Linking Two Laptops

[LevelBest]

Is it possible to link two laptops together with a cable? Presumably a USB to USB cable?

What I would like to do is have my main laptop, a Samsung, to do emails, download from the net and surf but have my second laptop, a Sony, linked up to the Samsung so I can store, music, documents, photos on it. That will free up the Samsung of having to store all this stuff, possibly make it a little faster. If this is possible, would the Sony show up as like Drive F for example on the Samsung. (I know this is similar to having an external hard drive).

LevelBest

 

[Paul Black]

Hi LevelBest,

Is it possible to link two laptops together with a cable? Presumably a USB to USB cable?

I think you will find that you need a crossover Ethernet cable and then setup file sharing [Network and Sharing Centre] to turn on file and printer sharing. Then setup a shared folder.

I hope this helps!

 

[dsperber]

Is it possible to link two laptops together with a cable? Presumably a USB to USB cable?

What I would like to do is have my main laptop, a Samsung, to do emails, download from the net and surf but have my second laptop, a Sony, linked up to the Samsung so I can store, music, documents, photos on it. That will free up the Samsung of having to store all this stuff, possibly make it a little faster. If this is possible, would the Sony show up as like Drive F for example on the Samsung. (I know this is similar to having an external hard drive).

And why don't you just buy a router, and plug both of your laptops into it using ethernet cables? Or, if they're not close by each other but perhaps in separate rooms, you can also connect them wirelessly through the router. Either approach provides the same LAN connectivity and resulting functionality.

This would create your "home LAN", and by enabling printer and file sharing on both machines, for each drive/partition on both machines, and also setting the "permission" of each shared partition to "full use", you would now have complete access to all partitions on each machine from the other machine.

You could then "map network drive", to assign your own drive letter to each partition hosted by and visible on the other machine from the primary machine. This would then allow you to use Windows Explorer or any other program, to navigate instantly to any partition on the primary or other network machine by drive letter, to read/write/whatever any folder/file on any of the machines from any other machine... by drive letter of your choice.

That is exactly what a "home network LAN" is all about, and what a "workgroup" represents (i.e. a collection of peer machines, each of which has full access to any other machine whose drives, partitions, printers, folders, etc., have been "shared" and opened up for "full access" permission.

Much more useful than any direct connection between two machines, in my opinion... especially if the multiple machines are in distant rooms around your home, and/or if you don't have an ethernet cable to the remote location but want to rely on a WiFi connection to the wired/wireless router. With a WiFi router providing this connectivity, you can access ANY of the machines or printers on your LAN, connected by either wired or wireless, from any other machine on your LAN.

 

[LevelBest]

Thanks both, that all sounds a little too complicated for me. The laptops would be side by side, in the same room, used only by me. The Sony would not need to be connected to the internet. I essentially want to use the second Sony laptop like an external drive. If I used a USB to USB cable, wouldn't the Samsung recognise the Sony in the same way it would when I plug in an external hard drive? In the end I could use a USB stick to transfer any documents I want onto the Sony, I just thought it would be easier if I could link the two together.

 

[Megahertz07]

Agree with dsperber. And you probably already have a router as modern cable modems has router built in.
But the fact you have some data (store, music, documents, photos) on another computer wont make the computer faster, and you will have to have both running. It doesn't make sense.
If you want to give your computer a huge upgrade, install a SSD. You can buy a small SSD (128G) for windows and programs and use the HDD for data only. On a laptop, to have two drives, you replace the CD / DVD drive with a HDD caddy.

 

[LevelBest]

I thought it was generally accepted that if you were using memory to save loads of documents, photos, music it could slow the computer down. I don't want to upgrade my Samsung, it's fine, I just wanted to link two laptops together and get the Samsung to recognise the Sony in the same way it would an external hard drive. The sony has it's own printer software and does not need to be connected to the internet. For the sake of buying a USB to USB cable for a couple of quid, I might try it and see what happens.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi LevelBest,

For the sake of buying a USB to USB cable for a couple of quid, I might try it and see what happens.

You will need a crossover Ethernet cable and NOT a USB to USB cable!
There are lots of places on the Internet to show you how to setup file sharing.

 

[Megahertz07]

Hi LevelBest,

You will need a crossover Ethernet cable and not a USB to USB cable!
There are lots of places on the Internet to show you how to setup file sharing.

Don't use a USB cable to connect both computers or you may blow up the usb ports (It connect both 5V power supply s).

"I thought it was generally accepted that if you were using memory to save loads of documents, photos, music it could slow the computer down."
Files on memory (RAM) is completely different from files on disk.

What you're trying to do and the way you trying to do has no sense.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi LevelBest,

For a long term solution I totally agree with dsperber and Megahertz07. It's not as daunting as you first think!

 

[strollin]

Hi LevelBest,



You will need a crossover Ethernet cable and NOT a USB to USB cable!
There are lots of places on the Internet to show you how to setup file sharing.

Unless one or both of the laptops is an older model (~10 years old), crossover ethernet cables are no longer necessary. You can use any regular ethernet cable and the ethernet ports will automatically detect and link up the correct send/receive lines.

Auto-MDIX (automatic medium-dependent interface crossover). This technology detects whether you need a crossover cable or a straight-through cable, and it automatically configures the network interface card accordingly.

 

[samuria]

Another option if you have it is good old blutooth to transfer files

 

[Paul Black]

Hi strollin,

Unless one of the laptops is an older model (~10 years old), crossover ethernet cables are no longer necessary. You can use any regular ethernet cable and the ethernet ports will automatically detect and link up the correct send/receive lines.

I thought that using a crossover ethernet cable was slighty more reliable with respect to potential data loss when connected!

 

[LevelBest]

Unless one or both of the laptops is an older model (~10 years old), crossover ethernet cables are no longer necessary. You can use any regular ethernet cable and the ethernet ports will automatically detect and link up the correct send/receive lines..

Thank you that sounds like what I'm looking for.