Newbie problem with transfer speeds

[ives31]

Hi,
I've just made and installed a freenas box and am transferring movie files to it over my wireless network from my pc.
Typically this will take a couple of hours for each movie (about 1gb). File transfer speeds seem to be about 400kb/s. At this rate it will take forever to transfer all my stuff (2tb) to the freenas box so I'm presuming I'm doing something wrong. Should I be transferring over a wired network i.e plug my pc into the router?


I've got a i3 cpu with 8gb ram.

 

[cyberjock]

Should I be transferring over a wired network i.e plug my pc into the router?

Yes!

 

[ives31]

ok.trying with pc plugged in to router and still only getting 500KB/s.

 

[cyberjock]

Well, you're going to need to start running tests to figure out where the bottleneck is. It might be the server, it might be your desktop. But you're going to have to start running tests to find out.

 

[ives31]

what I've found is that when my freenas box is running,but not doing anything, my network internet speed lmore than halves.
Normally its 17mb/s but with the NAS running it goes down to 7mb/s.
Presumably this isn't normal?
Can anyone give me some advise on what to look at?

 

[gpsguy]

Did you disable the wireless connection on your pc?

ok.trying with pc plugged in to router and still only getting 500KB/s.

Look at the forum rules (in red) at the top of the page. Give us all your hardware details, including network information for your NIC's (server & pc), as well as your router and/or ethernet switch.

 

[ives31]

do you think it might be the router?
I'm using the one that came with my sky broadband.
it's this one http://www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/sky-hub/

 

[gpsguy]

Yes, it's part of the problem. Your wired ethernet ports on the router are 10/100Mbps. Assuming you NIC's are gigabit ethernet (that's why I/we ask for hardware details), your
SkyHub is a bottleneck.

I recommend purchasing an inexpensive gigabit ethernet switch and plugging your server and other devices into it. Plug it into your router. Here in the US, we can pick up a decent 4-8 port switch for under $50. I don't know what's available in the UK.

 

[ives31]

thanks for the help.
So if I get a gigabit ethernet switch like this one http://www.ebuyer.com/516782-on-networks-5-port-gigabit-network-ethernet-switch-dsg005-199uks
do I plug my router into it via an ethernet cable and then plug the freenas box into it via ethernet and then my pc/laptop via ethernet .
Then presumably I'd be able to transfer files from my laptopto the freenas box via the gigabit ethernet switch and it should be faster?
Is that right?

 

[Fraoch]

Yes that should work fine. If your devices don't report gigabit speeds (the switch may have lights to indicate this), then make sure your cables say "CAT 5e" or "CAT 6" on them. CAT 5 cables might not work at gigabit speeds.

 

[ives31]

many thanks for your help. much appreciated