DCC from Win95 to XP?

[Joe]

I have a friend who now has a computer running Win95.

After the holidays, he plans to buy a new computer, which presumably will have Win XP.

In talking about how to transfer files from the old to the new machine, it seems like running a direct cable connection (DCC) would be the best and cheapest means for him. But my question is: Does XP have DCC? And if so would it be compatible with the DCC in Win95, so that files could be transfered from the old to the new machine?

Any XP users out there know about this?

[JLRodgers]

It's not a default installed option at least (not visible)... it'd be easier to copy files to floppy disk or CDR really (or as a network with CAT5)

[Robert]

Joe, umm, couldn't he just set the jumpers on the back ofthe win95 hard drive to be a "slave drive"... insert it into the XP machine as a slave ofthe primary drive, then just drag and drop what he wanted from one drive to the other.

That's all I did in going from Win95 to a new 98 box. Cables? bah. Easier to just stick the drive in and copy the folders your want.

Of course, with XP, Microsoft might assume you're trying to do something underhanded, and make you call up and justify why you need a new unlock code. :rolleyes:

[JLRodgers]

Joe, umm, couldn't he just set the jumpers on the back ofthe win95 hard drive to be a "slave drive"... insert it into the XP machine as a slave ofthe primary drive, then just drag and drop what he wanted from one drive to the other.

That's all I did in going from Win95 to a new 98 box. Cables? bah. Easier to just stick the drive in and copy the folders your want.

Of course, with XP, Microsoft might assume you're trying to do something underhanded, and make you call up and justify why you need a new unlock code. :rolleyes:
That is actually the easiest for people that know what they're doing :yes:

Unlock code? you've got like 5 or so big changes... I added like 3 things to mine (like hard drives, memory, etc) and it didn't care :) when I had to re-get a code (re-installed) I didn't even have to call them up.

Only potential problem (albeit unlikely) would be the computer being confused as to which to boot from. Also many/most drives are "Cable Select (CS)" for the jumpers from the factory... so as long as the second hard drive is at the connector in the middle of the cable, it should work.

[soilman]

I seem to remember seeing info about DCC on the version of XP professional I have. I'm in the same situation now.

A pair of network cards and a cable between seemed to be a lot faster than a direct connection between serial ports. But I'd be interestd to know if this can be done between usb ports.

A pair of network cards and a cable between them should cost about $28

Installing the fixed disk from the old computer into the new one would indeed be the cheapest and fastest solution, not including the time going to the disk manufacturer's documentation or web site and finding instructions on how to set the jumpers, attach the cables, etcetera, and the time physicall attaching the cables. If you don't want to squeeze it into the case, you can leave the drive on a table top temporarily -- I'd put little rubber feet under it to allow for air circulation.

[Kurmudgeon]

As Robert said, sticking the W95 hard drive in the XP machine and doing a drag and drop is easiest, fastest, and free. If you stick the W95 HDD on the secondary IDE it'll be even faster (although not likely noticeably faster).
You don't need any extra cabling or anything to do this.

[Kurmudgeon]

Oh, if you want to go the DCC route, in XP:

Start, Control Panel, Network and Internet Connections, Create a Connection to the Network at your workplace, click Cancel, click Yes, click Next, click Back (yeah, the last four clicks are bizarre), select option 4 (Setup an advanced connection), click Next and continue on through it.

This seems to be for incoming connections only.

[Joe]

That is actually the easiest for people that know what they're doing :yes:


Good observation. I would exclude both myself and my friend from that category. I don't think he would want to open up the back of his machine and take out the HD. I've never done this, and I think the majority of people are not computer-savvy enough to do this. I mean, they have DCC on Win9x machines for a reason--and before that they had some sort of similar DOS utility. Also, many new computers come with a warranty that you would void if you or any unauthorized service person opened them up like this.

He wants to give the old computer to his wife for her personal use, so he probably wouldn't want to take the drive out of the old machine and then have to reinstall it.

He has an internal Zip drive on the old machine but not a CD burner. He does not want to put a Zip drive on the new machine. I told him that if he could put the transferred material on a Zip disk (or disks), I would burn the contents onto a CD for him, or I'd bring over my external Zip drive and we'd hook that up to the new machine.

[Joe]

A pair of network cards and a cable between them should cost about $28


I bought a cable suitable for a DCC connection for $10.

[JLRodgers]

As a note though... it's virtually impossible to hook anything up wrong as far as hard drives and the like. The connectors have slots so they only fit one way.

(Although if you drag out a knife and cut it -- like I saw someone do, it can be fit wrong :))

[Joe]

Oh, if you want to go the DCC route, in XP:

Start, Control Panel, Network and Internet Connections, Create a Connection to the Network at your workplace, click Cancel, click Yes, click Next, click Back (yeah, the last four clicks are bizarre), select option 4 (Setup an advanced connection), click Next and continue on through it.

This seems to be for incoming connections only.


Thanks. Sounds complicated. I have to wonder whether DCC isn't still available on the XP installation disks as an option somewhere.

[soilman]

Thanks. Sounds complicated. I have to wonder whether DCC isn't still available on the XP installation disks as an option somewhere.

Could be. I seem to remember seeing on the win98 disks that you could either install it or not install it -- it may have been in the "standard" installation but you could easily do the install without including it.

[Joe]

It appears that his problem has already been discussed at:

http://www.wown.info/j_helmig/wxpdcc9i.htm

http://www.lpt.com/Support/DCC-SetUp/dcc-setup.htm

Oh, my friend tells me that the new machine might not even have a floppy drive, except if it is added as an external USB drive.

[Syntax]

But I'd be interestd to know if [DCC] can be done between usb ports.

Yes, but...

you need a special 'cable', which is actually a cable with a small chip in the middle that does some stuff, and thus tend to need drivers installed on both ends. They're around 10 ukp , so I'd expect 10-15 US dollars. They aught to do a maximum of 10 Mbps (for full speed USB), or a theoretical 200 Mbps for Hi-speed (sometmes refered to as USB 2.0). (Serial ports tend to max out at around 0.2 Mbps ish, and ethernet is normally 100 Mbps thesedays).

In practice, a full speed USB connection cable will be faster than a serial port, but not as fast as ethernet. I think that in real world, various considerations would probably give the edge to ethernet over a USB2 connection. On the other hand, USB ports are more common than ethernet ports these days, so are probably simper to connet physically.

[soilman]

Alrighty. Thanks for the info, Syntax.