Question How to fastly transfer large files between 2 laptops on the same network?

[moehamm]

I want to transfer around 110GB of data between my old laptop and my new one.
I faced a quite few limitiations, most importantly was the transfer speeds, on the "Nearby Share" option in windows it still use bluetooth! and was limited to it's 2MBps.
Tried the sharing option, both connected on my 2.4GHz network (max speed is 150mbps) but the transfer speed was like 3MBps! Didn't know how to overcome this issue; some articles say it should transfer at the full 150mbps but it didn't.

Any suggestions on how to transfer files fast between the two devices?
Note:- Neither of these laptops have a lan port

One has USB-A, the new one has USB-C can I use a cable to transfer or would I fry one of my usb ports?

 

[bill001g]

Like most people the marketing guys are confusing you with their lies.

These numbers they put on the box like 150 or 300 or even 3200 are more representations on how the data is being encoded rather than actual transfer rates. You get nowhere near those numbers.....but a bigger number on the box is always better right

You are getting pretty much what is the expected rate for a so called "150" connection. Most people get only about 30mbps. Even the very fastest wifi is only going to get 600mbit/sec and that is testing a direct wifi connection not going via a router since that means there are 2 wifi connections sharing the radio bandwidth.

In any can you can directly share files over USB even with different type. What is more important than the physical is the number you see. A USB 3 can run at 5bit and usb 2 can only do 480mbps. Note the idiots have renamed the USB numbers recently so you see both types.

The rate you get is going to be based on the slowest ports but it is possible to connect the various forms to each other. Someone else will have to give you details about how you physically do this, not sure if you can just use a cable with the proper end or you need to use a USB hub.
After that you can search for how to share files over USB.

Note the simple way if this is a 1 time thing is to use a USB memory stick and just physically move it between the machines. You can use a adapter to change the USB stick connector.

 

[kanewolf]

I want to transfer around 110GB of data between my old laptop and my new one.
I faced a quite few limitiations, most importantly was the transfer speeds, on the "Nearby Share" option in windows it still use bluetooth! and was limited to it's 2MBps.
Tried the sharing option, both connected on my 2.4GHz network (max speed is 150mbps) but the transfer speed was like 3MBps! Didn't know how to overcome this issue; some articles say it should transfer at the full 150mbps but it didn't.

Any suggestions on how to transfer files fast between the two devices?
Note:- Neither of these laptops have a lan port

One has USB-A, the new one has USB-C can I use a cable to transfer or would I fry one of my usb ports?

Your best option would be to remove the drive from the old laptop. Get a USB adapter that will work with laptop hard drives and directly connect that adapter to your new laptop.

 

[moehamm]

Like most people the marketing guys are confusing you with their lies.

These numbers they put on the box like 150 or 300 or even 3200 are more representations on how the data is being encoded rather than actual transfer rates. You get nowhere near those numbers.....but a bigger number on the box is always better right

You are getting pretty much what is the expected rate for a so called "150" connection. Most people get only about 30mbps. Even the very fastest wifi is only going to get 600mbit/sec and that is testing a direct wifi connection not going via a router since that means there are 2 wifi connections sharing the radio bandwidth.

In any can you can directly share files over USB even with different type. What is more important than the physical is the number you see. A USB 3 can run at 5bit and usb 2 can only do 480mbps. Note the idiots have renamed the USB numbers recently so you see both types.

The rate you get is going to be based on the slowest ports but it is possible to connect the various forms to each other. Someone else will have to give you details about how you physically do this, not sure if you can just use a cable with the proper end or you need to use a USB hub.
After that you can search for how to share files over USB.

Note the simple way if this is a 1 time thing is to use a USB memory stick and just physically move it between the machines. You can use a adapter to change the USB stick connector.

Can I connect the two laptops via a usb type c to a usb type a?

 

[bill001g]

That I don't know. USB type c has many more features. You needed a very special ie expensive cable if you wanted to do 2 USB type A ports. It is more complex than just putting a type a male end on both ends of the cable. I think the special cable has a device that acts like a hub.

USB-c is much smarter but I don't know if you can connect 2 type c machines or not, there are a couple variations of type c that do different stuff.

The harder question is going to be what happens when it is type c one end and type A on the other. The problem is one end must act as the server and the other as the client. Maybe the C port is smart enough to figure this out.

In any case this is a extremely common cable used for charging phones and connecting a phone to a pc. You likely have one laying around. It will not damage the machines to try it but I suspect it will not work.

