Experience with USB Direct Connect Cable (Esp w/o drivers)

[seb-]

Hi guys,

sorry, long long text, TL;DR is at the bottom!

short story to let you know the Background:
So i work at one of the big Companies that claim to be one of the "innovation drivers" here in Germany.
For my work i have
- one Windows XP Laptop without any Admin rights. Its configured to fit into the Companies Intranet (of maybe 100k PCs)
- one Laptop which i have full control over, it is not owned by the company but bought directly from my department (if you're not working within such a big company you might have valid problems understanding this )

Furthermore, but not soo important for this, i have a Linux machine without root access. It is provided by the Test Labs to access the Test Network.



My Problem is that i keep sticking, unsticking, sticking, unsticking my USB Drive between the two Windows Laptops.

I use Sync Profile feature within TC to quickly Sync the Contents of one folder on each laptop with a folder on the USB Drive. So "quite comfortable" i have the same data on every laptop + on the usb drive.
It is already quite comfortable as i use Sync Profiles and the "non-modal" feature of the sync window to synchronise.

Yesterday i re-thought (like every few months) this setup and thought there MUST be an alternative.

The problem is, i cannot do really much about it. If i had full control over the HW and SW i'm using for work, i would simply put it on ONE laptop.
But there is many reasons i need two.

So i cant change this but need both. I already searched - without any success - for USB drives which can be used from TWO pcs at the same time. Or any other tool that would help me getting rid of the necessity to plug and unplug the usb drive every 20minutes or so....

So i know that TC supports direct Cable connection. THeres a few different ones that TC supports.

Through google i found one that claims to need NO drivers for Windows XP (which i have no admin rights on anyway)

I was happy and thought "YAY you can plug that into your work PC without drivers and anyone noticing" but then i found out its the very first on the list of EXPLICITLY non-supported cables




So now after long talk comes the FIRST question:

Has anyone of you experience with a Direct-USB-Connection Cable within TC?

I use TC on both PCs (both licensed [after I, myself, triggered the procurement process to get a 16user license for the department], but rather unofficial on the pc without admin rights) so i thought if there is another supported cable without necessity for drivers on Windows XP i would just buy it...

Second question: i never used such cable. Besides the drivers or not-drivers, would there be any necessity for some windows-service that require admin rights to install?


Third question: As you know my Work-Environment now, do you have any further suggestions on what i could use to save 30-40minutes per day just used for unplugging, replugging, syncing and syncing my USB drive?

Fourth question: any experience made with Linux? (thats why i told you i have a linux machine as well )


I know, this is a lot of questions

SO

TL;DR: i need a Direct-Connection-USB Cable supported by TC which doesnt require installation of drivers. Anyone knows / has experience with one?

THANKS so much for your suggestions on making my life easier

PS: i know solutions like Dropbox - which i would be happy if it was possible. But anything that needs installation or network access is not quite feasible due to the companies policies i'd need to break and risking trouble

[Flint]

Has anyone of you experience with a Direct-USB-Connection Cable within TC?

I have.

Second question: i never used such cable. Besides the drivers or not-drivers, would there be any necessity for some windows-service that require admin rights to install?

Sorry, I don't remember. On my XP computer I just installed the suggested package without looking too much into it. On the notebook with Vista all the required drivers are built-in, so no installation was needed.

Third question: As you know my Work-Environment now, do you have any further suggestions on what i could use to save 30-40minutes per day just used for unplugging, replugging, syncing and syncing my USB drive?

I personally prefer peer-to-peer networking. But it requires changing network settings which is impossible without admin rights…
Probably, some USB cable you googled will be a good idea, but it requires investigating first. The only USB cables that TC supports natively are Windows Easy Transfer cables, and these you won't get without drivers on WinXP, so this road is closed for you. But there are many other similar USB cables that do not work via Windows Easy Transfer protocol, and it may so happen that their method relies on drivers that are already present in WinXP, and you'll need to install nothing more. However, it all depends on how compatible the selected method with TC is.

For example, I heard that there are some USB cable devices that emulate a virtual network card. So WinXP will already have all the drivers for such a device and you won't need to install anything. And though TC will not connect via such cable using the command cm_DirectCableConnect, but instead it will see a virtual network and you will be able to navigate it as a usual network. Unfortunately, I did not work with such devices myself, so my knowledge of them is very limited (I cannot even name any of such devices).

[seb-]

Okay, looks like i'm stuck with the current situation.

I cant afford testing multiple cables until i found the right one

But thanks for your answer!

[Flint]

Okay, looks like i'm stuck with the current situation.

I cant afford testing multiple cables until i found the right one

Don't be so pessimistic. You can make a basic search for such devices, choose several results — those that are claimed to require no additional drivers, and then read forums or even write E-mail to the manufacturer asking for how they work and whether they are compatibe with TC.

[Sob]

Sorry in advance if I completely missed the point, but the problem doesn't sound too hard to solve, although there are few catches.

What about standard ethernet? If you have complete control over one laptop, you can share your USB drive there and map it as network drive on the other laptop. It works even with user rights (although I'm not sure if some domain policy can't forbid it, that would of course close this way). Other problem might be if laptops are not on the same network (i.e. can't reach each other). I guess it's probably the case here, otherwise you'd try that already. But it should be possible to solve by adding external ethernet adapter on USB. Those things can be bought from China with world-wide free shipping and prices starting around 5 USD. The major catch is the drivers, you'd of course need such device for which even XP have them built-in (I can't help with that, it would need a little research), so it would be installed automatically. You would not be able to configure the device as user, but as it defaults to DHCP, it should not be a problem. Even without DHCP server and direct-cable connection Windows automatically sets the address from 169.254.x.x range, so it can be used.

[seb-]

oh guys, i love thah you are really trying to help out with good suggestions

Network is no option at all. It might be detected and understood the wrong way

What i will do is, i will try to follow flints advice and do some detailed research and maybe ask the manufacturer for support.

I'll also try to push this to IT service management....
Maybe they find the idea useful and it will be a product they can sell within the company (yes, business units cross charge each others here... Its a nightmare )

Maybe i find some helpful it guy that installs the drivers with his adminrights around the official process

thx for your help!
Br
Seb

[petermad]

2seb-

Maybe you can persuade your company to install the driver on your XP laptop, advocating that the same driver is standard on Windows Vista and 7, and that the driver is provided by Microsoft.

[seb-]

2seb-

Maybe you can persuade your company to install the driver on your XP laptop, advocating that the same driver is standard on Windows Vista and 7, and that the driver is provided by Microsoft.

the problem isn't the security or stability of the driver.

The problem is the companys policy, IT-Processes and the Payment of this service

[CopyCats]

There are USB switches that claim to support external harddrives, but I assume you'll have to remember to dismount the drive before switching it to another computer. Here's one such switch: http://amzn.com/B0014IUVQA

Or, maybe you could add a third computer, and then sync its harddrive to both laptops over direct-cable USB..?