Fastest transfer speed

[froggy_doddy]

I often have to move >20gb files from my laptop to my desktop. The way I've been doing it is by copying the file(s) from my laptop over to an external hard drive, then from the hard drive to my desktop. So, it's been a 2-step process.

I've tried doing it over my 802.11g network, but it's pretty slow.

Now I'm thinking maybe I should should plug in my laptop directly into my router using ethernet cable to increase the transfer rate. Would that still be a lot slower than using the USB 2.0 external drive (assuming I can even get this transfer to work that way)?

I think another option is to use a cross-over cable. I have a cross-over cable here somewhere, but I have no idea how to use it.

Anyone have any comments/suggestions? I'm looking for the best/fastest way to do this.

[Hans]

10 Megabytes per second on a 10/100 network card, 100 meg file in 10 seconds. I get 20-25 Megabytes per second using a gigabit connection (10/100/1000), 100 meg file in 4 to 5 seconds. Note that these are averages (sustained speeds).

I never tried any other way, so I don't know what other options would give you for speed.

[tired-n-cranky]

usb 2.0 is much faster than 10/100 ethernet. usb 2.0 is up to 480mbps transfers, of course it depends on the hdd etc.