Direct Cable XP Pro to 2K Pro?

[epack]

I saw an older message about this but was unable to reply due to its
age, sorry.

I also just got a new XP Pro desktop and want to temporarily direct
connect my old 2000 Pro desktop ("born" as win98 but with a newer hd,
too) to facilitate copying my old files over. Once this is done, the
old one goes away, so I'm not looking to share connections or anything
else. I've been told the easiest way to do this is to stick the old hd
into the new case (which I can do), but that there could be a problem
with connecting the old drive into the newer machine, not sure.

The original question I saw had a reply that merely said "just use the
wizard", but like the original questioner, that facile answer doesn't
help a bit--I don't know where to start either! Research has shown me
there are a number of different ways to do this, different kinds of
cables from serial and parallel to USB and 2 different kinds of
ethernet cables (no clue there WERE different ethernet cables) but some
people have told me I cannot even do this with the OS's I have. I find
that hard to believe but what do I know? I do have a "regular" (not
a crossover) ethernet cable I'd like to use if possible, and made a
stab at the wizard, but nothing worked, could not see either machine.
No surprise there I guess. I also know that each machine needs to be
configured, one as guest, the other as host, and I apparently have to
use the XP CD on the 2000 machine for the wizard, etc. Beyond that, I'm
clueless. Will the machines then "magically" just show up or do you
have to find them? Something else?

Can someone point me to a site that really lays it out in detail, from
cable type on? Given the far lower prices now of new machines, this has
to be a fairly common situation these days.

TIA

elaine
Charlottesville, VA

 

[epack]

Forgot to add that I've already shared the c:\ drive on the 2000
machine. Does the XP machine need to be shared too? Just trying to copy
the old files to the new machine, that's all.

elaine