fastest way to transfer files between computers

[Nigmafyre]

well, i was talking with my computer science buddies here, and we were thinking, can you connect two computers through their network cards, with just one cable??? a null calbe perhaps??? im thinking of this, because, concievably, this will allow both network cards to run at their optimum speeds. does anyone have any idea how to do this?? with xp, 2000 or 98, hell, linux even.

[thirdfey]

A crossover cable, nothing new, been around for a long time, should be any other place that sells cat5 cable and easy to make, I think its switch wire 1 with 3 and 2 with 6, haven't made one in a while since we get all our cables pre-made now.

tony

[Nigmafyre]

okay, thats good, but then what? what protocols, etc? settings? that kinda thing?

[tha 4NiK8R]

seriously man...you should be posting this in the network thread...this thread is for techs (thus the "Tech-to-Tech") and with this kind of question you have pegged yourself as a non-tech and possible even what most of us would consider a "user". Goto your closest computer store and buy a crossover cable. Plug one end into one PC's nic and the other into the other PC's nic. Install a common netwroking protocol on both machines, i.e. NetBEUI, IPX/SPX, TCP/IP...be sure you have the same protocol on both machines. If you can't accomplish this, you may want to pickup a Network+ or Networking Essentials book at your local bookstore.

[WebHead]

BTW,.. the crossover cable can easily be identified by it's orange color. And then make sure Client for Microsoft Networking, TCP/IP (or whatever your favorite protocol is), and file/print sharing is installed. Then one last step, make sure you give both PC's the same workgroup name (case sensitive I believe).

Personally, I don't like doing it this way because the network connection seems slow. It's almost like trying to network using a serial cable (but definately much faster than serial). It has to authenticate everytime the 2 PC's link up. A more ideal way would be to have some kind of dedicated server and a small 10/100 4 port hub (or an equivalent setup).

[Sowulo]

Moved to Networking....