 

[moehamm]

Like most people the marketing guys are confusing you with their lies.

These numbers they put on the box like 150 or 300 or even 3200 are more representations on how the data is being encoded rather than actual transfer rates. You get nowhere near those numbers.....but a bigger number on the box is always better right

You are getting pretty much what is the expected rate for a so called "150" connection. Most people get only about 30mbps. Even the very fastest wifi is only going to get 600mbit/sec and that is testing a direct wifi connection not going via a router since that means there are 2 wifi connections sharing the radio bandwidth.

In any can you can directly share files over USB even with different type. What is more important than the physical is the number you see. A USB 3 can run at 5bit and usb 2 can only do 480mbps. Note the idiots have renamed the USB numbers recently so you see both types.

The rate you get is going to be based on the slowest ports but it is possible to connect the various forms to each other. Someone else will have to give you details about how you physically do this, not sure if you can just use a cable with the proper end or you need to use a USB hub.
After that you can search for how to share files over USB.

Note the simple way if this is a 1 time thing is to use a USB memory stick and just physically move it between the machines. You can use a adapter to change the USB stick connector.

Can I connect the two laptops via a usb type c to a

That I don't know. USB type c has many more features. You needed a very special ie expensive cable if you wanted to do 2 USB type A ports. It is more complex than just putting a type a male end on both ends of the cable. I think the special cable has a device that acts like a hub.

USB-c is much smarter but I don't know if you can connect 2 type c machines or not, there are a couple variations of type c that do different stuff.

The harder question is going to be what happens when it is type c one end and type A on the other. The problem is one end must act as the server and the other as the client. Maybe the C port is smart enough to figure this out.

In any case this is a extremely common cable used for charging phones and connecting a phone to a pc. You likely have one laying around. It will not damage the machines to try it but I suspect it will not work.

with type a usb cables, both PCs will try to act as a client and will end up frying one of those ports, I don't want to risk frying any of these ports

On the otherhand of what you said earlier about transfer speeds, is there anything like airdrop for laptops? airdrop speeds reach >10MegaBytes/s. Can't I wifi direct between the 2 laptops with a configurations like airdrop?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Any suggestions on how to transfer files fast between the two devices?
Note:- Neither of these laptops have a lan port

Laptop without a lan port? Then it's not a laptop, but a tablet of some kind.
Care to give us model name of that thing?

You can use USB to lan adapter and then connect them with ethernet.

 

[bill001g]

A direct wifi connection is unlikely going to be faster unless you are using a very old wifi router.

Some device is limiting the connection speed to the 2.4 150 number. To get higher speed you really need to use the 5g radio band. So IF you have a crappy router that does not support 5g but both the laptops support 5g it might work to share directly.
It is much more likely it is the older laptop that only have the 2.4g wifi restriction.

 

[bill001g]

Note you are spending a lot of time with complex solutions when $20 would get you a 256GB flash drive.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Laptop without a lan port? Then it's not a laptop, but a tablet of some kind.
Care to give us model name of that thing?

You can use USB to lan adapter and then connect them with ethernet.

In the never ending quest for "thinner is better" Ethernet ports have disappeared from a great many laptops. We're getting HP Elitebooks that require a USB-C dongle or dock to get Ethernet capability. And of course those cost extra.

 

[moehamm]

Laptop without a lan port? Then it's not a laptop, but a tablet of some kind.
Care to give us model name of that thing?

You can use USB to lan adapter and then connect them with ethernet.

Dell Precion 5510 workstation
i7-6820HQ, 32GB 2133MHz RAM, 512GB samsung NVME.2 SSD, 4k IPS touchscreen.
so it is not a tablet by any means.

 

[Fosrot]

You may need a USB 3.0 Transfer Cable（pc to pc）.
Perhaps this is one of the simpler and quicker ways (compared to installing a USB network adapter on both PCs and then setting up a tethering), just install the drivers on both PCs and plug in the cables.
However I think waiting for the cable to arrive is long enough for you to transfer data between the two PCs using 2.4G WiFi. Another cheaper way is to connect two PCs to different 2.4G routers/APs and transfer files at a rate of about 75Mbps (the ideal actual transfer speed for WiFi is about 50% of the nominal rate).
You can also disassemble the laptop and replace it with a wireless network card that supports WIFI 6 to transmit data through the 5G frequency band (but since the laptop is all disassembled, why not directly connect the hard drive to another laptop, you know the fastest The internet is no faster than a truck full of hard drives