Is there a simple way of transffering data......

[PhilBy]

Is there a simple way of transfferring data from one tower to another? ...... would this be called importing data?

I am about to replace my current tower and it would save me days of work if this could be done. I have also heard I could 'network' the towers and choose which one I work from ...... I do have the space for two towers but will 'networking' give me any problems, is it a fairly simple procedure, what hardware would I need etc.

Many thanks in advance.

[vehelpfulguy]

The simplest way is to buy a USB memory stick.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/shopping/images/tiscalipckingston200x200.gif

You can get these from �15 upwards, and you just plug it in your PC, and XP auto finds it and gives it a drive letter.

You then move files on onto it, then plug it in the other PC and move them to the hard disk.

You can get all sorts of sizes, 256Mb, 512Mb 1Gb and so on.

[PhilBy]

I would need an USB with a large capacity (expensive)

I am hoping there is a way of joining the two together and tarnsfer data that way.

The company I purchased the new tower from offered a data transfer service but wanted �75.00!!!!

[vehelpfulguy]

It is fairly easy to network 2 PCs together so they "see" each other.

You will need: An ETHERNET slot in each PC (may already be there) also called an RJ45 socket. Picture here.

http://info.pcwebshop.ch/Glossar/images/rj-45.jpg

If it is NOT there you need to buy a Network interface Card (NIC) for about �15.00 for each PC.

You need a CROSSOVER ETHERNET NETWORK CABLE (very cheap).

Then you need to set up INTERNET CONECTION SHARING (ICS) on your PCs, explained here

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/qa/qa20030213.shtml

Everything is already built into windows so you should not need any other hardware or software.

[vehelpfulguy]

Forgot to add that the Windows XP help has a lot about home networking.

Open up "Help and Support" and type "Home Network" and you get quite a few pages of help.

I also just noticed that the article I linked to above is fairly old, 2003, but should still be valid.

If you search in Google for ICS or Internet Connection Sharing you will get loads of hits.

[PhilBy]

Excellent! Thanks for living up to your name :-)

[qapmoc]

You can do this without installing stuff in your PC, get a USB to USB connecting cable like this with some software and you can just plug them together and transfer data.
WARNING this is not a normal USB cable and you might cause damage if you just plug a normal USB cable between two PC's, it must the special one with a interface built in.

[RogerWilco]

You don't need to set up Internet Connection sharing to transfer data from one pc to the other.

You only need to do that if you want to use one computer to connect to the internet, and access the internet from the other computer.

Also, if you are using WinXP, you will probably find it almost impossible to get the computers to see each other using a cross-over cable. Whilst it SHOULD be possible, XP has a habit of not bothering to initialise the network on whichever machine you turn on first, as at this point it can't see a network.

If this problems occurs, you will need to get an ethernet hub, and connect each machine to the hub using a straight-through cable.