Hub or switch

[Bart]

I have just set-up a network with three PCs connected to an old server via a
hub. The server has various external drives connected via firewire, USB2 and
firewire 800. We occasionally backup a lot of data from any of the PCs to
any of the external drives on the server.

The first time we tried to backup some data (200GB) onto the external drive
it took well over 24 hours. My thinking is that the hub is not dual speed
and only 10baseT. Do I need to upgrade to a dual speed hub or are there
other things I can try first, like perhaps changing some settings on the
network PCI card (duplex mode?)? Would a switch be better for transferring
this amount of data?

Many thanks in advance

Bart.

 

[Paul Landregan]

I have just set-up a network with three PCs connected to an old server via
a
hub. The server has various external drives connected via firewire, USB2
and
firewire 800. We occasionally backup a lot of data from any of the PCs to
any of the external drives on the server.

The first time we tried to backup some data (200GB) onto the external
drive
it took well over 24 hours. My thinking is that the hub is not dual speed
and only 10baseT. Do I need to upgrade to a dual speed hub or are there
other things I can try first, like perhaps changing some settings on the
network PCI card (duplex mode?)? Would a switch be better for
transferring
this amount of data?

Many thanks in advance

Bart.

A switch wiuld give you full duplex connection, and are very cheap.

 

[Jetro]

I would suggest to re-consider the data storage location, i.e. move the
external disks from the server to the workstations. Transferring 200GB over
100Mbps network could take 4.5 hours at least in an ideal environment
without any other network activity.

 

[Steven L Umbach]

Assuming your nics can accomadate 100mbs then you should use a switch than
can accomadate that speed which will increase the performance at least ten
times. You can buy a very affordable switch from the likes of
Netgear/Linksys/Dlink - well under $50. --- Steve


http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=33-122-005&depa=5
-- Netgear switch
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=64076&item=5723990664&rd=1
-- Great deals on Ebay for used switches

 

[Bart]

I would suggest to re-consider the data storage location, i.e. move the
external disks from the server to the workstations. Transferring 200GB
over 100Mbps network could take 4.5 hours at least in an ideal
environment without any other network activity.

Thanks Jetro, but that's what we had initially and we were continuously
swapping the drives round, with cables always getting in the way. Went
for this solution so we could centralise everything.

Bart.