File Tranfer between computers

[WestSeattleWayne]

I read the MicroSoft article "Using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in
Windows XP" by Sharron Crawford in 2001. She mentions connecting the 2
computers together with a "null modem serial cable" with 9 pins. My old
computer no doubt has a serial I/O port, but my newer computer (XP) only has
a USB port. How can I transfer the files, if at all? I have tried using a
thumbdrive, but the older computer running Win98 doesn't support the driver
for that thumbdrive. Any clues? I am not a geeky guy, so keep it
simple....thanks!

 

[Engin Tarhan]

The shortest advice possible is "don't!"

This was for the laughs. Seriously, the configuration of your both computers
need to be known in order to supply a workable solution. You could have a
medium common for both computers, such as a CD or DVD writer. You (or a
geeky friend) could temporarily connect the HDD of the older computer to the
new one as a second drive and do a file copy.

There are numerous possibilities depending on the capabilities of both
computers. An alternative could be to use a third computer as a "mediator",
meaning that you could youse to transfer the contents of the 1st to 3rd,
then to 2nd, only if this 3rd computer has interfaces to talk to both
computers.

Good luck
Engin Tarhan

 

[RobertVA]

I read the MicroSoft article "Using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in
Windows XP" by Sharron Crawford in 2001. She mentions connecting the 2
computers together with a "null modem serial cable" with 9 pins. My old
computer no doubt has a serial I/O port, but my newer computer (XP) only has
a USB port. How can I transfer the files, if at all? I have tried using a
thumbdrive, but the older computer running Win98 doesn't support the driver
for that thumbdrive. Any clues? I am not a geeky guy, so keep it
simple....thanks!

IF both computers have Ethernet ports they can be connected together
with a crossover cable. A crossover cable looks like a regular Ethernet
cable, but has different connections between the two ends.

I don't know if they are still available, but for a while cable
manufacturers were building cables to connect computers together between
the parallel ports. Newer computers might lack parallel port too.

Sometimes it's easiest to pull the hard drive out of the old computer
and put it into an external hard drive enclosure or change the hard
drive's jumper settings and install it (even if temporarily) in the
newer computer.

 

[Touch Base]

message I read the MicroSoft article "Using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
in
Windows XP" by Sharron Crawford in 2001. She mentions connecting the 2
computers together with a "null modem serial cable" with 9 pins. My old
computer no doubt has a serial I/O port, but my newer computer (XP) only has
a USB port. How can I transfer the files, if at all? I have tried using a
thumbdrive, but the older computer running Win98 doesn't support the driver
for that thumbdrive. Any clues? I am not a geeky guy, so keep it
simple....thanks!

=============================

Windows 98 USB Mass Storage Device Drivers
http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php


"Windows 98, especially in it's second edition (also known as Windows 98SE),
handles USB fairly well, however there are no generic/universal mass storage
device drivers preinstalled in the operating system, so you will need to
install some additional drivers for it.".....

"Fortunately, there are some generic Windows 98 USB mass storage device
drivers available that work with most such devices. This means that these
drivers will work with many makes and models of the following:
USB Flash Drives (also known as Pen Drives, or Thumb Drives)

.........continued"

 

[John John (MVP)]

I read the MicroSoft article "Using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in
Windows XP" by Sharron Crawford in 2001. She mentions connecting the 2
computers together with a "null modem serial cable" with 9 pins. My old
computer no doubt has a serial I/O port, but my newer computer (XP) only has
a USB port. How can I transfer the files, if at all? I have tried using a
thumbdrive, but the older computer running Win98 doesn't support the driver
for that thumbdrive. Any clues? I am not a geeky guy, so keep it
simple....thanks!

If your Windows 98 computer has an Ethernet port (on a NIC or on the
motherboard) you could easily transfer your files by networking the
computers together, you only need a crossover cable to wire the machines
together. If that is impractical or too difficult for you the easiest
and simplest way would probably be to pull the drive from the Windows 98
machine and put it in a USB enclosure then just plug it into your
Windows XP machine.

John