PC hardware forum: Transferring files from my PC to Laptop...

Some do this by connecting the computers with a special "crossover" network cable. The crossover cable is different from a standard "straight-through" network cable.

I advise people forgo the crossover cable and make life easier by connecting both computers to a router.

It's really faster to transfer data using a 54 Mbps local Ethernet connection (if both are connected through a router or a crossover cable) than to send them to AOL and get them back via cable or ADSL (with routinely an upload speed of 256 or 512 or at most 1024 kbps). That's about 50 times slower.

Note that transferring 1 GB with a 1024 kbps = 1 Mbps upload speed takes 8000 seconds = more than 2 hours.

Hope this helps.


Kees

If you have a router, you don't need an Internet connection of any sort to make the transfer. Just create a local network, and you can make the transfer in one step, which eliminates uploading to and downloading from the Internet.


FAST TRANSFER

A simple 100Mbps Local Area Network (LAN) will get it done:

COMP1 ---- ROUTER ---- COMP2


YOUR SLOW TRANSFER

Typical upload speeds are less than 1Mbps, so that will be the slow part of the transfer. Upload is designated by the '>>>' symbol. Download is '==='.

COMP1 --- ROUTER --- MODEM >>> INTERNET === MODEM --- ROUTER --- COMP2

marinegunrocks findings only can be explained if the AOL software is smart enough to recognize both PC's are on the same router, so it doesn't use the Internet at all.
After all, 6.000-8.0000 kB a second = 6 to 8 million bytes = 48 to 64 million bits a second, and that seems quite OK for a 100 Mbps LAN. It seems rather mysterious to me, but I dare not say it can't possibly be true. However, I'm not an AOL-member, so I can't try.

But if you have that local connection, using Windows Explorer directly seems even easier than using this AOL-trick, because it lets you tranfer files from and to every place in the directory structure directly, so there's no need to move things around.

Kees

Phenom2kx,
You have not provided some vital information while asking your question. So, I can only assume a few things while writing this reply.

There are a multitude of ways to do this and I have been using a few of them depending on the amount of data to be transferred.
While it is possible to transfer the data using an ethernet cord (also called the network cable by some) you have to have a router connected on to your desktop. Contrary to what some people say, a router with an option to connect multiple computers is not normally always present if you have an internet connection. There are routers where only one computer can be connected while there are routers in which you can plug in more than one ethernet cord and so can effectively 'network' all your computers.

If your laptop has a wireless network card, then there is every possibility that you have a wireless router and most of the present routers themselves form a local network and have the facility to connect 4 or 5 computers (one wireless and 4 wired mostly). If you already have a router / wireless access point, you could try using the wireless option if the data to be transferred is about 5-6 GB. If it is more than that, then connecting the ethernet cord and using it as a wired network would make the data transfer relatively faster. If you do not have an interet connection and hence obviously a modem / router but are in the market for one / have decided to go in for an internet connection, then I would advice you to go in for a 802.11 Pre-N (the N standard has already come into vogue but has had several issues and so I would not recommend it) router as opposed to the 802.11 b or g standards since that is an outdated technology and there may be issues if your OS on the desktop is different from that on the laptop. I have a Belkin Pre-N (purchased from the US although I am sitting in some small corner in Asia) which gives me a very decent, commendable performance although die hard belkin haters would swear by other brands. This costed me about $74.00. Whatever be the decision, you may please note that it is not essential to have an internet connection for data to be transferred. If you have a router without an internet connection, you can still put through a local network and transfer data / maintain communication between your computers without any problems.

You can also use bluetooth devices if you already have one and are not willing to spend on other things. Of course you need to have a bluetooth dongle on the PC and your laptop should have bluetooth enabled. In which case, you can go ahead and send data (just that it will be slower than the ethernet cord) but that will take care of your problem without having to spend on anything, if that is what you like.

You can also use a 'crossover cable' to transfer data by connecting your laptop and your desktop 'directly'. But here, ideally the desktop and laptop need to have the same OS since otherwise, it is a bigger problem, particularly if you don't know technical things. For beginners it it is a lengthy process but will cost you around $10-12.

Hope this information is useful!

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