Author Topic: Whats the easiest way to transfer roms from one pc to another ? (Read 4037 times)

spidermonkey · « **on:** February 02, 2004, 01:34:46 am »

Welp, the title pretty much says it all. Should I buy an external hard drive ? Or could I network the two pcs together ? If so what do I need to buy to hook em together ? My desk pc does have a cd burner. How do I go about putting the roms onto a cd ? Sorry for the somewhat stupid questions but I just want to know the best way.

$:-\$

Jakobud · « **Reply #1 on:** February 02, 2004, 02:32:34 am »

probably cd burning. But really it depends on how many roms you are talking about. If you are talking about the entire mame collection.... well... you are gonna be burning upwards of 10 cd's or more maybe. If you have ethernet or USB2 connectors on both machines I'd go that route.

Howard_Casto · « **Reply #2 on:** February 02, 2004, 09:06:19 am »

If one of the machines has xp on it... buy a 10 dollar crossover cable, hook the cable up to both computer's network cards and run the networking wizard on the xp end.

Poof your done. You can now start folder shares on either pc and directly transfer the roms at realitively high speeds.

Usb isn't a viable option unless you are talking about just a few roms and know exactly how to do it. USB2 isn't magic. Unlike firewire, you can't simply hook to pcs together via a usb cable and expect them to see each other. It requires special cabling and software/hardware. Plus even usb 2.0 is slower than dirt compared to a solid ethernet connection.

PacManFan · « **Reply #3 on:** February 02, 2004, 09:22:13 am »

Along these lines, I just put in a rom-resource transfer utilty in Kymaera,
Basically, you can create a gamelist with whatever games you want, and Kymaera will copy over the roms and art images just for that list to a destination folder, preserving the directory structure. I wrote this to help set up my new cabinet that has a 2gb hard drive and a AMD k6-2 400. This cab can't play all the games, so I just wanted to copy over everything from the years '77 to 90.

-PMF

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #4 on:** February 02, 2004, 10:09:57 am »

Quote from: spidermonkey on February 02, 2004, 01:34:46 am

Welp, the title pretty much says it all. Should I buy an external hard drive ? Or could I network the two pcs together ? If so what do I need to buy to hook em together ? My desk pc does have a cd burner. How do I go about putting the roms onto a cd ? Sorry for the somewhat stupid questions but I just want to know the best way. $:-\$

It would help to have a lot more information - Are the two PC's in the same city, same building, same room?

If you're just upgrading, the easiest (and free) way might be to take the HD out of the computer with the roms, temporarily install it to IDE2 in the new computer, pull the ROMS from D: to C:, and then put it back.

Otherwise burning to CD would probably be best. Hopefully you got some decent burning software with the CD-burner.

Post back if you need more info.

Mr. Dude · « **Reply #5 on:** February 02, 2004, 10:40:45 am »

If you have a cd burner use it. That's what I do... it's extremely simple, fast and it gives you a backup of your roms to keep on hand. Just use a burning software like Nero and burn a data disk with the roms you want.

Minwah · « **Reply #6 on:** February 02, 2004, 11:31:13 am »

I use a tiny USB2 hard drive. Not neccessarily the 'best' way, but pretty quick (~30mins for a full set) and acts as a backup too

Howard_Casto · « **Reply #7 on:** February 02, 2004, 12:57:42 pm »

Quote from: Minwah on February 02, 2004, 11:31:13 am

I use a tiny USB2 hard drive. Not neccessarily the 'best' way, but pretty quick (~30mins for a full set) and acts as a backup too

Now THAT will work well. Especially those mini usb thumbdrives, they are actually the best thing for transferring realitively small amounts of data.

spidermonkey · « **Reply #8 on:** February 02, 2004, 08:08:54 pm »

Thanks for everyones ideas. I just might try putting the hardrive into the IDE2 of my MAME computer and pulling some roms off that way. I am also going to pick up one of those usb2 thumbdrives either way. They seem like they would be quite handy.
Thanks again.

stuzza · « **Reply #9 on:** February 02, 2004, 09:15:03 pm »

