Alternative To Windows Easy Transfer? (USB Easy Transfer Cable) Maybe Ethernet?

So I bought this USB PC-to-PC Transfer Cable. I have a laptop for downloading files and I work on my PC. I'm constantly having to move the large files using an external HD. I figured I would rather just connect the two computers via this USB cable and transfer my files that way.

No more: plugging in to laptop, transferring to external HD, unplugging from laptop, plugging in to PC, transferring from external HD.

Much simpler in theory I'm afraid. Unfortunately, I have only found "Windows Easy Transfer" which assumes I'm transferring to a new PC which involves clicking through a few senseless screens before I can clarify I'm only moving 2GB and not 200 GBs. Once you start transferring it's SO SLOW. I don't know if this is the Windows software or if transferring over a USB PC-PC cable is going to be REALLY slow no matter what. I have also tried using my Ethernet cable but it only transfers at 1 Mb a second which is even slower.

Does anyone know if there is an alternative program I can use that's faster and just for simply transferring a few files (like windows explorer) ? Or is there a way to boost that Ethernet transfer speed? Otherwise I'm going back to the External HD method.

Thanks

 

Re: Alternative To Windows Easy Transfer? (USB Easy Transfer Cable) Maybe Ethernet

I do transfers, sometimes in the GB range myself. I drag and drop between USB sticks/external drives and the machine's HD.

I found that TeraCopy gave me measurably better speed transfers on large files. I don't use it for small copy operations as it seems to be a bit slower in some cases. TeraCopy works thru a context menu, when you drag and drop, you'll see options to copy/move with Windows native setup, or you can select TeraCopy move or copy.

Uninstall with this is easy, no problems, so a test drive may be worth your time...

 

Re: Alternative To Windows Easy Transfer? (USB Easy Transfer Cable) Maybe Ethernet

If it's not a silly question why don't you download to the machine the files are required on?

 

Re: Alternative To Windows Easy Transfer? (USB Easy Transfer Cable) Maybe Ethernet

You need a USB Data Cable, not the Windows Easy Transfer Cable. A USB data cable usually has a dual pane explorer that you can drag file between PCs.
A faster method is to use a crossover cable if you don't have a network setup. The crossover cable is a little more complicated to use, you have to setup IP addresses and share files in order to move between machines.

To go even further you could use a "USB KVM" cable like J5Create Wormhole Cable or StarTech SVKMS, both are also KVM cables that have file transfer capability.

 

Re: Alternative To Windows Easy Transfer? (USB Easy Transfer Cable) Maybe Ethernet

You may want to try a program called SecondCopy (www.secondcopy.com). You can download it and get a 30 day trial. Put both machines on the network set up a share on the target machine. Use the SecondCopy wizard on the source machine to set up what you want to copy and then set it and forget it. When its done, your files are on the target machine