backing up

Hi All,
My first post so be gentle with me. I have a elderly computer and it's beginning to show its age. So I have decided to back it up. I am using Acronis true image.
I have got a friends pc that isn't used at the moment. I have sited it next to mine and connected them with a usb lead(male to male). My computer hasn't recognised that anything new is connected, where as normally it says new hardware detected. Is it possible to link the two together this way and for me to back up mine on to the other and vice versa. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks

 

No, this shouldn't be possible, unless they're both USB network cards you're plugging into, and the USB cable is a crossover.

Not very likely in my opinion. This kind of gear is rare.

This might work with a ethernet crossover cable??

Even easier might be to install the physical hard drive from the destination computer into the source computer.