Slow in-network file transfers

[dj2501]

Ok Im having some problems with my home network.

I have a notebook with a 100mbps nic running vista enterprice and a 1.4ghz cpu, a hp w/ 100mbps nic running xp pro with 2 pentium III 800mhz totaling 1.4 ghz and a linksys 100mbps router.

I have the hp setup as a file server and Im getting super slow transfer speeds. the fastest iv gotten is 4mbps.

why is it going to slow? shouldnt it be a 100mbps transfer rate? the hdd are all 7400rpms so that shouldnt affect it that much right? I shouldnt have to have sata 3gbps hdd to transfer in network at 100mbps.

this is my first file sharing setup so please give me some pointers as to how to speed this up. it take 30 mins to transfer 5gig from the server to the notebook.

 

[mBernhardt]

4mb/s is about right for a LAN transfer. That's about what I usually hit with my home LAN between computers. Perhaps someone else can back me up on this, but I really doubt that 2 computers (especially of the grade you mentioned) could generate 100mb/s traffic between each other.

I think the most I've seen is around 18mb/s and that was from a high end fileserver to a pc on the same swtich.

 

[str8lazy]

mBernhardt is right, the grade of PC's that you are doing that with is more than likely the culprit of your slow transfer speeds.

 

[Law]

Your LAN is measure in bits and not bytes. 100 Megabits divided by 8 (because 8 bits = 1 byte) will give you your maximum bandwidth capacity in bytes. About 12.5 MegaBytes per second = 100 Megabits per second, that's your theoretical bandwidth capacity (in estimates and should not be used for accurate measurement). However your throughput is always <= (less than or equal to) bandwidth. So your throughput that you are getting 4 MegaBytes per second? will depend on many factors:

client
server
topology
other users on the network
type of data being transferred
etc.

Most likely the low speed you are getting is because of your low-end server. CPU speed affects the network transfer also, and many other factors.

My modern file server at 3.0Ghz and 1 GIG of RAM transfer data constantly at around 10 MegaBytes per second, that's roughly equal to 80 Megabits per second on my 100 Megabits network. As you can see how bits and bytes are used in connection and file transfer.