Hard Drive Sharing

[Thehubb]

Hey i just built my new comp and love it. However my old one is still very capable and has a lot of hd space. Is there any way i can hook the two together without having to network them? I dont think i have another ethernet slot in my router to do that. I only need my new one to have internet access. All i really want to do is transfer files and stuff. Thats all. Thanks.

 

[Fardringle]

Regardless of the method you use, "hooking" the computers together will still be networking in some form or another.

Some of the options you can use are:

Standard ethernet, using NICs in each computer and a hub/switch/router between them.
Crossover ethernet, using NICs in each computer and a crossover cable between them.
Firewire, using firewire cards in the computer and a firewire cable between them.
USB networking, using USB cable between the computers.
Serial null modem, using a serial cable between serial ports on the computers.

 

[wpshooter]

Unless you have a tremendous amount of information to move, and if you have a CD-RW in the computers, just copy the information to a CD and then copy it on to the other computer. I suggest using Roxio/Adaptec Easy CD Creators Drag & Drop function, works great. Also, a USB thumb drive would work quite well.

 

[Slowlearner]

You do want all your computers to have internet access, and you do have NICs in all , if so just add switch for <20$.

 

[Thehubb]

No the older one reall doesn't need to be connected to the internet. I just wanted to be able to acces it through my new comp so i can just move files over to it for storage. I dont really feel like burning everything to a disk and thumb drives take forever for the amount of info i want to move. The USB/Firewire route sounds good. But what do i need to do to get that running?

 

[Slowlearner]

If you have NICs in both computers, then all you need is a switch and cables. Networking is really the simplest way to transfer files. Both USB and Firewire will also require additional hardware and/or special cables - and may not work consistently. You already have the basic setup and the constraint seems to be no available port in the router, then adding a simple switch or hub will provide additional ports.

 

[compso]

I would just install your old hard drive into the new PC and transfer any important data. After that I would format the old secondary and configure Windows to store your swap file on this drive. Note: make a list of data you want on the new PC before doing any of this to make sure that you will get all of your data.

 

[drinkmorejava]

Originally posted by: Slowlearner
If you have NICs in both computers, then all you need is a switch and cables. Networking is really the simplest way to transfer files. Both USB and Firewire will also require additional hardware and/or special cables - and may not work consistently. You already have the basic setup and the constraint seems to be no available port in the router, then adding a simple switch or hub will provide additional ports.

Actually you don't need a switch/hub or anything. Just directly connect them both with a network cable. Assuming your other computer isn't insanely old, it prob has automatic support for cable detection so you won't even need a crossover cable. Then, in the My Computer address bar, or if it's not enabled and have no clue what I'm talking about, use the IE address bar. type "\\XXXX" where XXXX is the network name of the computer you are trying to access. If you do not know the name go to Control Panel->system->computer name.

It will come up with all the shared folders and drives on the comp