I was told a Cat 5 crossover cable could be used to transfer files from one laptop to another. Will this work?

Question

I recently had to buy a new laptop because the LCD panel in my old one went out. A friend of mine mentioned a few ways of transfering files, such as music and pictures, from my old laptop to my new laptop. I decided to go with a Cat 5 crossover patch cable, but I'm not sure if it will actually work. And I am wondering how to go about using this cable, if in fact it will work?

Answer 1

In order to network two computers without the use of a hub, you use a cross-over cat 5 cable. Connect the ends of the cable to the network ports of each computer. I've done this and made it work, but it's not simple.

You will need to do some setup on each computer to make it work. You have to find the TCP/IP settings on each computer and manually set them up. You need to give them each a different static IP address. And share the c drive on the source computer. Make sure you give the share full access. I think you'll also need to put each computer in the same workgroup.

Computer 1.
IP: 192.168.0.1
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.248
Leave the Default gateway and DNS blank.

Computer 2.
IP: 192.168.0.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.248
Leave the Default gateway and DNS blank.

To access the files from computer 1 on computer 2, you would open network places and you should be able to find the computer and share.

Answer 2

Yes it will work, but requires a bit of configuration.
- static IP addresses/subnet masks
- file & print sharing
- create shares

I would suggest getting a usb enclosure for your old laptop harddrive ($30US) instead. Once installed, just plug it in your new system and drag-n-drop files from one drive to the other.

You can always reinstall the harddrive in your old laptop when done.

LCD panels are not that difficult or expensive to replace (if you do the labor yourself).

Best of success

Answer 3

Hi,

Yes, connecting 2 pc together with a crossover cable will work fine.
The most simple setup is as follows:
Connect both pc with a crossover cable.
Setup your pc to get Automatically an IP-address.
Winxp will setup both pc's with a ip-address and you should be able to transfer file between both pc's.

-R.

Answer 4

It'll work, but you'll need to setup a network between the two computers. You'll need a monitor for the broken lappy though.