Question about USB transfer cables

[trixter]

I'm working with a lot of video files at school in both After Effects and Final Cut. Instead of using an external HDD I want to use my laptop in it's place which has more than enough space on it. How would I do this using a usb transfer cable?

[Cephius]

You mean like... hooking up a laptop to a computer with a USB cable? You can't do that afaik. You'd need a crossover cable.

[Bardicrune]

Belkin makes a cable that will do it.
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=506029

[Cephius]

Belkin makes a cable that will do it.
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=506029

I think that's specifically for the windows migration tool, but again not sure.

[Rockstaru]

http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPa...duct_Id=275561 ?

[cdgreg]

Do you mean like Laptop <> USB Cable <> PC to transfer files? I bought a cable from I think radio shack for $20-30 that would do this awhile back. The only catch is you need to install software on each PC so they can communicate. The software reminded me a lot of having an FTP program open and then just transferring from one to another.

[SephYuyX]

Yes, youll need the software that comes with it to use those cables.

If youre at a location that has the ability to have your pc and laptop connected to a router/switch or wirelessly you can just do that without having to buy a cable.

If youre doing it wirelessly it will most likely be slower, so plug in both to an ethernet if you can. Once both are on the same network, create a share folder on the laptop, go to the run prompt on your other pc and type \\laptopname and youll see that share folder.

[bungiefan]

Why bother with a USB cable when you can just do it over your existing network with shared folders? USB isn't meant to hook two computers together in a network, it's meant to connect peripheral devices. If both computers share a network, just set up a shared folder and give yourself access permissions with a username and password.

[Blabj]

I agree with the above. Just get a CAT-5e cable and plug both in. Set up a shared network folder on one or the other (you mention FCP, which means macs - it's a lot easier to set up file sharing on a mac.) and then transfer across your stuff. It'll be faster than USB anyway, assuming both computers have gigabit lan ports.

In terms of setting up folder sharing on Macs, go to System Preferences > Sharing > File Sharing, then set up a Shared Folder, make sure that your user account as full read and write privileges, then select that folder and click the Options... button. Click the SMB File Sharing option, then create a password for your account. You can also enable FTP sharing which will allow you to connect using a program like Filezilla.

Having said that, editing from any external source that isn't connected via Firewire, eSATA or at least gigabit lan is a huge mistake, you'll see a lot of jittery motion and playback will be terribly slow because USB simply doesn't have the data transfer rate to be able to keep up with editing in high quality video codecs.

[Isiolia]

In terms of setting up folder sharing on Macs, go to System Preferences > Sharing > File Sharing, then set up a Shared Folder, make sure that your user account as full read and write privileges, then select that folder and click the Options... button. Click the SMB File Sharing option, then create a password for your account. You can also enable FTP sharing which will allow you to connect using a program like Filezilla.

Well, if it's Mac to Mac just use Target Disk Mode. Hold down 'T' when you start/restart the machine and, if the machine has Firewire, it'll start up with a grey screen w/ a yellow firewire logo bouncing around. You can then plug it in as a Firewire hard drive.

Obviously this doesn't work if you have one of Macbook models that Apple decided didn't need (or couldn't fit) Firewire, but otherwise it's something any G4 or above Mac can do.

IMO, buy a faster external drive anyway. Unless you've replaced it, the internal drive on most laptops is pretty slow.

[ghostfaced]

Obviously this doesn't work if you have one of Macbook models that Apple decided didn't need (or couldn't fit) Firewire, but otherwise it's something any G4 or above Mac can do.

what the hell is up with this? i noticed that too when my friend got her new macbook pro.... i need firewire for my damn hard drives. did they explain at all why? i heard something about a usb3 maybe thats why but thats just retarded.....

[Isiolia]

Prior to the "built in" battery design Macbook Pro, I think they basically just didn't have the space along the edge of the board that they put the ports on (and, in typical Apple fashion, didn't want to put ports anywhere but there). That was just on the 13" aluminum case one though.

On the current Macbook, I'd guess they just want to differentiate them the Pro models. The current Macbook Pros all have a Firewire 800 port I think. It's certainly true that USB is more the standard, especially for consumer level devices...but it's a useful thing to have either way.