File transfer seems to be capped at 10MB/s

[thepicklator]

I needed to transfer some files from one computer to the other so I connected them to each other using a crossover cable and everything seemed to be fine after setting up the IPs, however the transfer was very slow. I was expecting to get somewhere in between 20MB/s and 30MB/s (maxing out the SATA 3.0Gbps) but all I got was 10MB/s. It seemed to be capped at that rate as I should've gotten a much faster transfer. Can someone shed a little light on the issue? Thanks in advance.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

Look at you connection properties to see what you are actually connected at. I have experienced problems in the past at only getting a 10 Mbps connection with a crossover cable before, and now I always use a small switch.

However, the problem could still be your hard drive. SATA 3.0 Gbps is the max speed that the cable can transfer, but the sustained transfer speed depends on your hard drive platters and how the data is arranged.

 

[Tricky1138]

I needed to transfer some files from one computer to the other so I connected them to each other using a crossover cable and everything seemed to be fine after setting up the IPs, however the transfer was very slow. I was expecting to get somewhere in between 20MB/s and 30MB/s (maxing out the SATA 3.0Gbps) but all I got was 10MB/s. It seemed to be capped at that rate as I should've gotten a much faster transfer. Can someone shed a little light on the issue? Thanks in advance.

Hello,
A more common reason for this slow speed is that your NIC card is FastEthernet 10/100. The 100 means that you will not get speeds over 12.5 MB/s. Also your Cat5E cable has this same speed limitation. You might want to get Gigabit NIC card and CAT6 cable, both of which are pretty common on the market now.

The Gigabit spec means 1000 Mb/s, which translates to real-world speeds of.....

125 MB/second

So the SATA is still faster, at 375 MB/second 🙂

Remember your bits and bytes!

 

[yumri]

With what Tricky said you will also need network infrastructure which supports 1Gbps or 10/100/1000 Mbps between the 2 computer on the CAT5e or CAT6 network cables from what i have asked the network admins about the difference in speeds on the school's infrastructure there is no seeable difference when transferring data across the line between using CAT5e and CAT6 cables but in theory CAT5e only goes up to 5 100Mbps by the standard set by COMPTIA but it can go up to 1000Mbps in practice. CAT6 cable's standard is set to go up to 1000Mbps but it operates the same at a CAT5e cable for the time being anyways as both can achieve that speed just the inside of a CAT6 cable is more shielded from EMI then the inside of a CAT5e cable.
The part which Tricky said for the gigabit NIC cards/chips in the computers is very true as you might have the switch and cables able to go at 1Gbps but if the computers do not support it then you wont. I also find having static IPs on the computers to give me a little boost in speed when going through a router but not when going through a switch.
you can set up the device driver to not use auto-negation and use a set speed and duplex setting instead but this is not recommended as if you connect to a computer which does not support that speed and duplex setting they will not be able to communicate to one another and again it is just another thing for a little speed boost.
Then you still have the limits of your hard drive's internal max access read speed, max transfer speed, overhead for the transfers, sync up time with the computer, bad hash checks on either or both sides, and etc. with minor things which it does not tell you about as it just does it over again automatically to fix the problem.
The speed of the system CPU's and the availability of the system RAM with the amount of time it has with the system RAM and if it is also using a paging file for the transfers between computers will affect the speed as well.
Last but not least other computer's access onto and over the network device or devices can slow down how fast the transfer rate is going because the network device can only go so fast. From all of this you see 1000Mbps is just the bandwidth max speed not the actual throughput of data since you will have so much else also going on but most of the overhead is of inside of each computer not on the network which is good for the network but bad for the transfer speed. If you know any way to minimize overhead it will save you time but i am unsure of how much time it will save.

 

[Sean Crellin]

ok here is the simple solution 2 computers connected with a crossover cable can only ever talk at 10mbs, 100mbs is only achievable by having a network hub / switch /router between the 2 computers. basics of the hardware i am afraid. and if anybody is telling you different then they are mistaken.

hope this helps

Microsoft Certified Engineer

 

[bill001g]

I normally ignore posts that someone dug up from years ago but this is complete bull. You can connect machines directly with a cable even at 10g. You do not need hardware in between other than the wire. Now sometime the MDI/MDIX negotiation of the cross/straight cable stuff does not work correctly in some motherboards but that just involves manually setting stuff to get it to work.

And if you think your certification is impressive
I have CCIE in both routing and switching and security at the 10yrs mark.

Don't post things you are not 100% sure of.

 

[Saga Lout]

I'm closing this necro thread before it degenerates into a flame-war but Sean Crellin, please only post into threads under around ninety days old. It clutters up the Forum with old threads being raised form the dead.