Transfering data between PC's

Jimmy1983 · 14 Jan 2009 at 20:11

I want to move around 50Gb maybe more of data from 1 PC to another. Can I just plug a cat 5 cable into connect the PC's together and transfer data that way?

J.B · 14 Jan 2009 at 20:17

Most PCs will allow this as they have auto sensing ports, you might need to do the whole, network sharing wizard thing.

Jimmy1983 · 14 Jan 2009 at 20:19

Ok thanks

Domi · 14 Jan 2009 at 21:15

hmmmmm unless some networking miracle happened that I missed in the last few years the answer to your question is no.

To network 2 PCs you can use what is called a crossover cable between them and then set up a network using a network sharing wizard. I supose this could be described as a bit of cat 5 cable but they are not actually that easy to come by.

Your best bet is to actually take the hard drive out of one and put it in the other and disc to disc transfer it will be much much faster.

Jimmy1983 · 14 Jan 2009 at 21:26

Didnt really want to swap HDD's around

Domi · 14 Jan 2009 at 21:36

Do you have broadband ?

Any sort of hub, router ? if you do things are much easier.

kazakore · 14 Jan 2009 at 22:12

Serial cable, HyperTerminal and about a week?

USB key again, and again, and again, and again etc?

mpj88 · 14 Jan 2009 at 22:13

What os's are on the systems? But as said above just use a cat5 cable, i do with my laptop and desktop.

kazakore · 14 Jan 2009 at 22:14

Or Pop into your local M***** - The Electronics Specialist, and pick up a crossover cable for about a fiver. (Sorry got told off last time I actually mentioned their name.)

Ultim8 · 14 Jan 2009 at 23:29

to network the pc's you have 2 options as said above:

1) if you have a router then network them, very easy make sure both computers are on the same workgroup and share the folder you want and setup the network.
2) you have no router and want to link a network cable directly from 1 pc to another you need a crossover cable.

Failing that get one of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FL-010-CS

Jimmy1983 · 15 Jan 2009 at 19:13

Yer on a wireless network, so will try the router/network idea.

Main Pc has vista X64, other XP Pro

sithlord · 15 Jan 2009 at 19:22

You don't need crossover cables anymore. If one of the PCs is 2-3 years old and has gigabit lan port it will autosense it, any 5e cat cable will work. Normal 100Mbit ethernet ports may need crossover cables but you can also buy a little device that switchs the cable from X-over or pass-through.

I just transferred 150GB using this method. I just bought a gigabit PCI card for the old PC for around £5.

Jimmy1983 · 15 Jan 2009 at 21:19

Main PC is in sig, other is quite old tho

Are you using bandwidth when sending files over your network to another pc on your network?

sithlord · 15 Jan 2009 at 22:35

Jimmy1983 said:
Main PC is in sig, other is quite old tho

Are you using bandwidth when sending files over your network to another pc on your network?

No your not.

Oh and you do have a gigabit lan ports on your motherboard so just get a standard cat 5e ethernet cable.

Jimmy1983 · 15 Jan 2009 at 22:37

Not sure if my older PC has that tho. Anyway I can find out?

bremen1874 · 16 Jan 2009 at 01:35

You don't need gigabit on both machines. The machine with gigabit will configure itself to match what's at the other end of the cable.

If you haven't got any network cables at the moment you may as well get a crossover cable as they'll be less to go wrong. If you've already got a standard cable then just give it a try as the worst that can happen is it not working.