Connecting 2 computers?

D

da5176

New Member
Is it possible to connect a computer with windows 98 to a computer with windows XP? I want to use my old computer as an external hard drive. Can they be connected by way of a USB cable. I'm not looking for a network, just an alternate place for data storage. I don't want to spend any money, just hook them together as simple as possible. How can they be connected?
Thanks.
 
You could connect the harddrive via a USB cable. But I know of no way to connect them together, because of the different OSes.
 
Networking the two computers is totally possible, different OS's or not. It's more complicated than if they were the same, but basically you just need to be sure your 98's computer user name has read rights on your XP machine.

However, it would be easiest to probably just pop the drive out and run it master/slave with your newer computer.
 
If your win98 pc has a network card you can connect an rj-45 ethernet cable between the two. If you are doing directly (rather than through a hub) it must be a cross-wired or crossover cable. You will have to configure the network (there are wizards to help out).

I have not done it so I'll leave the details to someone who has.

There are also hardware devices that can do file transfer with usb to usb.

Starman*
 
Multibooting the 98 drive as a slave to the XP drive would be the easiest method there to avoid the detailed configuration needed to network the two cases to allow any shared access. XP is certainly far better in that direction with the ability to enable remote access as well as file and printer sharing. That's the advantage of having the NT core.

With XP installed after 98 even with 98 already on a slaved drive XP will offer to load 98 while booting. An entry has already been made in the boot loader known as the boot.ini file. But when simply adding a slaved drive with another operating system on it you will have to change boot settings in the bios each time to load one or the other OS unless you utilize something like the ubuntu boot manager on a 3 1/2" floppy that will detect all partitions on all drives installed and ask which partition you want to load an OS from. That is one Linux tool for dual OSing Windows.
 
Technically you can, but I have been trying and trying to do so without any success. Go ahead and try it, but I doubt that it will work.
 
Older versions of windows had a program to connect two machines with either serial or printer ports. My first experience with "networking" was actually with an old Thinkpad 486 laptop and my Emachines AMD K6 using that program and a serial cable. Slow, but it worked :P
 
The_Other_One said:
Older versions of windows had a program to connect two machines with either serial or printer ports. My first experience with "networking" was actually with an old Thinkpad 486 laptop and my Emachines AMD K6 using that program and a serial cable. Slow, but it worked :P
Click to expand...
XP has it too, set up a "direct connection"
 
Here's one Microsoft article you may want to look over for this.
How to Create a Direct Cable Connection

Published: October 25, 2001

You can use the New Connection Wizard to create a direct cable connection to another computer. Although a direct connection is the easiest and most secure way to connect to a computer to which you need to gain access, this option is not feasible if the client and the server are not located at the same physical location. The type of cable determines the maximum length for the cable before communication degradation occurs.
To create a direct connection to a remote server or another computer from a remote client:
1.
Click Start, click Control Panel. click Network and Internet Connections, click Network Connections, and then double-click New Connection Wizard.
2.
In the New Connection Wizard, read the Welcome page, click Next, select Set up an advanced connection, and then click Next.
3.
On the Advanced Connection Options page, select Connect directly to another computer, and then click Next.
4.
On the Host or Guest? page, select Guest, and then click Next.
5.
On the Connection Name page, in the Computer name box, type a name for the connection.
6.
On the Select a Device page, select Communications Port COM1, and then click Next.
7.
If you want this connection to be made available to all users of this computer, on the Connection Availability page, click Anyone's use, and then click Next. If you want to reserve the connection for yourself, select My use only, and then click Next. The Completing the New Connection Wizard page, appears as shown below.
dcfig1.gif

8.
Click Finish.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/cablecon.mspx

As you can see the main problem is that both machines described here are running XP.
 
You can use a special USB cable to network two computers, but not a standard one.

It is easiest just to have two network cards and a CAT5 crossover cable.
 
If both machines were running XP the file/printer sharing would be a plus for networking the two cases together with the shared access to specified folders. The other option would be to buy an external hard drive for large transfers of data between the two systems. One thought to add there would a third small server case for comon access by the other two.
 
Christian Darrall said:
use a bluetooth device
Click to expand...


Let's see the definition of the wireless technology there.
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Bluetooth

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- Bluetooth is a telecommunications industry specification that describes how mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) can be easily interconnected using a short-range wireless connection. Using this technology, users of cellular phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants can buy a three-in-one phone that can double as a portable phone at home or in the office, get quickly synchronized with information in a desktop or notebook computer, initiate the sending or receiving of a fax, initiate a print-out, and, in general, have all mobile and fixed computer devices be totally coordinated. Bluetooth requires that a low-cost transceiver chip be included in each device. The tranceiver transmits and receives in a previously unused frequency band of 2.45 GHz that is available globally (with some variation of bandwidth in different countries). In addition to data, up to three voice channels are available. Each device has a unique 48-bit address from the IEEE 802 standard. Connections can be point-to-point or multipoint. The maximum range is 10 meters. Data can be exchanged at a rate of 1 megabit per second (up to 2 Mbps in the second generation of the technology). A frequency hop scheme allows devices to communicate even in areas with a great deal of electromagnetic interference. Built-in encryption and verification is provided. The technology got its unusual name in honor of Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark in the mid-tenth century. http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci211680,00.html

Firewire would have one big catch according to this.
Firewire Networking Guide
Easy 400Mbps Networks​
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Firewire networking takes advantage of a spec called "IP over 1394". This spec Standardizes how to transfer IP packets across a firewire (IEEE 1394) interface - translated: firewire networking! By simply running an inexpensive firewire cable between two computers with modern operating systems and firewire ports, you get a 400Mbps network connection! (IETF RFC 2734).
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The Catch

Firewire networking support is very limited in all but the latest operating systems. It is fully supported under Windows XP Home and Pro. Windows ME also has 'some' firewire networking support but don't count on it being reliable. Also remember, native firewire networking is only for IP, not NetBEUI IPX or any other protocol.
http://www.homenethelp.com/network/firewire.asp
This kind of leaves 98 out of the equation there.
 
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