[SOLVED] What route is this taking on my network?

James Blonde

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2014
170
14
18,595
Stupid question time....

I have 3 boxes...

A - main PC upstairs connected via ethernet to wireless mesh extender
B - Old PC in a back room acting as my server / print server connected via ethernet to different wireless mesh extender
C - NAS connected via ethernet to wireless router / switch.

I'm in the process of copying stuff across the network to my new NAS.

Copying 6.5tb from box A to box C took around 2 days, using box A to drag and drop to the share on box C.

I'm currently copying around 800gb from box B to box C, dragging and dropping from box A. It's curremtly taken 2 days.

Please tell me it's not coping from B to A to C... Please tell me I'm not that stupid....
 
Solution
I think it actually does work that way unless the nas has some special function. You can actually see what data is transferring on your machine in network tab of the resource manager.

The only way the data would not have to pass though you machine would be if there was some other CPU doing the copy. There are some nas devices you can tell it to copy a file from some remote location to one of its local drives. This is more of a server function. Without that it is basically 2 stupid disk drives they need something to actually move the data.

So I bet your data really is passing over the wifi connection 3 times total. It would likely move somewhat faster to remote desktop into machine B and then copy and paste it from machine B
I think it actually does work that way unless the nas has some special function. You can actually see what data is transferring on your machine in network tab of the resource manager.

The only way the data would not have to pass though you machine would be if there was some other CPU doing the copy. There are some nas devices you can tell it to copy a file from some remote location to one of its local drives. This is more of a server function. Without that it is basically 2 stupid disk drives they need something to actually move the data.

So I bet your data really is passing over the wifi connection 3 times total. It would likely move somewhat faster to remote desktop into machine B and then copy and paste it from machine B
 
Solution

James Blonde

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2014
170
14
18,595
Doh!

I do fairly routinely remote desktop into the "server" to do this sort of thing locally but on this occasion dragged and dropped without thinking about it. It was only when I saw the transfer speeds and time that I started wondering about the routing.

I'll just make sure I do the rest of the copying on the local box or use remote desktop.

Never been a problem before as I normally connect the drive I'm copying locally first and copy the bulk of the data, then transfer it to the other box, but not really an option with the NAS.
 
Last edited:

James Blonde

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2014
170
14
18,595
Yeh wired isn't an easy option as it's an old quirky house, and because it's an old (quirky, solid) house, wireless isn't great even when rooms are next to each other. Hence moving to a NAS / media server next to the router / TV (and that may mean I get rid of the old pc "server")

Been through powerline adapters and WiFi range extenders. Mesh seems the best so far, but was still getting horrible speeds and latency to the server as you suggest. Not so bad to my pc upstairs as its directly above the router through wooden floors.

Was hoping a crossover cable would help speed this initial copy along - I've got a 5m one going spare and it reaches - but would need to configure my NAS I suspect, and I can't use it as a standard ethernet cable to the router. Doh!

Ordered a 10m cat 7 cable and will plug that into the router when it arrives tomorrow. So painful 😂
 

James Blonde

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2014
170
14
18,595
Interesting, not sure whether it's the crossover cable kicking in or just copying between the 2 boxes, but now getting 100mb/s transfer rate - I can live with that. Be interesting to see if the network cable helps...

Maybe I do need to look at how to cable the house somehow.... 😕
 
Last edited:
You really should not need to use crossover cables anymore. Gigabit ports do not have that concept of duplex they transmit and receive on all 4 pair from both ends at the same time. Most 10/100 ports have a feature called mdix that will negotiate the which wires are used for what. For some reason cross over cables can cause a gigabit port to run only at 100mbps. Unless you have very old equipment you can generally just use straight cables and the ports will figure it out.
 

James Blonde

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2014
170
14
18,595
Oh wow, thats interesting! It was a long time ago that I got the crossover cable but didn't know that! Sooner the cat 7 cable gets here the better then! Through the router / switch are right next to the NAS, so i guess either server to nas or server to switch will work. Thanks!
 
Cat7 cables unless you buy them from a very well known vendor tend to be fakes. In addition cat7 was never really certified by all the different orginzations. Cat6a is generally what is recommended for 10g connections. When you only have 1gbit ports buying anything more than cat5e does not really provide any benefit. Quality cable is what is key there are massive amounts of fake cable being sold. Key things to watch for are 100% copper cable, no CCA and wire size 22-24 (no flat or thin cables). Cable prices have increased greatly because of the cost of copper metal. Trying to get cheap cables is what is causing most the fake cables since they have less copper metal in them.
 

James Blonde

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2014
170
14
18,595
Ahhh these are cheap and flat... Maybe they'll go straight back to amazon then. The crossover has clearly helped and probably got the bulk of the data across, maybe I look for decent cables now. I've been trying to work around not being able / willing to cable for years and nothing has worked for very long. Maybe I need to bite the bullet and get someone in.
 
Lately cables are a huge pain to buy online. For small amounts of cables the shipping costs make up a large part of the cost. Even full boxes of bulk cable tend to have high shipping costs.

Many times you can get the cable for about the same price from a local store. Most home improvement stores sell cables as well as electronic stores if you have any of those left. With local cable you can look at the cable and see if they have marking like EIA/TIA certification on the wire. Local vendors also tend to not sell as much junk because they have to directly deal with complaining customers. Still be a little careful I have seen that flat cable being sold in the store at walmart.