I'm getting a new computer and I'm wondering how I should go about transfering my some 5000 mp3's. My immediate thought was to burn them all onto CD-R's, but then it occured to me that I could network the computers together. I know it's possible, but I have no idea how to do it. Would networking the computers be complicated? Anyone know how to do it? Thanks.
Simple - Install the hard drive into an available IDE connector on your old machine and when you reboot it will become another local drive. Then drag & drop one onto another, come back in an hour or 3 and it'll be done. Then remove the drive and install it into your new machine.
To network two computers together, you will need a cheap hub (about $30), two network cards (probably $20 each) and two cables to attach each computer to the hub. Then you will need to set up TCP/IP on each computer, assigning IP addresses and using the same subnet mask so they will recognize each other on your new network. It is not necessarily trivial if you've never done it, but if you are ambitious, you will learn a lot in the process. I'm quite sure there are numerous step-by-step articles on the internet on how to do this. I'd check cnet.com first, then google second. On the other hand, you may want to consider burning CDs anyway as a permanent archive of your music so you'll have them no matter what happens to these computers. I archived my 350 CDs to WMA format and it only took about 9 or 10 CDs. Good luck!
Get Checkit FastMove.....greatest product since the discovery of fire! Cheap like borscht. http://www.smithmicro.com /
I suggest you back everything up to CD or buy an external hard drive. This way if you stuff anything up in the process of transferring your files, you have copies of the data stored safely. You should do this anyway just in case you fry a hard drive or a virus eats your files. External hards drives are great for sharing your MP3s with friends because you just take the drive over to their house. You then plug into their computer and steal all their good songs. They can do the same with yours. Runningbear
Go get yourself a USB 2.0 external drive. Transfer rate is 480 MBit/sec vs 12 for USB 1.x. I have a Buslink external (came with w free USB 2.0 PCI card) and I back up each night then shut the drive down in case of lightning/hackers/etc. Just run it during the backups. It's almost as fast as backing up to a local IDE channel drive.
There are a few ways to accomplish this feat. The first thing I would suggest is to develop yourself a network between the two machines. The really cool way would be to purchase two wireless cards and a wireless hub. No wires or cables to fuss with and instant fun with a new toy. It is simple and if you buy Linksys equipment the instructions are robust enough for you to master the task. With today's prices, new parts could set you back about $200. The other way that I would reccomend would be through a Firewire/USB External hard drive. They too can set you back about $200 for 80 - 120 gig's. I recently got a 120 gig drive for $179 at a local store in Chicago for external mp3's storage that I used with my laptop for some DJ work that came up recently. Good luck and happy holidays!
That's how rich traders do it. Smart traders don't need a hub, because they use a crossover cable to connect the two computers directly.