Need help with transfering data!

[laurentg]

So I bought this usb A to A male cable to transfer files from my laptop to my PC. The problem is I cant seem to get either device to show up as a drive or folder. 

 

This is the cable: 

https://www.londondrugs.com/certified-data-usb-3.0-a-a-cable---6ft---gusb3-aa-6ft/L4523429.html?cgid=brand-cdaccessories-cdaccessories-cablesswitches

 

I just need to know of I can use the cable or if there's something else missing?

[swordsman247]

You need a cable built for pc to pc transfers in order for this to work I had one I used to get files from xp to vista via usb 2.  

I've not heard of anyone using one in years since flash drives got cheap and gigabit Ethernet is a thing.

Any reason you can't do a network data transfer?

[laurentg]

9 minutes ago, swordsman247 said:

You need a cable built for pc to pc transfers in order for this to work I had one I used to get files from xp to vista via usb 2.  

I've not heard of anyone using one in years since flash drives got cheap and gigabit Ethernet is a thing.

Any reason you can't do a network data transfer?

My PC's wifi adapter recently broke and the ethernet in my room doesn't work either. Am I out of luck?

[swordsman247]

3 minutes ago, laurentg said:

My PC's wifi adapter recently broke and the ethernet in my room doesn't work either. Am I out of luck?

Out of luck with that cable yes, can you hook them up directly via Ethernet? Or one on wifi one wired to the same router?

[laurentg]

7 minutes ago, swordsman247 said:

Out of luck with that cable yes, can you hook them up directly via Ethernet? Or one on wifi one wired to the same router?

Unfortunately, I can't because the ethernet cables are imbeded into the wall and don't work. Am I just going to have to buy a different cable?

[mariushm]

If your  laptop has a gigabit ethernet card and your computer has a gigabit ethernet card as well, you can make a connection between the laptop and computer with a simple ethernet cable.

 

You'll then need to go in your network card's settings on both computers and give each computer a unique IP in order to be in the same "network". For example, you go on one computer and set the IP to 192.168.0.1 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0  and on the other computer/laptop you set the ip 192.168.0.2 and the same subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Then right click on a folder and select it to share it, and it should be visible on the other computer.

When you're done, you simply disconnect the cable , put the old cable back and change the network card settings to the previous ones.

 

If you're in a hurry and don't figure out a way and you don't have a huge amount of files and it would be acceptable for you to upload the files somewhere and then download them back to your other computer, send me a private message. I own some dedicated servers and I could create  a private FTP account (with a user name and password) where you could upload temporarily your files and then copy them back to your other computer. Very simple, you just need to use a ftp client Like Filezilla FTP Client (open source, free) to connect and transfer files.

 

later edit: I wouldn't buy those usb transfer cables, they work but they're silly and often need the software they come with to transfer files.  If you really don't have a regular ethernet port on your laptop, you'd be better off just buying a usb network card, or a usb wireless network card and a cheap wireless router (to create the connection between two wireless cards, or a wireless card and a regular network card)

USB based network cards cost less than 20$ in well known stores, and you can find them on eBay for probably less than 10$

usb wireless cards you can find for less than 10$ and on eBay they're less than 2$

A cheap wireless router can be bought for less than 15$, for example :

 

1. TENDA F3 Wireless N300 Home Router  : 3 ethernet ports (max 100mbps) and wireless for 13$ : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833555067&ignorebbr=1

2. netis WF2419 Wireless N300 AP : 4 ethernet ports (100mbps) and wireless for 18$ : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833389031&ignorebbr=1