Nerd Advice Required (Home Network)

[Stuuk1]

Hi All,

I have done my searches and come up with nothing so thought I'd ask some questions as I know there are some real gurus here !

I've finally got around to sorting out my home network and attached is a picture of that. I'm Stillwater airing for my NAS box to turn up accompanied by 2 x 3tb HDD's.

The main reason for setting up the network is simply that I like a wired connection to my PS3 and various other items. The other reason is that myself and girlfriend are keen photographers (weddings etc) and I want to backup all media from that safely away from the mac which is getting slower and slower (I don't like external usb HDD's).

I currently have a Netgear FS116 (10/100) connected. My network is wired is Cat5e (screened) cable so can handle gigabit speeds.

My question is, should I buy a Netgear GS116? Will I benefit from this? The Internet connection to my house is 16mb.

I am a noob, but a noob willing and wanting to learn! The speed ratings if the switch, are these internet speeds? Or data transfer speeds? For example, swapping over all of the data from the mac to the NAS, will it be faster through a gigabit switch?

Thanks!

[kaivalagi]

Nice and tidy setup, very jealous...I'm lazy and use wifi (except for the NAS and PS3 which are wired in)

Your current 10/100 switch will be limiting internal data transfers at 10% of what you would get with a gigabit switch...and both switches would have the same data transfer with the internet (the BT router is the bottleneck there).

If you replace your current switch with a gigabit one you'll get much better performance around your house for larger transfers, and if that's the number 1 priority it's worth upgrading!

edit: For reference if you are wondering about transfer rates over ethernet, in general worst case you'll get 30% of the actual wire bit rate of the switch due to the way ethernet works, basically there will be collisions on any one LAN's broadcast domain which reduce the actual delivered data rates due to wait states implemented on collision to allow successful comms. VLANs within more expensive switches allow the seperate of these domains to reduce the collisions and increase effeciency etc - not needed for the home though really

Originally Posted by Stuuk1

I currently have a Netgear FS116 (10/100) connected. My network is wired is Cat5e (screened) cable so can handle gigabit speeds.

Make sure the switch is plugged into the gigabit port of the Hub3 not any of the others.

The new hubs come with all ports as gigabit ones but the Hub three only had one, I believe its the one on the far right as you look at the back.

[Stuuk1]

Originally Posted by kaivalagi

Nice and tidy setup, very jealous...I'm lazy and use wifi (except for the NAS and PS3 which are wired in)

Your current 10/100 switch will be limiting internal data transfers at 10% of what you would get with a gigabit switch...and both switches would have the same data transfer with the internet (the BT router is the bottleneck there)

If you replace your current switch with a gigabit one you'll get much better performance around your house, and if that's the number 1 priority it's worth upgrading!

Perfect, thank you for your quick reply. I shall add some gigabit switches to my watch list on eBay. I bought the FS116 just to get by, it was only £16 on eBay so no real loss.

The HDD's just turned up! Shame the box hasn't yet..

[kaivalagi]

No probs

BTW, if you're ever looking for a bigger NAS later on I can highly recommend Synology ones (you didn't say what you are getting), the OS is really good and packed full of features.
I have a 5 bay 1512+ with 5 x 3TB drives (gives ~10TB after raid6 (2 drives can fail and I wont lose data) and am very very happy with it, if I need more storage then I can just add another 5 bay extension box...not that I'll likely need to...

[Stuuk1]

Originally Posted by Spank86

Make sure the switch is plugged into the gigabit port of the Hub3 not any of the others.

The new hubs come with all ports as gigabit ones but the Hub three only had one, I believe its the one on the far right as you look at the back.

Lovely! I hadn't noticed that but will certainly be plugging it in to that, it's port 4 and I am currently in port 1...

[Stuuk1]

Originally Posted by kaivalagi

No probs

BTW, if you're ever looking for a bigger NAS later on I can highly recommend Synology ones (you didn't say what you are getting), the OS is really good and packed full of features.
I have a 5 bay 1512+ with 5 x 3TB drives (gives ~10TB after raid6 (2 drives can fail and I wont lose data) and am very very happy with it, if I need more storage then I can just add another 5 bay extension box...not that I'll likely need to...

Sorry, I have ordered the Netgear ReadyNAS 102. I was recommended the Duo V2 but found that the 102 was the newest version and cheaper. Paid £105 on Amazon.

There are so many and if I'm brutally honest, I am on a tight budget! The reviews look pretty good for the 102 along with the ReadyCloud, looks an interesting piece if kit which I'm keen to have a play with.

I plan to run it on RAID 1 so the drives are mirrored. Thank you for the suggestion I'll keep that in mind if I ever need a replacement.

[Luckypants]

This might help with getting Gigabit connection to your BT home hub (assuming you have one)

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/32322

[Stuuk1]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

This might help with getting Gigabit connection to your BT home hub (assuming you have one)

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/32322

Thanks, very handy to know.

Have swapped that over now although with just 16mb anyway, I suppose it doesn't make any difference...

I wish they offered fibre here, I'd be their first customer!

Originally Posted by Stuuk1

Lovely! I hadn't noticed that but will certainly be plugging it in to that, it's port 4 and I am currently in port 1...

It probably wont make a massive difference when the broadband is 16meg but I certainly never believe the maximum quoted speeds for any port so it can't hurt.