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Backing up on my old pc

kilburncat
Grafter
Posts: 90
Registered: ‎06-02-2008

Backing up on my old pc

Can I back up my Windows 7 laptop on my old XP desktop? The Windows Easy Transfer and the Belkin USB cable let me do it the other way round, but won't let me designate the 7 laptop as my 'old' computer. Can it be done?
3 REPLIES 3
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Backing up on my old pc

I don't believe in "Easy Transfer" myself because you tend to get more than you bargained for, settings from the old computer that aren't really appropriate to the new one.  But what you have is a cable that permits communication between two computers and some software that isn't really appropriate for what you now want to do.  I imagine you could just use the cable and decide for yourself what to "back-up".  But then if you knew the specifics of what you need to save you could have saved yourself the expense of the Easy Transfer cable and just used a memory stick or a DVD.  So on balance I think the answer is that it is too difficult to be worth the effort.  But I could be wrong.         
kilburncat
Grafter
Posts: 90
Registered: ‎06-02-2008

Re: Backing up on my old pc

Don't worry, I didn't waste my my money on the cable, I borrowed it from a friend who couldn't even get it to perform the function it was intended for. I don't see why my old pc can't serve as the kind of external hard drives you buy. It won't all fit on a stick and I was trying to avoid the multiple DVD option.
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Backing up on my old pc

Quote from: kilburncat
I don't see why my old pc can't serve as the kind of external hard drives you buy.

Of course it can do this.  Why not network the two computers together and back-up over the network?  Networking doesn't happen automatically because the default network ("workgroup") name for an XP computer ("MSHOME") is not the same as the default network name for Vista and Windows 7 ("WORKGROUP").  If you set both computers to have the same workgroup name then each computer should be able to see the public/shared folders on the other.