Easiest way to transfer info from an old pc to a new pc?

Question

Is there a way I can just connect a cat 5 to both or should I use a router or what would be the easiest?

Answer 1

many people on Yahoo! Answers suggested to use the router to connect two computers but I did it successfully with a cat 5 cable. All you need to do is connect the cables on both ends. Note that the light on the network plug is ON on the both points. Run the network Setup wizard and while doing that create the workgroup and the workgroup's name should be same so they are on one workgroup and can see each other. You need to set up on computer as a host and another as a client. And make sure the firewall is not blocking you sharing of files. And when you are thru in this work.

You can copy files from another computer via network places or run the "Files and Settings Transfer Wizard". Click on Start-All Programs- Accessories-System Tools- Files And settings transfer wizard. Hope these details helps you.

Always remember to choose the best answer. Otherwise Yahoo! Community will do it.

Answer 2

The easiest , and fastest way is to take the hard drive out of the old computer, jumper it as a slave, and put it into the new computer. You can then just copy what you want. When you are done you can either keep it there, or put it back in the old machine.

If the old and new computer are XP, then before removing the old drive, run the XP migration wizard and have it save all of your personal information in an additional export folder. Then , when you remove this disk and place it into the new computer, just run the import wizard and you will get integration of your user account, desktop, email, etc done for you, saving a huge amount of time.

Answer 3

Easiest way is of course a cross cable with 2 NICs.

If you already have a router in place, just hook up the two PCs to the router.

Don't bother about those USB-to-USB cables.

Or if you know how to disassemble PCs, take out the hard drive from the old PC and hook it up to the new PC and copy your stuff over. This is the fastest way to copy your data already.

Answer 4

If both PCs are on the same netwok, you can share the drive and transfer files. You can use a hub to connect both PCs together. If you don't use a network hub (or router), you can use a cross-over cable to connect both PCs with the network port. Also, there is a USB to IDE (or SATA) adapter that you can use.

Answer 5

If your PC is really old and has no network card then there is a last resort: use a so-called nullmodem. That's a cable that connects PCs through the parallel port (LPT or printer). It's a feature seen less and less for _modern_ PCs but old ones have them.
Then next you use interlnk.exe/intersrv.exe (standard with DOS) to set up the channel.

Answer 6

Through my repair explorations, I recently visited
http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml
to learn how to create a xp boot disc. There was a link to free software to help in this process. This was one of the links presented to copy one hard drive to another :
Program recommended was Clone Max free at:
http://www.pcinspector.de/clone-maxx/uk/welcome.htm

This is the page with list of free utilities for hard drive backups:
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml

howtohaven.com also recommended copying your working drivers. This was the link of a list for free driver backup utilities:
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/driverbackup.shtml

This information was very useful to me. I hope it can help you!
brendaja

Answer 7

Use a router it is better if you want it easy....

Answer 8

acronis has a program go to www.acronis.com