The USB2 thumbdrives are great and work really well for transferring data from one pc to another. I recently got one which is built into a watch! it has 128MB of memory on it and the USB cable slots in under the band. I use it all the time at work to move files around from one machine to another. It's funny seeing the suprised look on peoples faces when you take off your watch and plug it into the computer

Here is a piccy of it:

Generic Eric · « **Reply #10 on:** February 02, 2004, 10:37:24 pm »

Quote from: stuzza on February 02, 2004, 09:15:03 pm

The USB2 thumbdrives are great and work really well for transferring data from one pc to another. I recently got one which is built into a watch! it has 128MB of memory on it and the USB cable slots in under the band. I use it all the time at work to move files around from one machine to another. It's funny seeing the suprised look on peoples faces when you take off your watch and plug it into the computer

Here is a piccy of it:

hahaha...lol..
got a link?
how much?
who makes it?

mahuti · « **Reply #11 on:** February 02, 2004, 11:52:33 pm »

Dealsonic.com has it.

http://www.dealsonic.com/xomemewaw12f.html

Howard_Casto · « **Reply #12 on:** February 03, 2004, 08:24:32 am »

Too bad it's analog.... Howie never learned to tell time

Stingray · « **Reply #13 on:** February 03, 2004, 01:28:45 pm »

That watch is nothing but cool. Super geek factor! I want one.

-S

shmokes · « **Reply #14 on:** February 03, 2004, 05:58:25 pm »

I saw a maximum PC mini review of that watch. They thought it was pretty cool, but part of the band is molded so unless your wrist happens to be just the right size it's allegedly kind of uncomfortable. Still...it's pretty cool.

On the ROMS transfer I would avoid CD's if at all possible...especially if we're talking about a full set with hard drive games. That's like 25 or 30 CDs. It will take FOREVER!

The easiest, and least expensive (well, the HDD swap is less expensive, but more hastle considering you have to open up your computer and mess with jumpers and irritating ribbon cables and those damn molex connectors on the power cable seem to fuse themselves to the drive and not want to come free when it comes time to take the drive back out and when they finally pop free you end up cutting your hand on the case because it's cheap and doesn't have folded edges. Now your cussing and blood is dripping all over your video card and you jump up to try to get a bandage and slam your head into the corner of the desk drawer that you opened to get your mini mag light to help you see inside your case....but I digress

) is what Howard said.

Pick up a crossover cable from staples or radio shack. It looks just like a regular ethernet cable to the untrained eye, but you have to make sure it's the crossover type. It will be clearly labeled on the package as a Crossover Ethernet cable. Plug the cable into the network card in each computer (both computers have to have network cards for this to work) and run the Network setup wizard. From then on you can copy files back and forth to your hearts content. Unlike the hard drive swap you can leave this permanently set up and get all kinds of uses out of it. For example you can use the free space on your hard drive in your cabinet to periodically back up an image of your other computer's drive in case you have a drive failure and vice versa.

spidermonkey · « **Reply #15 on:** February 03, 2004, 11:37:38 pm »

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3457950242&category=11171

Do you guys think that this would do the job ?
This can be used with desktops and laptops right ?

Paul Olson · « **Reply #16 on:** February 04, 2004, 01:24:18 am »

That HD enclosure would work, but 2.5" hard drives are still pretty expensive. I think you would be better off with a 3.5" enclosure.

That said, you could probably set up a home network cheaper (assuming the computers are both in your home). I bought a Linksys 802.11b router for $40, and it still has a 4-port switch for ethernet.
I think the network would be more useful to you - Transfer files, share a broadband connection, online gaming on xbox and ps2, stream media to a connected DVD Player (I really like this one), use VNC to configure your mame pc from your home pc.

Either method will work for transferring roms, but a home network is to good to pass up.

