How to get Maximum Transfer Speeds between Desktop & Laptop

Here's my dillema: I have a project folder of about 10GB that I need to transfer between my desktop & laptop every couple of days. However, this transfer just takes way to long with my current setup. I'm looking for a recommendation on the most practical & fastest way to perform this (even if it means getting a SSD or some "thinking outside the box" solution).

Here are the specs on my systems. First, the desktop has Gigabit Ethernet with a 1 TB (2x500GB SATA 7200 RPM) in RAID 0.

The laptop also has Gigabit, with a 320 GB SATA drive but only 5200 RPM.

Now it's funny to say this, but I'm still using 100 Mbps ethernet. So yes, the first logical thing to increase transfer speed is to upgrade to Gigabit ethernet cables.

So herein lies my first question: what is faster; is there a difference in transfer speed between: A) a Gigabit cross over cable connected between the two systems or B) having the systems connected to a Gigabit router ?

Secondly, how bad; does my laptop's 5400 RPM hard-drive bottleneck the transfer speed?


One solution I've looked into is eSATA, but the problem is that neither my desktop or laptop have it. And another potential solution was getting a 16GB SSD ExpressCard. That way I could store my project files on there and swap it out between the laptop and the desktop (after getting a ExpressCard PCI adapter for the desktop). But then I found out ExpressCard SSD drives have brutal write speeds.

Let me know if you have the answer to my questions and do feel free to provide your suggestions. Thanks!