File sharing between Mac and PC very slow

[cornishjack]

Hello all,

I'm having a problem at the moment with file sharing between a Mac and PC.

The Details -

MacPro 2009
OS Sierra fully updated

Windows 10 PC
fully updated

Both have gigabit ethernet connectors, wired to a router with gigabit ports using CAT6. If I connect them together with one ethernet cable, I get 108MBs. If I try the same thing going through a router then it's 25MBs.

Everywhere I look online suggests problems with the Samba protocol. I'm not sure if it's the case though because when they are wired together with just the ethernet, I connect to the PC by typing 'smb://xxx.xxx.x.x'. I don't know a lot about networking so I can't be sure that its still not the culprit? If anyone can confirm that Samba is definitely not the problem than that also would be a big help.

Most of my trouble shooting has been around Samba up until now. If anyone has any suggestions or ways I can troubleshoot I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

Jack

 

[kanewolf]

Could you have jumbo frames enabled, which works with a direct connection, but your router doesn't support jumbo frames? Shouldn't slow things that much unless you get a lot of retransmits. You could verify that you have standard frame size enabled on both hosts.

 

[cornishjack]

Could you have jumbo frames enabled, which works with a direct connection, but your router doesn't support jumbo frames? Shouldn't slow things that much unless you get a lot of retransmits. You could verify that you have standard frame size enabled on both hosts.

Hey, Thanks for the reply. I think they were both disabled. Not knowing a great deal, on windows I disabled 'Jumbo Frames' and on the Mac I set the MTU to 1500. The other option was Jumbo so I assume this is the same thing?

 

[kanewolf]

Yeah, disabling jumbo, should set the MTU (max tranfer unit) to 1500 ... I think I would spend $25 to get a 5 port gig-e switch to eliminate the router. You can still run a single line from the switch to the router for your internet access.

 

[cornishjack]

Yeah, disabling jumbo, should set the MTU (max tranfer unit) to 1500 ... I think I would spend $25 to get a 5 port gig-e switch to eliminate the router. You can still run a single line from the switch to the router for your internet access.

Although this doesn't really solve the software issue I think this is probably the most practical solution. Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge could find a way but this works for me.

Thank you very much for the advice, I really appretiate it.

 

[jsmithepa]

You are obsessed with Samba. I don't see a reason why going through router's switch port would disturb what samba does. A home switch operates at OSI layer-2, this is a layer-2 issue. When you talk about software, you are talking about layer 4 and above.

 

[cornishjack]

You are obsessed with Samba. I don't see a reason why going through router's switch port would disturb what samba does. A home switch operates at OSI layer-2, when you talk about software, you are talking about layer 4 and above.

I wouldn't go as far as obsessed but that's all I ever hear about when researching this problem. A few days ago I didn't even know what Samba was, not that I have much of a clue even now.

I have no idea what layers are either, sorry. All I know is that with a direct connection, all is good. Go through the router and suddenly 75% performance drop. If you have something I could try I would love to hear it. You will have to bare in mind though that I don't know that much about networking.

Thanks

 

[jsmithepa]

1. Play with MTU, lower it to 1200 see if it makes a difference.
2. For grins, try FTP.
3. Bad/too long cable(s)?
4. Tried another switch port yet?
5. Set NIC ports to fixed 1gb instead of letting it to auto-negotiate.
6. Turn off green/power saving mode on router/switch.

 

[cornishjack]

1. Play with MTU, lower it to 1200 see if it makes a difference.
2. For grins, try FTP.
3. Bad/too long cable(s)?
4. Tried another switch port yet?
5. Set NIC ports to fixed 1gb instead of letting it to auto-negotiate.
6. Turn off green/power saving mode on router/switch.

I actually tried all of those things and still no avail.

 

[cornishjack]

Thanks all, I did find one work around for this specific issue. The mac pro has two ethernet ports so I was able to connect the PC directly to it and share the connection from the mac. Working great so far.

 

[jsmithepa]

I actually tried all of those things and still no avail.

SEE, if ftp didn't work either, logic dictates...