computer to computer usb link

[jim.mar]

I am going to have to buy a laptop to take when I go on the road.  To use for gathering data and for backup.  If I buy a usb computer-to-computer cable, can I transfer data from one to the other using "drag-and-drop" technique.  Or do I need to buy special software?  CAn I back up my entire desk top on to the laptopthat way? :-?

[soybean]

You can buy a USB cable to connect computers but, from what I've read, such connections can damage components because USB ports normally provide some power to USB devices.  Therefore, connecting computers this way has been know to cause damage.  

I suggest a crossover cable, which would be connected to LAN/ethernet port on each computer.

[jim.mar]

Thanks for the comeback.  Sounds like good advice.  Do you know how fast the data transfer would then be, using the eathernet cable??  I have about 40 Gbytes of data to shift around.  Jim

[Calum]

Depends on the cable itself and the NICs of the PCs involved.
With decent cabling, it'd be (theoretically) 1Gb/s for gigabit Ethernet, 100Mb/s for 100M Ethernet, and 10Mb/s for 10M Ethernet.
Most PCs nowadays have at least 100Mb/s NICs though.
So expect speeds up to that.

[jim.mar]

Good advice all..  I do have a gigabyte ethernet adapter.  And I have found a couple of data transfer USB 2 cables (made in UK) that claim to do the job.  One more question, it looks like whatever Laptop I buy will come with VISTA OS.  Should I anticipate any problem transfering data from Win XP to VISTA?  Probably a silly question but I still wonder.   My data will be mostly WAVE and MP3 files.