gyrene2083

Hello All,

I have a few questions, and I am hoping that I can finally get them answered here, I've tried other sites, and haven't really had any help. Below you will find the specs of my server build, Network Hardware, and items connected to my network. Side note, the router is in the mail, I'm upgrading from a Linksys WRT54G with DDWRT firmware, and the Server Build is an upgrade from a P4 2GB Ram.

These are the things I would like to do:

1. I want to be able to build a Server that will act as file storage, and be able to stream multimedia, ie 1080p and 720p video, and music.

2. I want to be able to have all the PC's and Laptops, be able to do auto backups, I know WHS has that feature, but I have Win2k8, and I didn't want to buy WHS. So, the real question is, is there 3rd party software that will allow me to make this possible?

3. I also have everything wired, except the Laptops and Wii, but I'll have the Wii wired soon, with Cat 6 cable. I have a friend who had two spools he was gonna throw out, it was a no brainer. My question here is do I connect, my cable modem to my switch first, or router first? I normally would setup cable modem --> router --> switch, but I read some other folks have the config switching the router and switch. So, I just wanted your thoughts.

4. I have 1 pc and 1 laptop with XP, 2 Laptops with Vista, and 1 pc will have Windows 7, my question here is while transferring files from pc to pc using windows explorer, I only get about 12MB/s, but when I use FTP I get anywhere from 80MB/s to about 100MB/s (rounded off more or less). Does that sound about right to you? If so, obviously FTP would be the way to go, and then I would have to go back to question number two regarding auto backup. Would the transfer rates be a dismal 12MB/s or would it be faster than that?

I want to thank you all for reading this long thread, but I figured I would provide you with as much information as possible to make answering my questions easier.

Server Build
ASUS P5Q SE PLUS ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
5TB's Wester Digital Green
4GB Ram

Network
Gigabyte Switch
D-Link DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router and Photo Frame, 2.5" Drive Bay, 3.2" LCD, Draft 11n
Cat 6 cable wired

Attached to the Network
Xbox 360
Wii
Playstation
2 PC's
3 Laptops
2 Printers

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

DuckieHo

1) Specs are fine for your needs... in fact they are overkill. You won't ever notice the difference if you downclocked your CPU to 2GHz and dropped down to 2GB.

2) I thought Server 08 could do automate backup as well?

3) It will always be a modem -> router -> switch. The router connects your LAN to the WAN.

4) What file types/size? If you .zip a bunch of small files before the transfer, it will be much faster.

__________________
To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

gyrene2083

Thanks DuckieHo,

4) The filesize would be my videos. I do a lot of encoding of Anime, and my Movie collection, on a seperate pc.so we are looking at file transfers of a few gigs. I have gig nic cards installed on 3 pc's including the nic card. So, I was just curious as to why using windows explorer to transfer files, would be so dramatically different to the FTP transfers.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

DuckieHo

Is that the initial transfer speed or when it levels off?

Also, check your Windows Services.... you can try turning on/off some of the compression and sync services.

__________________
To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

gyrene2083

It usually would start at around 8MB/s then go up to around 10MB/s sometimes it may reach 12 but not often. I'm not home right now, but when I get home I play around with the services, and keep you abreast of the situation. Also, just in case you wondered I have tried Full Duplex and Half Duplex on all the machines and the results are pretty much the same. I also, checked the cabling, and everything is fine there. I actually tested the wires with a tester, so I know the cables are fine and aren't the problem.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

DuckieHo

I doubt it's a hardware problem.... as you have the same machine transferring via FTP much faster than Windows?

Another random thing.... would you be happening to be playing a music/video file with testing?

__________________
To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

gyrene2083

That's just it I don't have anything else going on the network. I suppose I will just stick with the FTP then. Here's an interesting http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/0...-in-vista-fix/

gyrene2083

I figured out my problem. I didn't have Cat6 cable going from the switch to my HTPC, I had Cat5. I swore I made the cable because they where both grey. LOL my mistake. I'm getting speeds of up to 70MB/s when transferring files internally.

__________________
-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

the_beast

There should be no difference between Cat5e and Cat6 cable for gigabit.

I would bet the cable you replaced was either faultly or a crossover cable (which might work but very slowly over gigabit - I forget which lines are used, but it might work half-duplex or summat).

You don't need Cat6 for gigabit.