connecting two computers question

[Brightsword]

will post this in networking also...in case this is not the right place.

was wondering if anyone could tell me the best way and what I need to connect two computers together just for data transfer..not networking...my computer will be either a desktop or my laptop, both with win 2k...other computers will be connecting to may have win 98 or other window os's...would like to know the best way, either parallel, serial or usb connection and what components are needed and software..thanks..t

 

[corkyg]

I would suggest a simple USB linking kit. Any computer store would have them . . . they are easy to install and actually will give you a two station LAN.

 

[Sahakiel]

Best way, in my mind, would be hooking up both computers with an ethernet crossover cable, eliminating the need for a hub/switch. Should be fast and easy.

 

[Maggotry]

I just did this over the weekend. Put a NIC in each PC, then run a cross-over cable between them. There are a lot of software tweaks to make in the O/S to get the network working, though.

 

[Richard98]

I bought the buslink usb set from ebay several months ago. Easy to set up and intuitive software. Looks like they're going for around $15:
Buslink usb cables on ebay

 

[SonicTron]

crossover cables + 100Mb cards are a cheap, easy deal. Will cost you less than $30 to setup. It will last you for whatever transfers you need. Best of all, its damn fast compared to parallel, USB, wireless, and phoneline networking. You will probably sustain 8MB/sec with this sorta rig.

As for connecting these computers to other windows OS's (98, ME, 95, 3.1???):

The secret (which I learned the hard way) is that in order to network the computers for file transfer, you must create a user account for the other computer in your Windows 2000 users list. Ie. you have a Win9x computer, the default login name is John Doe, you will NOT be able to connect to the Windows 2000 computer UNLESS you also create a temporary (or permanent) account on it under the name "John Doe" and it must be exactly as the other computer has it spelled. I just don't want you to pull your hair out in getting this done.

 

[Pariah]

All you have to do is enable the guest account in win2k, and everyone can have access to what is shared. Since this is a private 2 computer network, security isn't an issue.

Just to add, if all systems are NT based, you can login using the admin login without enabling the guest account. Since both computers are your own, you obviously know the admin login.

 

[SonicTron]

Oh, me stupid, I guess Pariah is saying that you just need to login on the computers connecting to the Win2k boxen under the account name Guest.

I think

 

[Pariah]

No, you have to enable the guest account on each win2k computer. It is disabled by default. You don't need to login at all with the guest account enabled.

 

[Skibby9]

I connected my wife's new pc to mine using a crossover connection, and between winXP home on her machine, win2K and SpoonProxy on mine, networking plus sharing the internet connection was pretty easy. I guess the only cheaper, easier and faster way to transfer files would be to physically move hard drives.

 

[Snapster]

If you just want a one time data transfer idea, swapping hd's would be the best, and cheapest way. If you want it regularly, two nic's and twisted pair wouldn't cost that much to setup, and it's pretty easy to do.

USB would probably be the next best solution, parallel/serial cable is not ideal for transferring allot of/large files due to the slow speed.