USB Cables

This is partly photography and partly general chat.
On my old computer I had 2 DVD drives so copying from one disc to another was easy. Now I have my desktop & my laptop each with 1 DVD drive. Can I connect them with a simple USB male to male cable so I can make copies direct instead of loading onto the PC then onto another disc?. OR, do I need a special cable of some sort?
I want to make copies of my saved (on disc photos) to send to relatives.
I know I can copy from my hard drive but some of my photos I have wiped from my computer as I have transfered them to discs.
CHEERS Vic.
EDIT TYPO.

Copy to PC and then Copy from PC to DVD is the most reliable way.

I've got two DVD drives, but still prefer to use just one.

An excellent free copying program is ImgBurn

http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

Vic - you should be able to connectyour laptop to your pc like this, so long as your laptop is "recognized" as a USB MASS STORAGE DEVICE. Alternatively, if you already have your images on a cd or dvd, you can copy them to a new cd or dvd. In the absence of a secondary device to use to burn the copy, your pc will instead place youe images into a TEMP folder. If using Microsoft's own copying program, you will get a popup telling you that you have FILES READY TO BE BURNED (or words to that effect). Once you have added all your images (don't exceed 650Mb if burning to cd, 4.5Gb if dvd, and about 8.2Gb if using dual-layer dvds) and are ready to proceed, insert your new, blank media, and follow the on-screen instructions. If you have a program (such as Nero burning rom) that allows the data to be verified, set this up too, and you will know immediately if you will need to re-burn the disc, or not. This saves disappointment when the family try to view them on corrupted media.

Good luck!

ImgBurn also had a very good Verification setting and there are
some programs on their site that let you export the copy burn and
verify graphs to see if it has been struggling.

Thanks both of you.
I know how to put new photos from a card onto the cumputer and then onto a disc or even from a card direct to a disc, and the same from a disc to the computer and then to another disc. It's just that the old computer had 2 disc drives and it was quicker to burn direct disc to disc and I wondered if connecting my desktop with my laptop via a male to male USB would work?
I have various disc burning progs. on both computers but just thought I might try connecting the 2 of them but didn't want to knacker something up without a little help aid and advice.
I thought I may need a special cable of some sort?.
CHEERS Vic.

I'm not sure this is possible, or even avisable.


Can you connect both PC to your router?. If so you can set up a local network then transfer the files over the network, via the router to the other PC. This is what I do with my PC and my wifes PC.

regards
Bernard

Thanks Bernard but that still means buying some extra cables so in the end I think I'll stick to ripping to the computer and burning to the disc. Though it seems longer it also seems safer. I just thought there might be a simple way to let the laptop talk to the desktop.
AH WELL BACK TO THE STONEAGE.
CHEERS Vic.

I too don't think the USB cable will work. USB uses a Master->Slave protocol and the PC is usually the master (flat USB-A connector) and camera/printer the slave (almost square USB-B connector). I've never seen a USB male to male connector.

Connecting Two PCs Using a USB-USB Cable

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Connecting-Two-PCs-Using-a-USB-USB-Cable/...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-link-cable-25600

http://www.usbgear.com/link/index.html

johnha. yes there are male to male connector cables, I've seen them and priced them.
JAK. You seem to have given the definitive answer. The answer I was looking for. As I said, and, definately now I will do it disc to PC and PC to disc.
Thanks to all but JAK has hit the nail on the head.
CHEERS Vic.