router, chances are that on the back of it there are 4 ports already. It also probably came with an Ethernet cable -- it looks just like the cable that connects your router to the cable modem/DSL modem.

You will plug both computers into the router, not into each other. After that, google for info on how to share files between them.

 

You can use the Windows Vista Easy Transfer Wizard to move files, user accounts, and even some programs to your new system. I used it with no problems when I moved my stuff from my old HP to my Dell. You can use the special Belkin cable, but if your cheap, like I am LOL, you can use your network. It really is too cool how it automates everything!


More about Windows Easy Transfer: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/96d5d811-6d52-4dff-b39b-76c64a131dfe1033.mspx

More about Windows Easy Transfer Companion: (You'll use this to move programs over to your new computer) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...eb-4e37-4be0-adfc-786786e73e50&DisplayLang=en

 

Yea i also recommend plugging in the ethernet cables directly to the router from the computers and share a folder between the two. I do not suggest trying to do it wirelessly seeing that i've had first hand bad experiences transferring files that way...u may often get errors.

 

If you have both computers on a network already, it's easiest just to use that network and set up Windows file sharing.

Otherwise, if you want, you can just connect the two machines directly with an ethernet cable. No router or switch or anything is needed. And in the network control panel, Manage network connections, tell Windows to create a new connection, choose a peer-to-peer type connection, and just go through the wizard. You'll need to set up Windows filesharing too if it isn't already. You can then just drag the files from one computer to the other.

 

I use a crossover cable > wireless. I'm still trying to figure out how to get Windows to prioritize file operations through the cable and not through the wireless connection. I ended up just end up disconnecting the wireless connection when I gotta do massive file operations.

 

For me it seems to use the wire when it's plugged in. To tune this setting, you want to change the "Metric" on the interface, but I'm not sure if it resets when you unplug it.

 

You are aware that a normal ethernet cable would not work in that case? You need a special ethernet cable for what you advise. Can't remember if crossover is the right name for that...

 

Not really. Most modern equipment can handle the crossover with a normal cable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable#Automatic_crossover

I've done it with a normal ethernet cable, in any case.

 

Back in the day when I would skip the router/switch interface, a normal cable would not work.

 

According to this Wikipedia article, gigbyte ethernet devices generally incorporate Automatic MDI/MDI-X configuration, under which no special cross-over cable is needed. The article also notes that some 10/100 devices also incorporated that configuration option, but not to the degree that it is in gigabyte devices. So, if you're equipment is new enough, e.g., runs gigabyte ethernet, then you probably don't need a special cross-over cable; on the other hand, if all you've got is 10/100, you probably, but not necessarily, will need a special cross-over cable.

 

Yep..it seems that way shyster...as wishmaker said; I was taught that connecting two computers together u use a crossover cable...its the first for me reading and knowing about this 'Automatic MDI/MDI-X' thing....

 

Auto MDI-X(I think it stands for Media Dependent Interface - (X) Crossover) was pretty common on HP routers. Not all gigabit ports support it either.

 

Back in the day we did not have Gigabit and the normal ones I used did not have the MDI/MDI-X protocol. One of the reasons I stated that one should use a crossover cable. I used cable to cable once or twice and did not really like it so I went out and bought switches and routers. They were expensive back in the day...