Mastodawn

Xero Jul 5, 2023

Is there a way to directly transfer files between laptops and PCs using regular USB cables?

Is there a way to directly transfer files between laptops and PCs using regular USB cables? - Lemmy.world

I’ve replaced my old laptop with a new one and I have over 350GB worth of data to move over, moving all of it to an external drive and then moving them to the new laptop doesn’t seem efficient and it seems like it’s gonna take forever I know there are some special cables that can do that but I don’t wanna waste money on something that I’m only gonna use once every 5 years at most.

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tal

I think that the problem you run into is that USB isn't a network of peers. There's a host, and devices that it talks to. The USB controller circuitry needs to support acting as a device, and unless something has changed, I don't think that laptop USB controllers can normally do that.

There are devices with USB controllers that can, like Android devices, which is why you can both plug your phone into a computer as well as attach USB devices to the phone.