Best way to transfer files from an old laptop?

[Yossarian]

Posting this on behalf of a non-technical friend, so I don't have a lot of details.

Need to transfer about 500mb off of an old (circa '95) laptop onto a new laptop. Old one has cd rom only, no burner, no zip drive. It has regular serial and parallel ports. What's the best way to get these files onto the new computer?

TIA

 

[DrVos]

Easiest way would probably to network the two together.
one way would be to get a pc card and network them, or use a usb network adaptor

 

[coolVariable]

Or if it doesn't network use a good old direct serial/parallel port cable ... slow as hell tho'

 

[BeauJangles]

Uhhh... take out the HDD, buy a lappy to regular PC adapter, put HDD in, transfer.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: coolVariable
Or if it doesn't network use a good old direct serial/parallel port cable ... slow as hell tho'

How do you transfer stuff between computers using only this? Does the old hd show up when you run explorer on the new one? Is some software required?

Sorry for my ignorance, I have never owned a laptop.

 

[MadRat]

Its a risk to use the parrallel port that much on an old laptop. Go serial if you choose one of the two.

Personally I'd go ethernet, but that is because I have the equipment.

 

[corkyg]

Get a couple of 2.5 to 3.5 adapters (about $4 each) - remove the HDDs from both laptops, and connect them to a desktop IDE controller with one jumpered as slave (default is master w/no jumpers) and boot to DOS and do an XCOPY from one drive to the other.

A USB network link might work if they both have USB. Ethernet would work too, but two PCMCIA ethernet cards cost more $$$ than a pair of 2.5-3.5 adapters.

 

[CraigRT]

100Mbit network is the best way.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Yield
100Mbit network is the best way.

Not always - aside from the cost of two PCMCIA NICs, you will run into sharing violations on many Windows system files that are in use because the OS is active. That is why I use DriveCopy 4.0 to clone all drives including laptop drives. It is faster and more reliable not to mention cheaper.

 

[Macro2]

RE:"How do you transfer stuff between computers using only this? Does the old hd show up when you run explorer on the new one? Is some software required?"

You can use software like laplink, pc anywhere or pc linq. I think Microsoft has some software on their website for free. Or they used to.
You'll need a connection like a laplink/direct parrallel or serial cable or you can in some cases just connect the two computers with a cat 5 crossover cable. If you can network them that way you may not need the special software.
If you use one of the software programs I mentioned, both HDs are windowed on the screen at the same time and you can just drag and drop files.
Much of this depends on the OS.

mac

 

[hirschma]

Originally posted by: PipBoy
Need to transfer about 500mb off of an old (circa '95) laptop onto a new laptop. Old one has cd rom only, no burner, no zip drive. It has regular serial and parallel ports. What's the best way to get these files onto the new computer?

It depends on what the old machine has available. I'm not going to suggest anything that is "too" technical, but all solutions require some work on your part.

* The old notebook has nothing - no PCMCIA slot, no USB, no nothing (or you can't find network devices that work in those interfaces that support Win95)...

Look at Kanguru enclosures. Essentially, they allow you take the old drive out, and then read it on the new notebook very easily. Look like a second hard drive. List price of about $70, and they have PCMCIA, firewire and USB interfaces.

This is a surefire solution, but it involves removing the old hard drive, installing drivers, etc. Shouldn't be harder than following the directions - and if the new notebook has a "recent" windows, the drivers are likely all built in.

*If you're truly a terrified non-tech user, Laplink is about as simple as it gets. However, it is going to run you about $100 for the version that will run on Windows 95. On the other hand, you really can't fail with it. It will work on most any PC hardware, and if you can use Windows Explorer, you can figure out Laplink.

* You could try the network route, but it involves buying one or two ethernet cards (depends if the new machine has ethernet built in), a hub, patch cords, and then you have to figure out windows networking. I'd STRONGLY advise against it if you are not clueful.

As scary as it sounds, the Kanguru is probably the best bet for you.

jonathan

 

[vailr]

A null-modem serial cable is only $3 here: http://store.yahoo.com/harbourtownsales/6ftnulmodcab.html

I'd guess there's less than 50 MB of data to transfer, the rest of the 500 MB is probably the programs, which could be obtained fresh from their original CD's.
Although time-consuming, one could use an existing dial-up internet access, to transfer the 50 MB in 10 MB "chunks" to a free storage web site like: http://www.streamload.com. Use WinRar to compress and segment the files.

Alternative: If the laptop has a PCMCIA port, then a PCMCIA-to-USB adapter http://www.psism.com/usbports.htm would then allow using a $30 USB-to-USB transfer cable.
This would require Win98 or better to work.

 

[MadRat]

LOL.

If you really want slow then go direct serial and turn the port down to 96bits/second.

 

[Lore]

For some reason, ll3.exe (Laplink 3 for DOS) is available everywhere on the web. Did they release it as freeware all of a sudden? Regardless, that's my favorite version of LapLink. You can use a serial (null modem) cable to transfer the data. Put both machines in DOS and run LL3 on both.

 

[Salvador]

Get a couple of 2.5 to 3.5 adapters (about $4 each) - remove the HDDs from both laptops, and connect them to a desktop IDE controller with one jumpered as slave (default is master w/no jumpers) and boot to DOS and do an XCOPY from one drive to the other.

I need to transfer some files from an old laptop hdd to my desktop and was about to pick up a 2.5" to 3.5" drive kit. The cheapest that I found was $10. Where can you get them for $4 each? I'd love to know.

Sal

 

[vailr]

2 1/2" Laptop drive to 3 1/2" desktop drive converter:$5.00
http://store.yahoo.com/harbourtownsales/212lapdrivto.html

 

[RossMAN]

Wouldn't your friend or even you like to have an external CD Burner?

External Pacific Digital 32x/12x/48x USB 2.0 CD-RW for only $38.50 after $10 off $40 printable coupon, there are still a few left.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Salvador

Get a couple of 2.5 to 3.5 adapters (about $4 each) - remove the HDDs from both laptops, and connect them to a desktop IDE controller with one jumpered as slave (default is master w/no jumpers) and boot to DOS and do an XCOPY from one drive to the other.

I need to transfer some files from an old laptop hdd to my desktop and was about to pick up a 2.5" to 3.5" drive kit. The cheapest that I found was $10. Where can you get them for $4 each? I'd love to know. Sal

Right here, Sal . . . How about $3.65? Geeks

 

[Salvador]

Right here, Sal . . . How about $3.65? Geeks

Excellent! Thanks! I was about to spend $10 for this same kit.

Sal

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Wouldn't your friend or even you like to have an external CD Burner?

External Pacific Digital 32x/12x/48x USB 2.0 CD-RW for only $38.50 after $10 off $40 printable coupon, there are still a few left.

He didn't say that it had USB or not, but considering it's an old laptop, I would expect that it doesn't have USB.

I would say that if it's a one time transfer of files and only around 50megs are going to be kept, then just borrow a parallel zip drive (ie. from a local school/university), or go with the transferring over the net if it has a modem to another computer or a storage site. It really depends on what the laptop is going to be used for in the future, or if any other laptop is going to be bought or needed, then I would probably get a network card(unless the new laptop has internal nic and then this would be a moot point).