Hi,

Well I have two computers at home in two defferent rooms,

and everytime i want to copy or move some data i have to toke the hard drive from one computer open the case and connect it to the IDE cable of the other one,hard and time consuming process.

So, I got two LAN cards and a network wire,

But I don't know how to setup a network

I only want to transfer data easily between the two computers.

so please help me, Thank you in advance.

First we need to know more information about what you have. to connect the 2 computers directly together, you need to make sure that the cable that you have is a 'crossover'.

second, we need to know what OS you are running on both systems in order to help you in further detail.

Thank u 4 ur reply,

My OS is windows XP pro 2002 sp2

and yes the cable is a cross over.

thank you big time.

quick down and dirty way to get em setup:

on xp, from the desktop (or in start menu) Right-Click on 'My Network Places' > Properties. Right-Click the network listed (Local Area Connection) > Properties. Under 'This connection uses the followinf items:' Highlight 'Internet protocal (TCP/IP)' and click Properties button. Select 'Use the following IP address:'

type something for IP Address like: 192.192.192.1 (make the last number different for the 2nd computer)

Subnet: 255.255.255.0 (same on both systems).

Click OK and you are all setup on this system. Follow the same steps on the 2000 system (should be almost identical steps).

You are now ready to setup file sharing...

and everytime i want to copy or move some data i have to toke the hard drive from one computer open the case and connect it to the IDE cable of the other one,hard and time consuming process.

Oh my gosh! Are you serious. I'd call that time consuming!!

Yes, you need to learn how to share files.

Make sure that if you have a firewall, you need to define a trusted network in your firewall so it doesn't block file sharing between the two computers.

(Also, if you have a USB flash drive and USB ports on both computers, you could use that to transfer files rather than opening up the case. USB flash drives are cheap. The amount you can transfer will depend on the capacity of your USB. So while you are trying to figure out how to network and file share, I'd consider investing in a USB flash drive to transfer files.)

Thanks for your answers.but i still don't understand what exactly to do to set up the network between my two computers.The ip thing that you said is already done for my dsl connection,but how to set the network up from scratch and how to open the 1st computer's shared filed on the second one after the set up,that i don't know ,. sorry to take that much of your time....

How to network and share files is a long topic. Fortunately, there are many sites on the internet that take you step-by-step how to share files/folders and the printer.

See this one for example, http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/247. It's pretty thorough. Just google and you will find lots of hits.

Then refine your search to network with a crossover cable, if that is what you are trying to do. If not, then you should have a router that does that.