2.5gbps Connection between my PC and NAS, what needs upgrading!?

[Mitch Elwell]

 

Apologies for the rudimentary picture (10/10 ms paint skills) 

 

Basically I want a 2.5gbps connection between my PC and my Unraid NAS, gigabit is fine, I don't NEED 2.5gbps i just want it haha!

My NAS has an SSD as a cache, so copying files is currently limited by the gigabit connection as indicated by the 113mb/s transfer speed (i assume with some overhead, theoretically 1000mbps = 125mbs?)

 

 

 

The picture explains it reasonably well, but to reiterate, if i upgrade that gigabit switch to a 2.5gbps switch, would my PC and NAS then have a 2.5gbps connection to one another?

i'm using SMB on windows to access the shares on unraid, so i wondered because of it using the network, does that communication go through my access point which would limit it back to gigabit speed?

 

The coloured lines indicate the ethernet runs so that if needed you can refer to specific ones, they're a mix of cat5/6 i can check and specify which is which if that is relevant! 

 

Also if it would just be a case of replacing that switch with a 2.5gbps one, any recommendations? Also the NAS doesn't actually have the PCIE 2.5gbps port card yet, so any recommendations for that too would be awesome! 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Electronics Wizardy]

Getting a 2.5gbe switch will let you copy files faster. The data will go from pc to switch to nas, and never touches the router.

 

Here is a good article on 2.5gbe switches. https://www.servethehome.com/the-ultimate-cheap-2-5gbe-switch-mega-round-up-qnap-netgear-hasivo-mokerlink-trendnet-zyxel-tp-link/

[Skiiwee29]

Your NAS/PC would need 2.5gb NICs (which they have) and then just a 2.5gb switch to link them together. As long as they're on the same subnet they can talk directly without needing to go to the router. 

[Allan B]

The other option if your NAS and PC have 2 network cards and are in the same room, you can create a separate network and connect them directly.    Everything else in the house can see and access the PC\NAS at 1gbit, but you can use a separate network to access the NAS from the PC and get 2.5gpbs.   This is the free option.

 

My NAS and X570 board have 2 network cards, so was able to do this.  If you want to try this the separate network needs to have no default gateways configured and ip addresses on a separate network must be on a separate subnet like using 192.168.2.x vs 192.168.1.x.