I am considering purchasing a new computer, and wish to transfer all my existing data to the new machine. In past responses, you have mentioned the only required equipment for such a transfer is a network card in each computer and a cross-over cable. Assuming I have this equipment, how should I go about transferring data across this connection between the computers? The current computer is running Windows XP Professional.

When connecting two computers via a cross-over cable you are essentially creating a local area network (LAN) with two computers. Therefore, we need to do some setup on both computers so they can talk to each other. As a first step, connect both computers together using the cross-over cable. You will next need to configure the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the network card in each computer. This is the network address of the network card on each computer, allowing each computer to contact the other (you could think of IP addresses as analogous to phone numbers, allowing each computer to “dial” and speak with the other computer). Normally if you connect two computers through a router, the router will provide IP addresses to all the connected machines (through a process known as DHCP ? Dynamic Host Control Protocol). However, as there is no router (or DHCP server) in a direct setup between two computers, you will need to manually assign IP addresses to each computer. You will also need to check a few other settings, which will be detailed in a moment. To make these setting changes, on the Windows XP source computer (i.e. the current machine, whose data you wish to transfer to the new computer) go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel” and open the “Network Connections” control panel (you may need to first click the “Network and Internet Connections” control panel). Right-click on the Local Area Connection (to which the cross-over cable is connected) and then select “Properties”. In the window that appears, click the “General” tab. In the list of connection items select ?Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)? and click “Properties”. In the TCP/IP Properties window that appears, click the “General” tab. Note down the current configuration, because if you use this connection for another purpose (such as broadband internet) you will need to reset the settings to these original values, otherwise the connection may not work properly. Once you have noted the current settings, enable “Use the following IP address” and configure the following settings:
? IP address: 192.168.1.1
? Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
? Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
Next, enable “Use the following DNS server addresses” and set both Preferred DNS Server and Alternate DNS Server as: 192.168.1.1. Click OK to close and save the settings.

Back in the Local Area Connection properties window, ensure that “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks” is installed and ticked. If this is not installed, click the “Install” button and follow the prompts to install this item. You will now need to ensure that the Windows Firewall on the computer is configured to allow inbound connections, so that the file shares (i.e. directories and files which have been marked as accessible from other computers) can be accessed from networked machines. Click the “Advanced” tab and under the “Windows Firewall” heading click the “Settings” button. In the Windows Firewall window, click the “Exceptions” tab. Make sure that “File and Print Sharing” is ticked. This means that file and print sharing is exempt from being blocked by the firewall. Once this has been done, click OK to save the settings and then click OK to save and close the Local Area Connection settings. At this point, you must also check whether any third-party firewall or security software is installed on your computer (such as Norton Internet Security) as such software could also block the incoming connections attempting to access file shares on the computer. If any such security software is loaded on the source computer, then you should ensure the necessary exceptions have also been made on this computer to allow incoming file and print sharing connections from your local network.

At this stage, the network configuration has been completed on the source machine from which you would like to transfer the data. You will now need to configure the file and folder sharing, to define what you would like to make available to client machines. Since you wish to transfer most of the data from this computer to a new computer, your best option is sharing the entire C drive. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer and then right-click on the C drive and select “Sharing and Security”. In the window that appears, you should be presented with the “Sharing” tab. Most likely, there will be a warning saying you should not share the root of the computer hard drive. In this situation the sharing of the root drive should not present a major security risk, so click the text ?If you understand the risk but still want to share the root of the drive, click here?. You will now be presented with sharing options for the drive. Under the “Network sharing and security” heading, tick “Share this folder on the network” and call the share “Cdrive”. Since you are only copying data from this computer, you do not need to tick “Allow network users to change my files” unless you wish to copy files to this computer. Once you have finished, click OK to save and close.

All the necessary configuration and setup has now been completed on the source computer, so we can move to configuring the destination computer. If you are using Windows XP on the new (destination) computer then the setup should be relatively straight forward. Follow the same network configuration instructions as setting up the source computer. All the settings should be the same, except you should assign the IP address of 192.168.1.2 to the destination computer. You only need to configure the TCP/IP Properties on the destination computer. You do not need to configure any file sharing settings (so you can stop after the TCP/IP Properties configuration). The only other configuration you may need to investigate is whether any third-party security software is running on the computer. Many third-party products will prevent you from accessing network file shares, so if you have difficulty connecting to the shares using the processes outlined below you should check whether the configuration of your security software is blocking the connection. You need not worry about the in-built Windows Firewall, as this should not interfere with accessing file shares.

Once you have finished configuring the Windows XP destination machine, you should be able to connect to the source computer’s C drive. On the destination computer, go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type the following then press OK:
192.168.1.1Cdrive
For your information, the statement consists of two parts. The 192.168.1.1 is the address of the computer to which you are attempting to connect. Then, the Cdrive is the name of the actual share. In theory, if you just typed 192.168.1.1 this will open a window showing you all the shared resources available on the computer, allowing you select Cdrive. However, typing the full path 192.168.1.1Cdrive will take you directly to the shared resource (in this case, the C drive). Now you can copy files from the source computer’s C drive to your new computer. Be aware, you will not be able to copy files back to the shared drive unless you ticked the option to “Allow network users to change my files” as discussed in the previous instructions. However, as mentioned, since you are theoretically only copying files from the shared drive to your new computer you shouldn’t need to copy files back the other direction, so this shouldn’t present any real problems.

Since you are buying a new computer it is more than likely the new computer is running Windows Vista. This makes the entire process a bit more interesting, as the Windows Vista network configuration is a lot more difficult to muster as the configuration is somewhat hidden. The configuration for the Windows XP source machine will remain the same, but if you intend on copying the files to a Windows Vista machine you will need to use the following procedure on the Vista destination computer. Click the Start button and go to the “Control Panel”. In the window that appears, click “Control Panel Home” in the left-hand pane and then click the “Network and Internet” heading. Under the “Network and Sharing Center” heading, click the “View network status and tasks” link. Within the next screen in the left-hand pane, click the “Manage network connections” link. You should now see a familiar screen, which displays all the network connections installed in the computer. Locate the Local Area Connection which is being used for the cross-over cable, then right-click on the connection and select “Properties”. You may find a window appears asking for your permission to continue ? click “Continue” if this message appears. In the Local Area Connection Properties window, click the “Networking” tab and select ?Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)? and then click the “Properties” button. The TCP/IP Properties window that appears is the same as the Windows XP version of the window, so configure the same settings as for the Windows XP destination computer setup. In particular, make sure the IP address is 192.168.1.2 and then use the same settings as the source computer for the other options (i.e. subnet mask, default gateway and DNS settings). Once this has been done, click OK to close and save the settings.

Finally, to access the C drive on the source computer, click the “Start” button and in the search box type:
192.168.1.1Cdrive
A window should appear showing the contents of the source computer’s C drive, and you can copy files from the source computer C drive onto your new Windows Vista destination computer. Again, if you have connection problems, check any third-party security software which may be running on the computer and interfering with the connection. From experience, I have found Windows Vista very difficult to configure properly for networks. If you are unable to successfully establish a connection between the two computers, then please contact me again for further advice.

As an alternative solution for other readers who may not have a network card in both computers, or are seeking an easier solution, Belkin offers a product called the Belkin Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista (www.belkin.com/au/easytransfercable). This allows two computers to be connected via USB and data transferred using the USB cable. This is a very easy and relatively inexpensive solution for transferring data between an old Windows XP computer and new Windows Vista computer. You can find this device for around $99.00 in most computer stores.