Firewire - what do I need?

Dumbledore55

Please help a technaphobe - I have just bought a new computer and my 15 year old wants to transfer his 4000+ itunes tracks from the old computer to this one. He tells me I need to buy a firewire(????).

I've looked at firewires and they mean nothing to me - what connections do I need at the end of this wire?

Sorry if I sound stupid but a ZX Spectrum was my first computer which shows how old I am!! And as my son would say, 'old people don't understand technology'.

Taffybiker

Firewire is fast but you don't really need it. I would connect the machines together and simply transfer the files over. I would either use a crossover ethernet cable or a dedicated USB cable. If both machines have USB2 this would be the faster method.

Dumbledore55

Taffybiker wrote: »

Firewire is fast but you don't really need it. I would connect the machines together and simply transfer the files over. I would either use a crossover ethernet cable or a dedicated USB cable. If both machines have USB2 this would be the faster method.

Silly question time, I have a ethernet cable - is that suitable or do I need to buy one that is 'crossover'.:o

Taffybiker

It does need to be a crossover type.

Dumbledore55

Taffybiker wrote: »

It does need to be a crossover type.

Sorry to keep asking silly questions - how will I know if the one I've got is a crossover type?

daily_2

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329

If you have a router and a network card in the old one, you could use either cable. Crossover will have 2 wires crossed over (look at the colours of the wires on both ends)

Or you could remove the old drive, and attach it internally, or burn to a dvd, or use a flash drive, disc caddy, lots of options.

Dumbledore55

daily wrote: »

If you have a router and a network card in the old one, you could use either, or you could remove the old drive, and attach it internally, or burn to a dvd, or flash drives, lots of options.

And an idiot's guide to doing that is available where?

Taffybiker

This page explains the ethernet requirements quite well.

Dumbledore55

Taffybiker wrote: »

This page explains the ethernet requirements quite well.

Thanks so much - I've passed the link on to my son to research and let me know what we need to do.

timbim_2

Do you have a router or switch? If you do, you can do it even more easily through that.

totalsolutions

Just install the old drive into the new PC as a slave unit, if there's room of course or connect as an external HDD.