Network File Transfer Speed

[logan87]

Here's the scenario:

I have a desktop at home, that is my main computer to use and I play games and everything on it. Recently, I got an older PC working and added a few hardware pieces to it and made it my server PC. This runs torrents 24/7 and hosts a PS3 Media Server so I can watch all of my videos on my TV. It also stores most of my files and is where I backup my computer to.

Here's my computer and network specs that are relevant for this:

Desktop-
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
2 x Gigabit network adapters
No Windows Firewall
McAfee VirusScan 8.7 Enterprise
1 x sata hard drive

Server-
Windows 7 Ultimate x86
1 x Gigabit Ethernet PCI card
Sata 1.5 gbps PCI card with 3 hard drives connected to it
No firewalls
No antivirus

Network-
NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAS (supports gigabit network speeds)
Cat 5e network cables
All network connections are listed at 1 gbps

Problem:

When transferring files from my Desktop to the Server, Windows shows my transfer speeds of around 2 mbps. If I have more than 1 transfer going, they might total 2 mbps.

When transferring from the Server to my Desktop, they transfer around 30 mbps + or - 10 mbps.

When transferring from hard drive to hard drive on the Server PC, they transfer between 30-40 mbps.

Question:

Why is transfer from my desktop to the server so slow? How would I fix that?

 

[ntadmin101]

Here's the scenario:

I have a desktop at home, that is my main computer to use and I play games and everything on it. Recently, I got an older PC working and added a few hardware pieces to it and made it my server PC. This runs torrents 24/7 and hosts a PS3 Media Server so I can watch all of my videos on my TV. It also stores most of my files and is where I backup my computer to.

Here's my computer and network specs that are relevant for this:

Desktop-
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
2 x Gigabit network adapters
No Windows Firewall
McAfee VirusScan 8.7 Enterprise
1 x sata hard drive

Server-
Windows 7 Ultimate x86
1 x Gigabit Ethernet PCI card
Sata 1.5 gbps PCI card with 3 hard drives connected to it
No firewalls
No antivirus

Network-
NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAS (supports gigabit network speeds)
Cat 5e network cables
All network connections are listed at 1 gbps

Problem:

When transferring files from my Desktop to the Server, Windows shows my transfer speeds of around 2 mbps. If I have more than 1 transfer going, they might total 2 mbps.

When transferring from the Server to my Desktop, they transfer around 30 mbps + or - 10 mbps.

When transferring from hard drive to hard drive on the Server PC, they transfer between 30-40 mbps.

Question:

Why is transfer from my desktop to the server so slow? How would I fix that?

First, I would look at a packet sniff of the IP session initiation and see who who throttles the session down to 2 Mbps That is going to be key for identifying the culprit.

-Check to make sure the drivers for your ethernet adapters are up to date.
-Are you using IPV6 or just 4?
-how much RAM is in the desktop
-do you see a lot of disk thrashing on the desktop?
-Keep task manager open and look at the top I/O users when you do some transfers.
-Defrag your desktop hard drive and Check your Antivirus software as well: A fragmented hard drive take a long time to read and if your antivirus is set to paranoid, then that will only delay things more.
-Do you have another simple ethernet switch you can use to eliminate the netgear as the cause?

 

[logan87]

Thanks for the reply.

-Ethernet adapters are up to date.
-4 gb ram on the desktop.
-I recently re-installed windows on all my computers with a fresh install of Windows 7. The server defrags nightly, pretty sure the desktop has been defragged, but I can check that when I get home. The hard drive doesn't seem to go too crazy, works fine when writing and all other times. The hard drives were in my desktop before, and I had no problems transferring files between them then.
-It very well could be the anti-virus. I think it is checking everything, but would seem to me that incoming files being written to my drive would be slower if the AV was the cause.
-I could try another switch.

I'll probably have to wait until tomorrow night to play around with it. Unless I get too distracted by Modern Warfare 2 and play that all night

 

[ntadmin101]

I hope you find the answer there. I'll check in with you again.

 

[logan87]

I hope you find the answer there. I'll check in with you again.

I appreciate the help, got it to work!

I disabled IPv6 on my computers, and it now transfers at about 30 mbps from my desktop to the server, and still about 40 mbps from server to desktop.

Not sure why that matters, but thanks!

 

[ntadmin101]

Just for giggles, transfer a file back and forth to each machine and keep an acurate record of the time, then plug the data into this site. http://www.ibeast.com/content/tools/band-calc.asp