Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a data transfer method and apparatus by establishing, at a source device, a plurality of data connections with a target device in response to a data connection establishment request from a client, the data connection establishment request carrying information on a plurality of receiving ports that have been enabled by the target device; and transferring data from the source device to the target device via the plurality of data connections, and data transfer/receiving method and apparatus according to the embodiments of the present disclosure leverage a plurality of parallel data connections from a source device to a target device to transfer data, thereby enhancing the speed and reliability of data backup or restoration.