Geek Request
Jan 6th, 2009 at 8:30 pm by Susie
Is there any easy (and free) way to remove all the music I have on one computer to the other?
Before you answer, let me point out first that 1) the USB slots on the laptop where the music is are shot, and no matter what, I get a “USB hub power overload” message when I try to hook up my external hard drive. So that seems to be out.
I assume the answer involves some sort of FTP program, but I don’t know the tech stuff and don’t have the software (nor do I have a site to which I’d transfer it). Anyone have FTP guidance for dummies?
If you have XP and a writable Cd you can use XP’s own cd writing software to copy your music to the CD. Select all, right click, send to-> [x] ( being the drive letter of your Cd drive). then click on the Cd drive in My Computer and it will show you files waiting to be written. The menu on the left should give you the option to select those files and write them to Cd. There’s also the little thought bubble on the lower right that pops up telling you that you have files to write. You can click on it and it takes you there.
Drop.io and box.net are two online storage services. Create an account, log in on one computer, drop the stuff in the drop/box. Log in to the other computer. Download the stuff from the drop/box onto the second computer.
1) I generally trust Lifehacker, and they say that Filezilla is the standard for file transfer. Free, and you just have to put it on both computers, run it in server mode on the old computer, and in client mode on the new computer.
2) If they’re both Windows computers, you can simply network them. Then turn on File Sharing on the old computer, and open up the old computer’s file system as a network drive on the new computer. Now just Copy the files. The basic Windows help menus can get you through it fairly well.
I second wendy’s suggestion (box.net) and PT&S if you can just network the two computers (i.e. both online to the same router) that’s even easier than uploading to a website service like box.net
IF they are both Windows systems, 2000 and later, File settings and transfer wizard can do the job for you and make an archive at the same time. You can then burn the file to CDROM.
In XP
Programs\ Accessories\System Tools\file settings and transfer Wizard.
You can copy all files and settings or drill down to specify files and folders. I have not tried it for music files (I do this sort of thing in a work environment where that is frowned on).
If you do not have a CD burner and you are comfortable opening the case, you can slave the old drive to your CDROM IDE cable. Hard drive jumper should be changed to slave, and the drive plugged onto the plug closest to the motherboard, This will allow your old system drive to become readable in my computer (then drag and copy to new system harddrive).
By setting it as a slave on the CDROM cable (secondary IDE) you will not boot to the old system drive.
If the drive is a serial ATA (SATA) it gets a little more complicated
I can’t connect the two computers. The laptop has a bad USB port and won’t accept the transfer cable. So the online storage is really the best solution. (We’re talking quite a few files here.)
Sorry, just reread you post and laptop jumped out at me,
I still like option one (addy) or file settings and transfer because you can create an archive of your material. Always useful in case of a total system crash from harddrive failure. And if you are able to do a backup on a monthly basis or more often you are better off.
Of course if the music collection is huge and added to regularly this becomes far too big for a single CDR or RW. does the new unit write to DVD?
It’s over 3000 songs. Yeah, I have a DVD writer on the newer one.
3,000+, huh? I just saved 2,089 songs from iTunes to DVD-R, and it took two disks. Just in case you might need to know that.
Wendy’s comment made me curious, so I just looked up drop.io. It certainly looks clean. There’s a blog which looks informative (see the drag and drop.io 2.0 entry).
The network options are a lot quicker than the CD versions.
If you have a working network at home, even wireless, you will get great transfer speeds. If you can see the hard drive of the laptop, from your desktop/replacement machine, you can mount the laptop as a drive letter (F:) and then use a straight copy. I recommend ycopy as a fast copy tool - does not stop if problems are found.
You could also transfer via some Network drive - if you have one.
If you have a PCMCIA slot on the laptop, you can get USB2 cards on there that will give the laptop a new lease of life. I have one I can send if you email me where to send it.
If you are technically inclined and/or have a techie on hand you might want to remove the hard drive from the old laptop, connect it to a IDE-to-USB enclosure, and attach it to the new machine. Most laptops have hard drives that can be removed with 1 or 2 screws.
I recently bought this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002 and it was very useful for similar purposes.
I’d go with JH’s idea. I’m always moving hard drives between computers. It’s easy, fun, non-habit forming and the risk of contracting gonorrhea has been greatly overstated in the press. You could also set up a basic network through your router and share your music folder.
I’d go with JH’s idea.