fast shared folder between nas and 3pcs

[cisto1999]

hi,

i want to create a shared folder between a nas and 3 pcs - all of them are in the same room and could be connected with each other. What is the easiest way to achieve that and get decent performance out of it?

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just get a gigabit switch and setup a file share on the nas? Simple and cheap

 

 

Wow 14000 post, i need a life.

[cisto1999]

and what do you think about those usb-link cabels?

[Phate.exe]

Gigabit is gonna limit you to around 120 megabytes/s no matter what you do.  If that's enough transfer speed for you, just connect the computers to the router or a gigabit switch normally.  Set up network share drive(s), and call it a day.

 

If you want to go faster, it becomes a bit more complicated.

 

You're going to be limited by the narrowest pipe you have, so if the NAS has a gigabit connection to the router/switch, that's all the bandwidth you have to share between all your clients.  If you put 10 gigabit between the NAS and the switch, and gigabit going out to the clients, as long as the drive speeds aren't holding you back you should be able to get the full gigabit speed to each client simultaneously.  You could also put a 4 port gigabit NIC in the nas, and run point to point connections to your clients.

 

Going faster means 10gb ethernet, so either grab a 10gb network switch and some 10gb nics for your clients, or just get 10gb nics and go point to point.

[kirashi]

1 hour ago, cisto1999 said:

and what do you think about those usb-link cabels?

NO. Just NO. Don't go there. Please no. I had to deal with requests like this for 5 years in a retail store. While USB-A to USB-A Male to Male cables do exist, some even specially made for file transfers, that was never the intended function of USB devices prior to Thunderbolt capable USB-C ports. USB devices almost always require a HOST and a CLIENT device. The word device is singular and not plural because that's how it works.

 

While I understand the NAS would be the "host" here and the "client" devices would be the PC's, that's not how this would work, since your PC's and NAS are both "host" devices. You'd be best getting a gigabit network switch, or using a gigabit router, to setup Network Shares over SMBv3 / SAMBA, or even FTP at the very least. I actually use the SFTP route, because I'm far too lazy to deal with properly configuring SAMBA/SMB so I get decent speeds on my Windows 10 PC. Works well for file transfers.

[Phate.exe]

2 hours ago, kirashi said:

NO. Just NO. Don't go there. Please no. I had to deal with requests like this for 5 years in a retail store. While USB-A to USB-A Male to Male cables do exist, some even specially made for file transfers, that was never the intended function of USB devices prior to Thunderbolt capable USB-C ports.

Oh god, I didn't realize OP was asking about this.

 

Used to work at Radioshack, it was pretty much a daily occurrence to have a customer come in requesting a "USB to USB" cable.  Sometimes they'd be talking about HDMI, but usually they saw two devices with USB A ports on them, and assumed they could plug the cable between them to accomplish anything ranging from file transfers to video.  It never went well when you would tell them that what they were looking to accomplish was not possible.