If you can hook it up to your local network you can use FTP and/or SMB.

vetz wrote on 2026-08-10, 15:36:

If you can hook it up to your local network you can use FTP and/or SMB.

As for now it doesn't have a network card. 🙁
I can buy one and connect both PCs with a data cable, right?
Thanks!

I ise something like this from Aliexpress

If you're already burning CD's and saying it's costly, have you considered CD-RW?

daeds wrote on 2026-08-10, 15:47:

As for now it doesn't have a network card. :( I can buy one and connect both PCs with a data cable, right? Thanks! […]
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vetz wrote on 2026-08-10, 15:36:

If you can hook it up to your local network you can use FTP and/or SMB.

As for now it doesn't have a network card. 🙁
I can buy one and connect both PCs with a data cable, right?
Thanks!

That's the cheapest way.

Ddlink from davedds might work, but only over serial.

you will be far better served by a network card.

One 'can' direct connect 2 systems over an ethernet cable, *IF* the cable is a crossover cable. (Usually, these are bright yellow, by convention. But that doesnt mean anything, realworld wise)

I would suggest a network card, attached to your home network, then using SMB.

We're fortune that ethernet cards are not "r@re unobtanium" and remain so compatible with modern networks.
A 3c905 (in the US I see one on ebay for $10) or rtl8139 (I see one on ebay for $5) would both be a great fit for a PCI system.
If you want something universally compatible with all your vintage systems, even XTs since the 16-bit portion can overhang, get an EtherLink III aka 3c509. It'll of course, be slower.
Just make sure it has twisted pair.
I've also seen claims that some modern routers don't want to negotiate 10 Mbps on their ports. You can dodge that either by getting a 100 Mbps card like the first two I mentioned, or put a 10/100 switch in between the router and vintage machine. Some people like to keep a separate vintage physical network anyway so that's an option too.
To me, the parallel and serial solutions have a place, but are better suited to PCMCIA-less luggables and laptops.

wierd_w wrote on 2026-08-10, 17:42:

Ddlink from davedds might work, but only over serial. ...

I was about to suggest this - but you beat me to it!

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I transfer files between old (DOS, Win9x ...) and modern systems all the time.

I use DosBox on the modern system which lets me run DDLINK with full support for serial and network.
DOS or Win9x (being launched by DOS) can run DDLINK directly (Worse case you can "Restart in DOS mode")

Serial at 115kbps works well unless you are routinely moving BIG files (which still works well - but can be slow).

Network's MUCH faster - DosBox can provide a virtual NE2000 NIC, and all you need is a "packet driver" (both NE2000.COM for DosBox and whatever is suitable for the NIC in the other system - there are LOTs of packer drivers available).

The good news is that you don't have to "install" anything - just load the packet driver (it's TSR which you can load/unload at any time) and run DDLINK as a sever on one end, and as a client in the other (all interaction will be at the client).

--

You could also look into Microsoft network sharing (SAMBA), but IIRC that protocol was changed to increase security and new<>old is not automatically compatible. I think you CAN change some settings on the new OS to reduce security and allow connections.

The other thing to look at over network is FTP - you'll have to find suitable FTP server and client for the systems (and associated network drivers etc.)

Either of the last two will involve "installing stuff" - worth it if you want more general network access from the W95 system but a lot of work just to transfer some files.
DDLINK is a single 17k .EXE requiring no libraries or other support files (other than a packet driver for network) - IMHO the easiest way to transfer files between old<>new.

I should probably also mention the other super-easy way to move a LOT of data if you don't mind opening up the systems.

Simply attaching an extra hard drive first to the old system (and format it), then you can just move it between the two. This will require shutting them down before attaching/removing the drive,
but if you are not doing it every day, and don't want to set up a network interface etc. - it can be a good option.

I personally do this sometimes using a little CF (Compact Flash) card to IDE adapter - super small/easy and no worries about knocking an actual hard drive around!

As many have commented, networking old systems is huge QoL improvement. It is a must for me personally and for something like DOS machines a floppy drive is needed extremely rarely with networking. Same applies to win9x systems too, but there generally CD drive becomes extremely important for running those CD games etc.

For networked systems I highly recommend uwing FTP and server on the vintage system. This means that you don’t in any situation need to set up unsafe obsolete protocls on your modern computer or NAS. Just use a client on the modern system and drop whatever you need to the vintage system from your file resources, whatever they may be.

Personally, ever since I found out just how easy it is to set up, I always use FTP. I used to move USB sticks from PC to PC but it was such a pain to keep track of things and the transfer speeds were really low.

Easiest thing to do is to grab a compatible network card on ISA or PCI, 3Com cards are usually pretty decent, I'd avoid cheap Realtek based network cards but your mileage may vary and they are usually dirt cheap so you can always have a go at it.
Once that's done, connect it to your home router, install Filezilla Server on one of your other computers and create an FTP server with a specific folder as the root and then throw in anything you want to transfer. Connect to said server from your Win95 system using any tool you want, Total Commander works really well I reckon.

