Connecting two computers via USB
 

Is it possible to connect two computers using a USB cable (basically cutting out a router or anything).

I'm trying to copy files between a new laptop and an old computer and I didn't know if it was possible, or how to do it.

Thanks.

Apparently, there IS a USB crossover cable:

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/usbmain.htm

Scroll about halfway down the page.

An ethernet hub is not that expensive and could be used for the same thing ...

You may need one other piece of hardware.

http://windowsnetworking.com/article...s/usbmain.html

Firewire/1394 yes, USB no. The problem to work around is that USB is a single master bus. One system would have to control all activity. It could be done with a polling driver but I haven't seen it. Anyone else?

Might be easier to install the new laptop drive as a slave on the old system. If you're not that adventurous, pick up a couple ethernet adapters. PCI 10/100Mb cards are about $5. USB 10/100Mb adapters maybe $25.

That'd work.

I'd save my money - not cards or adapters - and put one or another drive in an <a href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductList.jsp?ThirdCategoryCode=010110">external USB enclosure.</a> They sell for $20-50, and would be useful beyond this initial transfer.

USB enclosures FTW.

Another nice thing is a USB/IDE adapter, and a wall outlet / 4-pin molex adapter. Great for repairing harddrives or extracting data and fun stuff.

Do both machines have ethernet? If so, a simple cat-5 crossover cable is what you want to use.

What he said. Cat-5 Crossover is super easy and fast, as well as cheap (I bought a 10' for $10 at Radio Shack). That is, as long as both computers have ethernet cards. If not, you could always install one (just bought one off of Newegg for $8 when my motherboard's 10/100 shat the bed).

You probably can connect via USB, but unless they're both USB 2, the connection will be reeeallly sloooow. Even if they're USB 2, the connection won't be as fast as ethernet.

Why do you want to connect them directly anyway? Do you need to backup a whole HDD, or get large files off of it? Unless you're transferring a lot, you could always put the stuff on floppies, or email it to yourself. Just an idea.

With the Cat5 cables, I'd just have to plug a cable into both computers and it'll show up or do I have to do anything networking related?

You need to set the IP address on both machine to be on the same network.

Computer 1: 162.10.10.1
Computer 2: 162.10.10.2

Once you set the ip address, the computer should appear in the network neighbourhood

Don't forget to reset the ip address back to whatever it was before, after you're finish with whatever it is that you need to do.

And most importantly, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A CROSS-OVER CABLE.

A few months ago, I bought one of those USB cables I saw in the picture. It came with software, but it never worked right. The software would cause crashes.

How do you set the IP address on your own computer?

It's early in the morning but there's probably a simplier way of doing this

Control Panel->Network Connection->Local Area Network(Or whatever it is called on your computer, there should be only 1 anyways)

Click on Properties
Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) -Don't uncheck it, just select it
Click on Properties
Click on "Use the folliwing IP address" option
Enter the ip address and then ok
Connect the 2 computer using the crossover cable.
Restart the machine

I have one such cable (Compaq) similar to this one:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/priority...sb20sulid.html

Install software before you hook it up to PCs. Works quite well.

Thank you Mr. Feelgood!