I have a friend who has Windows 98 on her old computer and Windows XP on her new one. She is wanting to transfer files from her old PC to her new one but the old PC doesn't have a CD-R and only has a floppy but she is wanting to transfer more than a floppy can handle. I was thinking of two methods: parallel cable and USB cable. How fast would either be? How do you go about doing it? Is it as simple as just hooking both computers up and going from there?
long time no advise Pun. You are into learning teching these days arent you? do yourself a favor and go buy yourself a external drive that can be connected via USB...you will find many uses for it while working on computers since it can be easily moved from one machine to another. If you had one of those, you could hook it up and transfer the files from one to another easily.
I really don't have the extra moolah to go and buy a piece like that but I may buy one and just take it back and get my money back. Is it too long to explain how to do it one of the other ways I mentioned, I know it will be hella slow.
Just pop the old drive out, remove the IDE cables from the CD-ROM on the new computer, and put the old drive in temporarily. Boot up, and make a folder called DATA TRANSFER on her desktop, and move all data there and have her sort through it at her leisure.
this method is a bit more hassle, but it is the quickest way as far as data transfer goes. and, actually...you can get a decent small external drive for around a 100 or so..dont have time to look up a specific model right now, but I know I have seen some smallish ones(<60G) that werent terribly expensive.
I find that incredibly difficult to believe. You should be able to upgrade your machine without voiding your warranty.
Oh, I thought that is why they put that sticker there because if you remove or break it it voids the warranty but maybe not on a Dell.
The parallel cables will work but it's very slow. Go to system>files & settings transfer wizard and set up both computers. Or just buy a USb flash drive for $25-50 and make it simplier. If you have a mp3 player that can be recognized as a mass storage device, then you don't have to spend anymore money.
How many megabytes worth of files does she wish to transfer? The flash drive as suggested by mleahy999 may be the way to go. You can generally get a 512MB one for around $30.00.
There's a sticker blocking you from opening the case? I'm Dell Certified and I've never seen this (not that I don't believe you). You definately don't want to void the warranty. In that case, you probably want to invest in a USB-IDE converter or USB Drive enclosure. You can get them for under $20, and if your friend wants to move her data, she should pay for it.
On my Macs I simply took an ethernet crossover cable (available at radio shack) and connected the two Macs. The newer computer saw the older one instantly. Just copied the stuff over. I'm sure you can do the same with PC's. esp. with XP.
Ditto. This is how I do it. If you have never cracked a PC case before, I strongly suggested you do not do this yourself unsupervised. If you do not have a lot of data to move (which is never the case for me), the USB flash drive would do the trick. I have heard very bad things about external USB HDD wrt reliability. This was some time ago fwiw; proceed with care.
I have a 512 MB USB stick and I will take it to her and let her try that. Hopefully I won't have to install anything because I cannot find the CD-ROM it came with.
I guess this is a hijack question, but it's related and would be one way to transfer the files... Anyone know of cheap server space to backup a hard drive? I'm talking gigs. Or should I spend my money on a dvd burner?
Old Computer: stick a blank floppy IN. Move the file she wants into the floppy. New Computer: take the floppy from the old computer and put it into the new one. Copy the file from the floppy into the new computer. Repeat this as necessary until you're done. After 123 hours of switching Floppies: Presto! --------- Seriously, though, the USB flash jump drive is your best bet. You shouldn't have to install anything on the machine, since Windows '98 machines came with USB 1.0 and ES came with USB 2.0.
You can get external USB hard drives for about $1.00/GB or less (e.g. 160GB drive is generally < $160). They generally come with software to enable complete or selective backups on a scheduled basis.
Yeah, that's what I just did for work but I didn't pay for it etc. I thought some server space would be super cheap these days though. Thanks. The dvd route would be more of a pain but I get movies out of it.
The problem with server space is the slowness of the transfer if you want to back up GBs of data compared to using a USB hard drive. A DVD writer would work as well. I have used Norton Ghost to back up a HD and it works well. You can also pick and choose files to reload/recover using Ghost. As an aside, if you have ever bought ANY Symantec software product, you qualify for the upgrade price on any other piece of software via the Symantec web site.
OK, she wanted to do something totally different than what she told me. She went to Radio Shack and bought some CAT5 crossover cables because that is what they told her to get to do what she wants. She is wanting to use XP's File & Settings Transfer to transfer the files and settings from her Win 98 PC to her Win XP PC. She has the CAT5 crossover cables and I ran the Wizard but on the 98 PC it gives me 4 options: Direct Cable connection (Serial ports) Home or Office Network Device (Floppy) Other (other devices) The XP PC gives me all the options above EXCEPT the Home or Office Network option. The Win 98 is connected to another computer (possible network), does that matter? How do I connect the two computers using the CAT5 crossover cables? Oh by the way, the XP computer recognizes the old one. I believe it says Direct Connections or something like that under Network Connections and it shows the old computer is connected but nothing has been sent or received. Why is that?
