Is there a way to have two computers see each other’s hard drives (other than across a network)? I’m going to need to copy all the hard drive data from two computers to two new ones.
Or is it easier to just copy it to a USB drive, then copy it over to the new computer? I’m trying to minimize my down time since I’m in the middle of long analysis runs.
Thanks Pittspeed tech support!
a couple of methods taht will work…
do you have extra NIC’s you can install? i usually use two extra gigabit NICs and put a cross over between them… then you can connect on a seperate IP and push the data across.
otherwise, you can simply put the crossover cable from one computer to another and just assign them both IP’s on the same range and ping though, it’ll work fine.
copying to a USB will work but only if they are usb 2.0, otherwise itll be slow as piss…
then again, i’m assuming you’re moving hundreds of gb of info…
you could always get the new computer up and running and put the old HD in the new PC as a backup, copy the data over and done deal.
Master/Slave. But this involves cracking open PC cases, which while simple, invalidates manufacturer warranties.
Crossover cable. I have 250’ of CAT5 laying around, if you want I can make you a crossover cable to whatever length you want.
I’m pretty sure both of these methods will be much faster than anything involving USB.
I understand the crossover cable. Can the existing NICs be used? If so, will this work then:
Use 192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0 for one computer and 192.168.0.2/255.255.255.0 for the other computer.
Will each computer show up on the Network Places then?
should. may have to view workgroup computers
which OS are you using?
i think most versions of XP will have the PC’s show up in each other’s “View…” screen.
Old ones are Windows 2000, new are XP.
fuck windows based anything, existing NICs will work just fine~!!!
set one to 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3 and set the gateway to .1 on both…
it’ll work… just ping through to test…
then hit the C drive on the secondary computer \192.168.0.3\c$
what format are the 2000 hard drives? i had a problem slaving 2000 drives to an XP machine to recover files.
I followed until this. Do I have to FTP the data over?
no sir, that’s a standard transport…
\servername\share is a UNC path… the location of a volume and directory…
c$ is a default admin share
once you have them connected and can ping the other server, just open up IE and type \<other-servers-IP>\c$ or e$ or whatever volume letter you need to get the data off of.
why is everyone afraid of opening up a case? If you’re transferring more than 20gb of data put the old HD in the new computer and copy disk to disk. Master/slave is not an issue, unplug the cdrom and plug the HD in there for the time being if you’re worried about master/slave BS. Most of the stuff comes cable select anyway. SATA is a different story.
I would personally zip up all the files you need and e-mail them to yourself, that’s the fastest way. :D:D:D
LOL
he said he wanted the least amount of downtime… it’s easier to just crossover and copy IMO
Zip them! 
I’ll just attach them one at a time. 
All I know is it took almost 2 months to get all the signatures and get these things finally ordered. I’m almost out of disk space, I’m creating 2GB results files like it’s going out of style, and I’ll be lucky if these things get here in time to actually use them for this job.
That’s why I’m trying to be ready for when they get here. Thanks for the help!
How about a null modem cable? I’d assume that this would allow faster transfer speeds than Cat-5 crossover? Do people still use null modem cables? LOL
Basically a 9-pin serial cable with female connectors on both ends, each end goes into a PCs COM-1…you can then directly communicate with the other PC.
Nevermind, a quick Google makes it look like Cat-5 is WAAAAY faster.
Go with what fshowcars said!