I've lately been working on getting shared folders working between the various versions of windows, for example it's possible to have windows 10 and windows for workgroups sharing both ways. Haven't got to try doing this with a windows 95 machine yet, but testing will resume in a few weeks. I don't expect any major issues.

All my machines have ethernet network cards and use the normal cat-5 (or whatever) cables for connections. All machines can access the internet, although it's not very useful or safe on the older machines.

Alternatively USB drivers can be added to win95, if you prefer using USB sticks. Depending on the driver you use, you might be restricted to using FAT-formatted sticks.

But whatever, these ways are far superior to using CDs or floppies to transfer data.

CD-RW discs?

vetz wrote on 2026-08-10, 16:51:

If you're already burning CD's and saying it's costly, have you considered CD-RW?

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2026-08-12, 02:12:

CD-RW discs?

Less out-of-pocket cost, but "burning" still takes a long time ... and back in the day when I used to use these to move larger amounts of data - I had a few CD-RWs fail after repeated use!

Network is by far a better way to go - yes, getting WinblowSMP working is trickier than it used to be because of newer security "fixes" (but has a big advantage in that environment as you can mount remote "drives" and access them as easily as local ones), but simple FTP or even-simpler DDLINK will always beat "sneaker-net"!

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-08-12, 07:19:

Less out-of-pocket cost, but "burning" still takes a long time ... and back in the day when I used to use these to move larger a […]
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vetz wrote on 2026-08-10, 16:51:

If you're already burning CD's and saying it's costly, have you considered CD-RW?

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2026-08-12, 02:12:

CD-RW discs?

Less out-of-pocket cost, but "burning" still takes a long time ... and back in the day when I used to use these to move larger amounts of data - I had a few CD-RWs fail after repeated use!

Network is by far a better way to go - yes, getting WinblowSMP working is trickier than it used to be because of newer security "fixes" (but has a big advantage in that environment as you can mount remote "drives" and access them as easily as local ones), but simple FTP or even-simpler DDLINK will always beat "sneaker-net"!

How is a network card and cable cheaper than a CD-RW disc?

He isnt looking for "the better way" he is looking for the cheapest way.
You can pick up a CD-RW discs for £3.

If he doesnt like that and isnt shy about spending money a far better way to go than networking would be a USB zip drive, its far more in tune with the retro vibe Win95 gives

I can't be the only one with a stack of no-name NE2000 compatible ISA cards. These things were literally everywhere and would be useful to OP.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2026-08-12, 08:25:

How is a network card and cable cheaper than a CD-RW disc?
He isnt looking for "the better way" he is looking for the cheapest way.
You can pick up a CD-RW discs for £3.

Actually - IIRC he was asking for the "easiest/cheapest" way to move files, not just the cheapest.

And 1 CD-RW isn't going to cut it - If he's finding CDr costly, he's likely "burning" them a lot - and maybe they've gotten better, but back in the day when I used CDr and CD-RWs a lot, I had too many CD-RWs go bad with repeated use. I'm in N.A. and looking on Amazon, a 10pack of CD-RWs will set you back at least $15-20.

And IIRC they burned more slower (2x or 4x I think) which kinda goes against the "easiest" aspect too!

You can pickup network cards dead cheap -- used NE2000 compatibles are plentiful (At least here) both in ISA and PCI editions.
Getting harder to find new (impossible for ISA), but assuming the system is new enough to have PCI - you can grab a new NIC for as little as $20

and ... don't worry about "top end" - even an old 10mbps NIC is going to beat the pants off off "sneaker-net".

Short cables are also dead cheap.

Many Bothans wrote on 2026-08-12, 11:40:

I can't be the only one with a stack of no-name NE2000 compatible ISA cards. These things were literally everywhere and would be useful to OP.

Yeah, I "gave up" counting how many spares I had because I kept finding more in odd places... 😀

I've got plenty of the RealTek NE2000 clones, D-Link cards, SMC cards and others I can't remember - not just in 10baseT and 10base100, but I still have a few going all the way back to 10base2 (Coax) ... this stuff just "collects" - even if the OP doesn't have a stash of old NICs ... ask around... friends may have them, you can find them in "thrift" stores or local "sell used" groups.

Most computers of the pentium class already come with network cards, and the OP never said if his machine has one or not. My only machine without a card was a 386, so I found a SMC card that worked with Windows-for-workgroups. The speed isn't great, but who cares. Time is money as well, and the time wasted burning CDs is relatively expensive.

I would imagine that a couple of network cables wouldn't cost much, and if you use an existing hub/switch/router/gateway, you're set to go.

I have no experience with Windows 11, but it can't be that much different to Windows 10, at least in how to set up a shared folder and make the adjustments to allow working with Windows 95.

Using CDs might be delightfully retro, but highly inefficient.