HD24 optical, ftp, and server questions

[vwodwo22]

ok getting ready to show my ignorance here.
first off, I am new to digital recording. I own an alesis hd 24 and am running widows xp. I was having trouble getting my computer to find the hd24 as an ftp server. (to make things short, i had to setup my hd 24 server at 192.168.0.2 just for my pc to find it) My computer network is setup, so that one compter is the main computer, another pc connects via a crossover cable, and the hd24 connecting via a crossover cable. I can now (finally) see an copy files from my hd24 to my pc but CANNOT copy themback. (something to the regards that i dont have the permissionto make changes to the files)
1. Any ideas why? or...How can i correct this without buying a fireport or
network router? what about optical ins and outs (next question)?

2. I see people saying that they use pci cards with optical inputs such as steinberg vsl 2020 to transfer tracks to their pc's. Does this basically transfer the wav or aiff files to the pc? or does it rerecorder the tracks? Does it lose any quality?

any help appreciated
thanks
Brad

[Track Rat]

I make all my transfers via Lightpipe thru a MOTU 2408 mkII. I prefer it this way. Even though you are re-recording there is no loss of quality at all as it's transfered bit for bit. It's a real time process but it's faster than FTP.

[deepwater]

Get the Alesis Fireport

[jmorris]

all the way. I also use the motu 2408mkIII. It simply runs your tracks real time from hd24 to motu then into the computer. It is great. Granted, a Motu MKIII will run about $900.00 . Go for an older MKII, they are about $500.00 on ebay. I'm lazy and dumb. This was the quickest and simplest way for me. Jim