How can I use my Laptop as a external Hard Drive?

Question

I have a Acer laptop running Vista Home and a Compaq Desktop running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. The laptop has a cracked screen and this makes it unusable. I would like to connect the laptop to the desktop and use it like an external hard drive, or even the main hard drive (if possible).

I don't want to spend any money, and I have a Ethernet cable. They both can network together and use the shared files folder, but I want to access the whole hard drive from my laptop.

If it running vista will cause a snag and make it impossible, then I will downgrade, just tell me how to connect them.

Thanks and please be helpful.

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Aderhold

Answer 1

The shared folder can be extended to the whole drive, if you set up and remenber also you can set you Intranet network the laptop as a Host=server and the other as a client.

All is about experiment until you get it right.

Answer 2

you will need a crossover cable to send data back and forth and you might still have to adjust settings on you laptop to accommodate the communication protocol.  Otherwise take the hard drive out completely and connect it to the pc but you might need adapters and such for the power for the hard drive and the right data cable as well.  Good luck.