Sharing Files Between PC and Laptop

I'd like to share files between my PC and Laptop. I have a wireless router connected from my cable modem and then an ethernet cable from the router to the PC. My laptop is wireless. My PC is running Windows XP and my laptop is Windows 7. Is there a way I can connect the two together and share files?

I'm trying to create some videos. The problem is that I can only connect my camcorder to my PC to download what's on it. It's a Mini DV camcorder. I have to download it using a IEEE cord (I hope I said this right). I'd also like to look at the pictures and other things that my PC has using my laptop. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm not too computer savy.

You should be able to share the appropriate folder over the network, but it has been too long for me to recite the steps exactly from memory. It goes something like this...

On the Windows XP machine, try right-clicking on the folder containing the videos and then left-click on "Sharing and Security"...change it to "share this folder". It might yell at you and say that you need to turn on file and print sharing, if it does, click ok. Go to the laptop and trying browsing the network...hopefully the folder you just shared shows up and you can access it.

Like Rob says set up the file sharing by right clicking on the folder. You may need to do the drive also can't remember for sure. It has been quite a few years since I set ours up but I am file sharing between an XP laptop and a Vista laptop and a Windows ME desktop on the rare occasion that it gets turned on, all through a wireless router.

While not necessary for your needs, I find a very convenient product to store and share files between desktop, laptop and mobile devices is the "Airstash". See: http://www.airstash.com/

It's a USB drive that uses camera SD cards. But, it's also has built-in battery powered Wi-Fi connectivity. So you copy files from your computers with a USB port to it and then transfer them to any Wi-Fi enabled device. Transferring works both ways. Easy way to get you camera files to your computers and tablets too. I'm always using it with my iPad. More convenient than any other way. Apps are free for all tablets. It's a bit pricy but with it you don't need as large a built-in memory in your tablet, making the tablet cheaper. For business users it makes possible to share files, like Power Point, to several users at the same time.

I'm pretty sure it's the wireless adapter on the XP machine or possibly my router but I was getting abysmal speeds transferring over wifi. Even after screwing around the best I could get is 1/MB a second and with almost 100 hundred GB's to transfer it was going to take 2 days. The first attempt was 200KB/s and would have taken a week. The strange thing is internet speeds are faster. I could have uploaded to my server and then downloaded them faster. If you're getting real slow speeds over wifi use the Ethernet cable.

As already noted right click the folder in XP and select share this folder. Just plug the Ethernet cable into both machines. I had an issue where the network was being recognized but the machine itself wasn't showing up in My Computer, open "Network and sharing center". There should be a listing for unidentified Network, click the link next to it "Local Area Connection". Now click the diagnose button. Once it does it's thing the XP machine should be viewable in My Computer.

I was getting speeds of up to 60MB/s with Ethernet with large files, and that's nearly the max. Even a 1 hour DV file should only take half an hour.

On the topic of DV, those files are big but don't throw them away. They are like negatives.

I got it to work thanks to everyone's suggestions. It wasn't working until I plugged my laptop into the back of the router with an ethernet cable like Richard suggested. Then it recongnized it. Again, thank you all!

You don't need a router. You can plug the computers right together.

Richard S. wrote:You can plug the computers right together.

With an ethernet cable...........really? Cool!! I never knew that. Well........I suppose that's what I did since both machines were plugged into the router. Thanks again boss!

Richard S. wrote: Just plug the Ethernet cable into both machines. .

I did that back in the Windows 98 days, but I used a crossover cable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable

Unless something has changed, I don't think a regular patch cable will work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-MDIX#Auto-MDIX

See note about newer gigabit cards and 1000Base-T.

Rob R. wrote:I did that back in the Windows 98 days, but I used a crossover cable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable

Unless something has changed, I don't think a regular patch cable will work.

It was just regular Ethernet cable.

Yeah, if you're new PC has a gigabit card it will work no need for crossover cable. Some of the newer 10/100 devices also.