Hi guys. I just wanted to ask the wise ones here about transferring files across a lan. Firstly i'll bore you with the setup ;), and just tell you my whole setup is a learning tool. 1) MaxDsl > Linksys Wireless G ADSL Router 2) Router > Smoothwall box 3) Smoothwall box > Gigabit Switch 4) Gigabit Switch > Server (Server 2003), 3 PC's (All XP), 1 PC (Suse Linux) 4) The Server and the 3 XP PC's have all got gigabit ethernet cards. 5) The cable is CAT5e The server has 2 x PIII 1.0GHz CPU's, 2GB RAM, 2 x 73GB 10K SCSI HDD's, 300GB IDE drive (Data) All the PC's are various spec. Mine is P4 3.0GHz, 1.7G DDR266, 80GB SATA HDD. I'll use my PC as the example. It seems that files take ages to transfer between my PC and the server. About 30 minutes to transfer a 2.5GB folder with small files inside. Maybe longer. The idea of the whole setup is for the kids to be able to login to the domain HOMENETWORK and access the shares on the 300GB IDE drive (MOVIES and MUSIC) It seems to take ages for the films to start. I know that the slowest link (hard drive) will dictate the speed across the network. So there you have it. Longwinded i know. Have any of you guys got some pointers to where i could be going wrong, or maybe some suggestions to tweak it. Thanks for reading this. All the best. Darren

"I know that the slowest link (hard drive) will dictate the speed across the network."...not really, there's much more to note: - Is it really CAT5e? - Besides Hard drive speeds....amounts and speeds of CPU, RAM, health of hard drive, fragmentation etc should be noted. - NIC settings on Server/PCs to AUTO or Full Gig? - Are there Port configurations that can be set up on the individual ports on switch? - Is there AV running on the boxes? - Are firewalls running (that will effect performance). - PCs clean of Spyware (Sorry have to ask, you seem to be technical though)? - What's the network traffic like? Have you run Sniffer's (Ethereal?). - Any Print Servers running, NETBIOS, IPX, NetBUI?

Hi there. Thanks for the pointers. Its appreciated. I seem to have some issues with the SCSI/RAID Host controller which didn't want to disappear. I uninstalled it in the end and everything seems to have picked up. I will run through your list though and have a look. Thanks a lot. All the best Darren

Proper troubleshooting can be a long list. I didn't even think to mention to you to look at the SCSI Controller! (my bad) Look for newer Drivers or even a firmware update for it.

glad to see your not running your network on a hub haha Geek Squad CIA CompTIA A+ Certified CST Certified Certs-in-Progress: CCNA, CompTIA Network+