hw to hookup crossover cable

I presume that your old system is a laptop. How will you configure it if it has a bad screen?

You'll need to connect the crossover cable to each system's Ethernet port and manually set the IP address to 192.168.1.1 on one computer and 192.168.1.2 on the other one. Then access the computer using a UNC path. Once done, reconfigure the Ethernet controller to use DHCP (default settings).

Wouldn't it be easier to install the hard disk in an external case? It could then be used to backup files, etc.