PC to PC File Transfer

[Steven]

Now I'm not the most technical person around, so apologies if the answer to this question is very simple.

I have about 1000 photos stored on my PC. It's an old Tiny PC and has been running really slowly recently despite defragmenting the HD and cleaning all the crap off it. My worry is that if it goes bang I will lose all the photos.

So I have bought a second HD, an old Compaq machine to back-up all my photos on. What would be the easiest way of connecting the two machines so I can transfer a copy of the files over? Is this even possible? I know I can copy to to discs and then to the other machine but this would take ages! Any tips?

 

[soap_dodger]

You could use a crossover cable, if you have the correct port on the back of your computers.

If not you could use a pen drive or get a USB card reader and transfer the pics on to the card and plug it in to the new computer and transfer.

 

[Hellcat]

Easiest is a USB drive. You could get one that you could copy all your photos to - or just get a little (512mb) to copy from one machine to another.

You could get 2x ethernet (network) cards and a router/switch/hub and 2 network cables or a single cross-over cable. And transfer via that.

You could get 2 wireless cards, and make an ad-hoc wireless network between them.

Or finally for now you could install the other hard drive in your first machine and copy from disk to disk.

 

[Steven]

Ron, did you miss the bit that said I'm not the most technical person around? That may as well be in Greek.

A USB pen drive sounds like the way forward. Simple and cheap.

 

[Steven]

Actually, I just had a brainwave. I could use the 1GB SD card in the camera, connect it to the pc I use, copy the photos back onto it and then connect it to the other pc and downloads the copies.

Things were much more simple when we used 35mm film cameras!

 

[Hellcat]

Whos this Ron guy?

I've just got home from work.. Takes me a while to return to human mode. USB stick is the easiest. Plus by the end of the copying you have a useful USB stick. Carry it with you - you never know when you'll use it next.

If you wanted both those computers on 'the net' then you would want to be considering a home network, but that's maybe something for the future for now.

edit: Or do as above

 

[Steven]

Ron? You know I meant Rob.

 

[Chas Uno]

I'd go with Hellcats suggestions

You can buy 1GB pen/ flash/ memory stick drives now for little money (about £15), and they can also come in very handy too once you've finished your file transfers.

I've also seen USB stand alone hard drives, I think you can get 150GB for about £80. Simply plug in to the USB port and away you go.

I always back up my photos to CD as well as to a second hard disk. I just wait until I've taken enough photos to fit onto a blank CD, then burn them onto a CD. I also store all my photos in dated folders so it's easy to work out where I am when it comes to backing up.

I also mirror my hard drive by having a second slave hard disk installed for back up purposes only. I use Norton Ghost to mirror the drives, it's simple to use

Either way, you're doing the right thing by backing up Steve. A hard drive is easy to replace. The contents, especially irreplaceable photos, can't be replaced.

 

[custard]

couldnt you just bung the 2nd HD in the machine and transfer them in situ?

 

[Steven]

If I could, I would.

 

[custard]

do you have only one HD fitted?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-ATA33-IDE-H...6QQihZ006QQcategoryZ41994QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
one cable,jumpers set master/slave or cable select if your set that way(dont worry about that)
and you can drag n drop

 

[Hellcat]

Sod buying one.. I'll send you one for free.

 

[The Negotiator]

1gb memory stick £7 or so, 2gb 11, 4gb £20, neoshop insane deals, all prices inclusive of P&P

 

[Steven]

Just back from Tescos and I bought a nifty little read/write drive for under a tenner. It's SD compatible, so I stick my 1 GB SD card in and away it goes. Very handy. Thanks guys.

 

[cubixgames]

You could of got a USB transfer kit, There about £6.99 from computer shops, There good as the software works on all versions and you can just leave the caples plugged in if you have PCs close to each other some not all will also work as a internet connection depending on OS. But networking it problem the best a Cross over cable and some messing with settings and you could just mount both hard drives on both machines no more plugging in and unplugging stuff, Just turn them on send the files your done.

 

[Steven]

That USB transfer lead sounds exactly what I needed. I'll look into that, thanks.

 

[custard]

i was looking at one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-to-IDE-2-...4QQihZ017QQcategoryZ41994QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
as i have ide and sata drives so want a bit of flexibility.
this would have been if you were dumping straight an HD rather than a pc
be handy for when i flash my 360 drive too

 

[cubixgames]

The system i have for sale in the classifiieds at the moment has a Direct Sata 2 Plug in the back of it which i find really handy, Other then the fact you have to run a 4 Pin power plug out the back of your system to use it with Sata 2 Plug and play hard drives....

You can get the USB transfer cables kits from Dabs.com i think, Not too sure ive had mine for years and its never failed....