[SOLVED] File Sharing over Ethernet with Router

[Hunter Holland]

I am currently sharing files between two computers through the router wirelessly. On computer 1 I have all of my important videos and pictures for my home videos. I have back-up software copying my files to computer 2 over the network as a back-up. This back-up plan seems to work fine but it is painfully slow. I only get about 8mb/s transfer speeds with takes hours to upload changes. My plan is to run an ethernet cable from both the computers to the router to increase the speed to about a gigabit a second. Will this work to hook both computers up directly to the router to get internet access and file transfer over the same ethernet cable? And is this safe, can others access files through the internet. Do I need to buy an isolated switch for better encryption? Just wondering what the best way to do this is. Thanks.

 

[Barty1884]

Yes, both being wired directly into the router should act to connect the two as a wired connection.

Whether others can access, will depend on your specific security settings but, in an out of the box configuration, yes - others on your network could have access to the files, although they likely do at the moment anyway.

A separate switch (again, out of the box) isn't going to isolate anything - as I assume you mean both systems will feed into the switch, as will the router? In which case, that's really no different than having both systems connected to the router directly.

 

[punkncat]

Your (typical) home network is going to consist of "two sides" as it were. You have the LAN, the Local Area Network, this is where all your computers, printers, NAS, all this manner of stuff resides. You have the WAN, the Wide Area Network, which to keep it simple is the internet. Most modern internet connections are "dynamic" IP, meaning that your WAN side IP address changes from time to time.

Your modem/router has several functions in a typical setup. It both administrates the traffic between the IP addresses within your LAN (it usually is the point at which they are generated via DHCP) and it also is where traffic within your LAN has to go, the "gateway", to get to the internet.
It's inbound and outbound traffic is bound by the various programs you use but in a super simplified and general way you ask your computer to access a page the router tells the internet what and allows permissions for that information to come back to you.
In more complex situations you can open ports in your router and allow WAN side traffic (an outside computer, etc.) a "tunnel" as it were to come back to your LAN and access information. This generally requires that you either install a host program to make said possible (like for instance finding your dynamic IP), or have a static IP where the target is always at the same place. This wouldn't be something just "done" without your knowing outside of someone else setting it up, or your inadvertently installing a subversive program.
By default even Windows (10) doesn't allow remote connections without specific permissions and process.

So, TLDR is that the data you are sharing within your LAN computers is as secure as you are that you have no virus or apps installed allowing it to get out. As a side note, most ISP monitor traffic across their routers, even on the LAN side. I am 110% positive that Xfinity does so as it states it in the TOS. You can (technically) get around that by using your own router to handle DHCP and taking that ability away from the ISP equipment. They will still be watching traffic, but on WAN side (and that starts touching on VPN).

 

[Hunter Holland]

Yes, both being wired directly into the router should act to connect the two as a wired connection.

Whether others can access, will depend on your specific security settings but, in an out of the box configuration, yes - others on your network could have access to the files, although they likely do at the moment anyway.

A separate switch (again, out of the box) isn't going to isolate anything - as I assume you mean both systems will feed into the switch, as will the router? In which case, that's really no different than having both systems connected to the router directly.

Ok, so as long as I don't have any problems getting internet and file sharing through the computers over an ethernet cable from both computers directly connected to the router I should be good. But won't the files be mostly safe if I have password protected sharing enabled on both computers? That way anyone else on the network can't access files without a password. Also, is there a way for an outside source to access the files through the internet and into the router, then into the home network, is that even possible? Also, do I need a cross-over ethernet cable or is a regular ethernet cable good for filesharing with the router?

 

[punkncat]

When you set up sharing within your own network you have several options as to whether to allow Windows to handle or to do by username and password. Even further you can decide if those other users can view, modify, and delete those files. If another user on your network knows the specific login and password they could access the shared folder. If not then by all white user intents and purpose it's secure without them sitting at the host computer.