How Can I Transfer Files Between My Windows and Ubuntu PCs Over Wi-Fi?
Asked by
TechieTom42
I'm trying to help my dad recover his photos and videos from an old Windows 10 PC before I give it to him, but it's really slow to transfer files. Both computers, the old tower PC and my newer Ubuntu 24.04 machine, are connected to the same home Wi-Fi network. Is there a way to access the old PC from my Ubuntu system to transfer the files, similar to cloud storage? If so, could someone guide me on how to set that up? Thanks!
Answers
If it's an old tablet PC, you may not even be able to remove the hard drive without damaging something. Try running some cleanup software like Malwarebytes to get rid of temporary files that might be slowing it down. After that, transferring files over USB would probably be much faster.
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Why do you think Wi-Fi would be faster than a direct transfer? Usually, it's not! If you can mount the Windows drive on your Ubuntu machine, you could copy the files directly that way. That should be a lot quicker than relying on the old computer itself.
DataDude23: I get what you mean! I was hoping to avoid any physical work on the old PC, but I'll definitely consider it.
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You might want to set up a network share on the Windows PC, which would let you access the files from Ubuntu. Just google how to do that, and you should find some helpful guides. However, using an SSD might still be the best bet if transferring directly is slow. It's strange that it takes so long—maybe check if there's an issue with the old PC.
DataDude23: That makes sense! I'll look into setting up the share. Thanks for the tip!
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Transferring files to a USB drive or SSD should definitely be faster. If you haven't already, check that the files are located on the tablet itself, not in the cloud. That could be part of the issue. But if everything's local, it sounds like a flash drive or SSD connection is the way to go!
DataDude23: Thanks for confirming! I just need to figure out what's slowing the whole system down.
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DataDude23: That's a great idea! I hadn't thought about cleaning it up first.