USB data transfer cable

[AstroNebulee]

Can anyone recommend a USB male to male data transfer cable az I have an old Samsung r519 laptop that I can use when outside imaging and the transfer onto my main laptop as I don't want to risk taking my main laptop outside anymore 

Clear skies 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I am a little confused to what sort of USB cable you are after (sorry I am not over tech savy).

Are you wanting a usb cable you can plug into both computers and transfer files from one to the other ?

I would of thought the better solution would be to get a portable solid state hard drive and then using your old laptop outside make the hard drive your directory for storing the images.
Then after the session you can just take the hard drive and plug it into your main laptop, or any other computer and either copy or transfer the images to your main laptop.

Steve

[Cornelius Varley]

17 minutes ago, LeeHore7 said:

Can anyone recommend a USB male to male data transfer cable az I have an old Samsung r519 laptop that I can use when outside imaging and the transfer onto my main laptop as I don't want to risk taking my main laptop outside anymore 

Clear skies 

I'm not even sure that transferring data from one computer to another via a usb cable is possible.  Most usb male/male cables have a different plug type on either end to ensure the correct polarity of the cable. The types with both A type plugs on either end state that they are not for computer to computer connection. A portable hard drive would be a better and safer option.

[AbsolutelyN]

41 minutes ago, LeeHore7 said:

Can anyone recommend a USB male to male data transfer cable az I have an old Samsung r519 laptop that I can use when outside imaging and the transfer onto my main laptop as I don't want to risk taking my main laptop outside anymore 

Clear skies 

I use 20 meter USB active repeater cables that run from my PC to my scope. They do cause connection issues sometimes but it does all work. I don't use the plug that comes with them, I add a powered USB hub at the end if needed.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01BLPSWTI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07T8F2D3B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Powered hub

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Z59NCL9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Edit - I misunderstood the question. 

Don't see why you'd need to do that - just run it from one laptop inside and use 20 meter cables.

If you need two laptops then just use remote desktop over wifi? 

Edited April 18, 2021 by AbsolutelyN

[irtuk]

+1 for those active USB repeater cables, exact same product I have, although I do use the power supply that came with it.

[AbsolutelyN]

3 minutes ago, irtuk said:

+1 for those active USB repeater cables, exact same product I have, although I do use the power supply that came with it.

Yes probably the best idea. I didn't use it as the cable is permanently outside and I don't have appropriate plug available where its situated. 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

22 minutes ago, irtuk said:

+1 for those active USB repeater cables, exact same product I have, although I do use the power supply that came with it.

I must admit a lot of people say they use these very successfully, but I tried two and never got one of them to work. 
I put it down to getting the cheap versions from Amazon, maybe Ebay can't remember now, although not that cheap at around £16 to £20 I think.

Some of these cables are super expensive, especially the ones on Astro sites, at £50+, so I was never sure why I could not get the repeater cables to work, tried with good powered hubs and without, so I assumed I was just using poor quality ones and due to the price of the recommended ones I gave up with them.

Is it only the relatively expensive ones that work reliably ? or was I just unlucky ?

If so then I would say id depends what you want to do, just leave your laptop inside and so require a lengthy USB cable or use a laptop of some description near the mount as you can get reasonable sized SSD hard drives now pretty cheap.

Steve

[AbsolutelyN]

9 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

I must admit a lot of people say they use these very successfully, but I tried two and never got one of them to work. 
I put it down to getting the cheap versions from Amazon, maybe Ebay can't remember now, although not that cheap at around £16 to £20 I think.

Some of these cables are super expensive, especially the ones on Astro sites, at £50+, so I was never sure why I could not get the repeater cables to work, tried with good powered hubs and without, so I assumed I was just using poor quality ones and due to the price of the recommended ones I gave up with them.

Is it only the relatively expensive ones that work reliably ? or was I just unlucky ?

If so then I would say id depends what you want to do, just leave your laptop inside and so require a lengthy USB cable or use a laptop of some description near the mount as you can get reasonable sized SSD hard drives now pretty cheap.

Steve

They can be problematic. I've got 4 of them running to my setup. Only two of them now work. The relatively expensive USB3 one and a really cheap £20 USB2 one which is by far the best of them all. I think mine fall to the weather/damp as they are always outside. 
I think adding a powered hub at the end can possibly help though. Ideally I'd like a little mini pc running things at the scope end and to remote desktop onto it. 

[AstroNebulee]

Thank you for all your help and advice, it seems a good topic. It is for means of transferring my sharpcap and if I use it dslr images to my main laptop inside. I have followed the advice of big bang and bought a 2tb external hard drive to simply plug in and take the captures there and then plug in to main laptop to transfer or process. Thank you again everyone, clear skies 

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, LeeHore7 said:

Thank you for all your help and advice, it seems a good topic. It is for means of transferring my sharpcap and if I use it dslr images to my main laptop inside. I have followed the advice of big bang and bought a 2tb external hard drive to simply plug in and take the captures there and then plug in to main laptop to transfer or process. Thank you again everyone, clear skies 

Presumably both laptops will be on the same network, so couldn't you just transfer directly over that? It will most likely be quicker than using the hard drive even if you have bought an external SSD drive - just do the network transfer close to your router for maximum transfer speed. Keep the external drive as a backup device if you don't back up the laptops in any other way.

[AstroNebulee]

5 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

Presumably both laptops will be on the same network, so couldn't you just transfer directly over that? It will most likely be quicker than using the hard drive even if you have bought an external SSD drive - just do the network transfer close to your router for maximum transfer speed. Keep the external drive as a backup device if you don't back up the laptops in any other way.

Yes both on the same network, so I could try thast if it's fast enough, and have a bigger eternal hardrive to back up my laptop and files. But will definitely try my HD when it arrives and over the network and compare, thank you for all your help 👍

[irtuk]

If you are using Backyard Nikon or Backyard EOS as your capture for the DSLR you can simply tell it to save them to the main laptop inside anyway:

 

 

I don't know if this is what you are doing, but there is no need to save them onto an SD card? Maybe I have this wrong, and you have a "disposable" laptop outside that you save onto...

 

Ed.

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by irtuk

[irtuk]

oh yeah and it's well worth mentioning that the max recommended cable length for USB3 is about 3M, but the max length of Cat5 ethernet is closer to 100M so, if you run ethernet back to the inside to your router from the laptop outside then you can just save directly onto the main machine with a writeable share.

[AstroNebulee]

5 minutes ago, irtuk said:

If you are using Backyard Nikon or Backyard EOS as your capture for the DSLR you can simply tell it to save them to the main laptop inside anyway:

 

 

I don't know if this is what you are doing, but there is no need to save them onto an SD card? Maybe I have this wrong, and you have a "disposable" laptop outside that you save onto...

 

Ed.

 

Hi

Yes it'll be a spare older laptop that I'll use outside so I dont have to take my main one out in damp or risk it dropping. So I'll save onto the external HD and transfer onto main laptop, simplicity is the key for my befuddled brain az I like to be up and imaging in minutes, than set up guiding and such at the moment but that'll all change in the future when I'll want to start guiding and new set up haha

[AstroNebulee]

1 minute ago, irtuk said:

oh yeah and it's well worth mentioning that the max recommended cable length for USB3 is about 3M, but the max length of Cat5 ethernet is closer to 100M so, if you run ethernet back to the inside to your router from the laptop outside then you can just save directly onto the main machine with a writeable share.

Thanks but I live in a first floor flat and image from a communal area behind my flats so a cable from laptop to my flat is a no go but thank you.