Transfering files via Ethernet cable

[techi]

Hej, I'm switching from an laptop to my first self build, and as my internet speed isn't the I'm looking for ways to transfer  my game files.

I stumbled  on the ethernet solution but they mentioned an ethernet crossover cable and I'm wondering if that's needed or if its possible to do it with normal cable.

[Lurick]

Auto-MDIX which is present on 99.9% of things made in the last several years removes the need for a crossover cable. The pins will auto swap and detect so a normal cable is fine.

[mariushm]

A crossover cable is only needed with 100 mbps ethernet cards.

 

Gigabit ethernet cards are supposed to automatically detect the pairs of wires in the ethernet cable and work automatically.

So you can just get a regular pre-made ethernet cable and connect two computers together and it will just work.

 

There's a tiny catch: as you don't have a router or something to assign an unique IP to each computer when you do this, you'll have to give each computer an IP manually.

Go to network card properties, and enter IPs to each computer: for example, set one of them to 192.168.0.1  and the other one to 192.168.0.2  Set subnet mask on both to 255.255.255.0

If you don't like those, you could also use 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 ...

 

This creates a 2 computer network between the two computers.

When you're done transferring files, you can simply erase what you entered / check "Detect IP automatically" and disconnect the cable. 

 

[cole0622]

45 minutes ago, mariushm said:

A crossover cable is only needed with 100 mbps ethernet cards.

 

Gigabit ethernet cards are supposed to automatically detect the pairs of wires in the ethernet cable and work automatically.

So you can just get a regular pre-made ethernet cable and connect two computers together and it will just work.

 

There's a tiny catch: as you don't have a router or something to assign an unique IP to each computer when you do this, you'll have to give each computer an IP manually.

Go to network card properties, and enter IPs to each computer: for example, set one of them to 192.168.0.1  and the other one to 192.168.0.2  Set subnet mask on both to 255.255.255.0

If you don't like those, you could also use 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 ...

 

This creates a 2 computer network between the two computers.

When you're done transferring files, you can simply erase what you entered / check "Detect IP automatically" and disconnect the cable. 

 

you can use windows ICS on a laptop to give an address to the desktop then use the desktops file explorer \\192.168.137.1\"shared folder/drive directory" you have to share the folder or drive

[Lurick]

57 minutes ago, mariushm said:

A crossover cable is only needed with 100 mbps ethernet cards.

 

Gigabit ethernet cards are supposed to automatically detect the pairs of wires in the ethernet cable and work automatically.

So you can just get a regular pre-made ethernet cable and connect two computers together and it will just work.

 

There's a tiny catch: as you don't have a router or something to assign an unique IP to each computer when you do this, you'll have to give each computer an IP manually.

Go to network card properties, and enter IPs to each computer: for example, set one of them to 192.168.0.1  and the other one to 192.168.0.2  Set subnet mask on both to 255.255.255.0

If you don't like those, you could also use 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 ...

 

This creates a 2 computer network between the two computers.

When you're done transferring files, you can simply erase what you entered / check "Detect IP automatically" and disconnect the cable. 

 

 

8 minutes ago, cole0622 said:

you can use windows ICS on a laptop to give an address to the desktop then use the desktops file explorer \\192.168.137.1\"shared folder/drive directory" you have to share the folder or drive

 

Or you just use the APIPA generated address

[mariushm]

32 minutes ago, cole0622 said:

you can use windows ICS on a laptop to give an address to the desktop then use the desktops file explorer \\192.168.137.1\"shared folder/drive directory" you have to share the folder or drive

Yeah, but in order to do that, first the computer needs an IP  (192.168.137.1 in your example).

You have to set them manually for each computer, if there's no router or device (for example a cable modem) that automatically assigns IPs to each computer.

So the easiest is to use the local network IP range (192.168.x.x) to give the two computers a unique IP, therefore 192.168.0.1 on 1st computer and 192.168.0.2 on 2nd computer and subnet mask 255.255.255.0 on both computers.

 

When done, you can either share folders, or you could install Filezilla FTP server on one of the computers and Filezilla FTP client on the other computer, and use them to transfer multiple files in parallel between computers. With network shares you transfer one file at a time, so if you have loads of small files, it can take a long time for transfers to be done.

 

Here's a tutorial video showing how to install and configure Filezilla FTP server and then use Filezilla FTP client to connect to other computer - note it's in Romanian, sorry about that, but all the steps are really obvious from video alone, no need to listenm and it's really a 5 minute setup, not even that long:  http://savedonthe.net/a/tutorial_filezilla.mkv

 

Filezilla FTP client limits you to 10 connections at the same time, but you can easily start 2 or 3 copies of Filezilla FTP client and have each download a different folder, so you'll have more than 10 simultaneous transfers, but unless you have multiple mechanical drives or SSDs, you'll find 10 simultaneous connections will saturate the 1gbps link between computers.

 

[cole0622]

3 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Yeah, but in order to do that, first the computer needs an IP  (192.168.137.1 in your example).

You have to set them manually for each computer, if there's no router or device (for example a cable modem) that automatically assigns IPs to each computer.

So the easiest is to use the local network IP range (192.168.x.x) to give the two computers a unique IP, therefore 192.168.0.1 and .2 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0 on both computers

 

When done, you can either share folders, or you could install Filezilla FTP server on one of the computers and Filezilla FTP client on the other computer, and use them to transfer multiple files in parallel between computers. With network shares you transfer one file at a time, so if you have loads of small files, it can take a long time for transfers to be done.

 

Here's a tutorial video showing how to install and configure Filezilla FTP server and then use Filezilla FTP client to connect to other computer - note it's in Romanian, sorry about that, but all the steps are really obvious from video alone, no need to listenm and it's really a 5 minute setup, not even that long:  http://savedonthe.net/a/tutorial_filezilla.mkv

 

Filezilla FTP client limits you to 10 connections at the same time, but you can easily start 2 or 3 copies of Filezilla FTP client and have each download a different folder, so you'll have more than 10 simultaneous transfers, but unless you have multiple mechanical drives or SSDs, you'll find 10 simultaneous connections will saturate the 1gbps link between computers.

 

ICS functions like a router 192.168.137.1 is the default gateway

[Kilrah]

13 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Yeah, but in order to do that, first the computer needs an IP  (192.168.137.1 in your example).

Nope, ICS does that on its own and starts a DHCP server on the interface for clients to connect to. 

That's why he recommended it, it's one click and no manual config.

 

[mariushm]

Ok, I wasn't paying attention and didn't associate ICS with "internet connection sharing" right away.

 

Still, seems like more complicated to me compared to just setting two IPs manually. Not to mention that afterwards you have to revert the process, which seems more complicated than just checking a box saying 'detect IP automatically" when you're done. 

 

 

 

[Lurick]

9 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Ok, I wasn't paying attention and didn't associate ICS with "internet connection sharing" right away.

 

Still, seems like more complicated to me compared to just setting two IPs manually. Not to mention that afterwards you have to revert the process, which seems more complicated than just checking a box saying 'detect IP automatically" when you're done.

And that's still more complicated than letting Windows just use APIPA addresses

[cole0622]

9 minutes ago, Lurick said:

And that's still more complicated than letting Windows just use APIPA addresses

I Tried that once and I don't recall it working to well for me however it could have been me