Paul

hulkster · « **Reply #17 on:** February 04, 2004, 07:50:18 am »

Quote from: stuzza on February 02, 2004, 09:15:03 pm

The USB2 thumbdrives are great and work really well for transferring data from one pc to another. I recently got one which is built into a watch! it has 128MB of memory on it and the USB cable slots in under the band. I use it all the time at work to move files around from one machine to another. It's funny seeing the suprised look on peoples faces when you take off your watch and plug it into the computer

Here is a piccy of it:

yeah dude, nerd factor goes up 4 points for a usb drive watch!

of course mine always goes up when people come in and see my modded pc box

dreamfreak · « **Reply #18 on:** February 04, 2004, 09:45:59 am »

norton ghost is very easy and quick if you want to get the whole image

Howard_Casto · « **Reply #19 on:** February 04, 2004, 11:15:15 am »

Not true... even if he did want the entire image, quite a bit of hoop jumping is required to get an nt-based ghost image to run on another identical machine, much less one with different system specs. From windows 2000 and on all m$ products (including windows) have a special registry section devoted to keeping their products from being transferred to another machine via ghosting programs. Now in the corporate edition of ghost they have a special patch that can be easily applied to all systems assuming you have the proper liscensing. It is very difficult to get the initial setup right though.

I'll be honest I haven't done it professionally in a year or two though. That was how it was when I left it though.

Mugzilla · « **Reply #20 on:** February 04, 2004, 11:29:06 am »

Instead of getting my butt kicked when trying to network, I just unbolt the destination HD, set it on "cable select" with the jumper, and plug it into the cable on the inside of the destination computer.

ZING! easy way to copy!

jr76 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 04, 2004, 12:09:41 pm »

Pulling the HD is the easiest, but don't forget about Fat32 ant NTFS!

Howard_Casto · « **Reply #22 on:** February 04, 2004, 12:46:29 pm »

Not really, unless you consider taking apart two pcs easier than buy a 8 dollar crossover cable and clicking 3 buttons, or simply plugging in a usb thumbdrive.

jr76 · « **Reply #23 on:** February 04, 2004, 01:56:17 pm »

Ok, maybe easiest wasn't the right word.

Lilwolf · « **Reply #24 on:** February 04, 2004, 03:22:20 pm »

btw... when you do have a network setup.

Is there any free syncing programs out there? I try and keep a copy of my roms on my work machine...so...I...have a a backup... not to play games on... ever....

But its about 4 versions old right now.

They used to have a TON of them (laplink ect...) that would work through serial / parallel ports...

Just copying changed content?

shmokes · « **Reply #25 on:** February 04, 2004, 04:10:14 pm »

hmmm...If you use a Novell network you can use iFolder to do this

Kind of a long shot...

The great thing about iFolder is that it will synchronize over the internet, so you could keep a backup of your roms on your other computer in Bangledesh if you wanted to...and it's all automatic.

Howard_Casto · « **Reply #26 on:** February 04, 2004, 04:30:33 pm »

There are some online syncing programs, but as mentioned, most are internet based. As roms are illegal this probably isn't a good idea.

Spaced Invader · « **Reply #27 on:** February 10, 2004, 10:24:15 am »

Lilwolf...if you're still looking...

http://www.tusafe.com/nonags/filesync.html

None of these are "internet based"...so I think your safe.

Jakobud · « **Reply #28 on:** February 10, 2004, 05:07:33 pm »

Geez how the heck did this thread get so long? Burn some freakin CD's...

Edgedamage · « **Reply #29 on:** February 13, 2004, 01:55:40 am »

I had a couple of hard drives lying around so I got a USB 2.0 hard drive inclosure. They are great for making use of a old HDD.

GroovyTuesdaY · « **Reply #30 on:** February 17, 2004, 03:02:45 am »

WOW, i didn't know these USB enclosures were out there. HMMMM....new toy time me thinks hehehe.

groovY~

SirPoonga · « **Reply #31 on:** February 17, 2004, 03:05:41 am »

Quote from: Jakobud on February 10, 2004, 05:07:33 pm

Geez how the heck did this thread get so long? Burn some freakin CD's...

No kidding, either burn CDs, use a USB thumbdrive, Or network the PCs.


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