Transfering data from PC to PC ?

[mfds]

Whats the easiest and fastest way of transfering data between PC's hard drives ?
I used 'Laplink' a few years ago, is that still avialable for Win98 ?
Or can I do it using the USB ports ? If so what transfer rate could I expect ?

[SLF 999]

Laplink is still available and should work for you , I noticed it in PC world yesterday, cant give you an other details, but I think that this would be the easiest option.

[Cornish Jack]

Laplink works fine. Not the fastest transfer times by any means but it does the job. There was a freebie version of Laplink Professional in (I think) PC Plus mag cover CD a couple of months back. I used it to transfer 130 Mbs from laptop to desktop and left it doing its own thing overnight.

[mfds]

Thanks Cornish Jack and SLF99

In days of DOS when I last used Laplink it required a 'Laplink Cable'. Does it now work via USB-USB ?

Maybe it easier and quicker to burn a CD and transfer that way ? Anyone recommend an extrenal USB CDR ? Starcomputers sell Freecom CDR's for £135 anyone used these (or Freecom USB external HD's). ?

[Tinstaafl]

If you have Win 95 or 98 on both PCs then you already have the ability to cable connect them. From Win 95 MS included a utility called 'Direct Cable Connection'. If it's not on the PC at the moment then can install it from the Windows disk.

You will need either a serial cable or a parallel cable (not just a printer cable because one end has a Centronics connector instead of a connector suitable for the other PCs parallel port).

I tend to use an older program that works under Win3.1 and can download & install itself via a serial cable. Damned handy when you don't have any disks with you!

[El Desperado]

You might also want to consider a home network.

A 10mbps thin ethernet kit takes about 30 mins to install and costs at most £60 - I got mine from PCWorld which is hardly the cheapest place to get kit, so I'm sure you could find one cheaper elsewhere.

It is significantly faster than all the other options listed above, but does need a free card slot in both pcs. They usually come with two network cards, two 5m cables and a hub. (External CDRs and HDs are much slower than their internal counterparts !).

Intel are now marketing a wireless home network, which uses IR and is just as fast. I don't know the price of the units, which connect to a USB port, but I suspect they are a bit more expensive than the traditional cable option.

You also get the benefit of being able to share printers, internet connections, network drives (a drive which appears to be local to both machines) and other useful features.

If you have 98 or ME on both machines, it is a piece of cake to install. If you are using 95 it is a bit trickier.

[R.Don]

I don't know how technical minded you are, but the fastest (transfer) by far is to take one drive and install it in the other machine, then just copy the whole disk. This has worked many times for me, although it's only for a one of, not really a solution for regular copying. :p

[Slasher]

I have a fantastic little program called "Transit 2" which I found in KL Impi Plaza a few years ago. So bloodey p!ss easy to setup and use instead of going through that bloodey complicated Microsoft direct cable conection crap.

Simpley install the program on both computers (takes 2 minutes) connect the cable and off you go. Also it has its own "make disk" so you can copy the setup program onto 2 floppys for the other computer setup. Click and drag files or folders from one disk to another.

I can email the program in Zip format to anyone who wants it in 2 emails: 1st setup part (unzipped) is 1.22MB, the other 955KB.

[Tinstaafl]

TranXit2 is the one I was referring to earlier. Like Slasher says, very quick to set up, it will make its own pair of installation disks OR it will download & install itself via a serial cable.

[mfds]

Thanks for all the replies.

Slasher & Tinstaafl - what sort of transfer rate would I get using TranXit2 ? Does it use a standard seriel cable ?

R.Don - I would swap the HD's but one of the PC's is a Sony Viao laptop, so not possible.

[fobotcso]

MFDS, These threads make good reading for anyone wishing to do what you are trying to do.
http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi ?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=001100 (http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=001100)
http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi ?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=000651 (http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=000651)

They're quite recent; my post about the Belkin kit may be useful. I use it myself with my Sony Vaio in the USB port.

And, yes, I have a Freecom Traveller CD writer and it works well in the Vaio running Roxio EZCD 5.0 on Windows ME. The Traveller isn't supported by EZCD 5.0 on Win 2000 but the "Ahead" nero software will run the writer. All this is explained in the threads referenced and e-mail me if I can help further.

[ 04 August 2001: Message edited by: fobotcso ]