hard drive transfer

hello all I'm trying to save all of the files from my laptop and transfer them over to my tower so that i can sell the laptop, basically whats the quickest and simplest way to do this? there is only 20GB but i would rather not have to use my memory stick to transfer 1GB at a time!
can anyone give me some ideas?
regards

 

If both the laptop and the Desktop have network ports, you could get a "crossover" cable and network them. Or do the same with a router/hub - this way you can use standard network cables which are cheaper. Failing that, it is also possible to use a special USB cable to link the two computers - this type of cable has some hardware built in between the two ends that convert the input/output between PC's. Not sure how much that costs though. It is also possible to network a PC's via serial port - also with a special cable - but this would probably be the slowest option. There are no doubt other options that use combinations of cables, etc., but the aforementioned options are those I have had some experience with.

Hope this helps in some way.

 

Take the drive out of the laptop and use an adapter to install the drive in the tower and copy it or use a crossover cable & robocopy.

 

Could you say a little more about the adapter and if robocopy is a piece of software?
thanks
abri

 

If you take the laptop h drive and install it in the desktop you need nothing but the adapter. The adapter enables you to connect to the ide cable like a grown up hard drive[ normal hard drive]. lol. ed

 

If I go to Best Buy and ask for an adapter, are they going to know what I'm talking about?
Abri

 

This is the device... http://insidecomputer.stores.yahoo.net/la2tode3hadr.html
or
one of these would work (for any type of drive)http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/usb_2_0_to_ide_cable_version_2


And robocopy is a tool from MS that makes copying large amounts of data very easy.. a great tool to have around. So that other guy who lol'd probably never heard of it or copied a lot of data in Windows at a time...
trust me d/l robocopy!

 

ooppss

 

I'm looking at this; is this what you're talking about?
http://insidecomputer.stores.yahoo.net/usb20235hadr.html

as for robocopy, how can I see on XP if I'm using ntsc or fat files?
abri

 

I use networks for this all the time, along with copy/paste on the files. I use a hub, but have been known to make a network crossover cable from scratch. With the copy/paste (or other software transfer methods) it doesn't matter, it's just data. FAT/NTSC only applies if you are making mirror copys (exact partition copies on hard drives), which doesn't apply in this case.

 

Yes that is it... as for NTFS vs FAT... if the system you are plugging into is NTFS, no problem - an NTFS formatted system can use a FAT drive.. now if the XP system is FAT and the laptop drive is NTFS you need special software.

 

thanks Foogoo!
I think it's quite easy to see if I'm using ntsc or fat, but I can't remember where to look. Can you direct me to the right place to look on the XP?
abri

 

my computer click a drive and goto properties .. its there

 

Thanks Foogoo!