DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

First 650kb and 2.5mb aren't transfer speeds, they are file sizes - there has to be a time reference for it to be a speed - kind of like 55 miles is a distance, but when you include the time reference - per hour - it becomes a speed.  You also need to differentiate between kb as kilobits and KB as kilobytes and likewise mb as megabits and MB as megabytes - if you don't the discussion can get quite confusing, quite quickly.

Also - the network is not the only thing that determines the transfer speed - the two devices that you are transferring between can also have an impact, and believe it or not, so does the file size - transferring a single large file(for example a 2GB - gigabyte - file) is a lot quicker than transferring 1000 x 2MB files, even though it's the same quantity of data.  This is cause by the disk heads having to sweep back and forth between the data areas and the directory areas of the disk.

Having said that - a 10/100mbps LAN will give you a maximum of 12.5 MB/sec - and the DNS-323 can reach somehwere around 10~11 MB/sec, with a gigabit LAN you can comfortably double that and if you use gigabit with jumbo frame, you can possibly triple it.

Gigabit ethernet has a theoretical upper limit of 125 MB/sec, but be warned, you're not going to see anything even close to that with standard desktop hardware, just accept that if you're seeing 12.5+ MB/sec, you're seeing gigabit speeds, because 12.5 represents the upper limit for 10/100.

To go gigabit you need a gigabit switch and gigabit network cards (preferably ones that support jumbo frame) and CAT5e cables - there's no such thing as gigabit wireless so you can't buy one for your laptop - the best you can do there will be wireless-n, with a theoretical upper limit around 300 mbps.

Since I've introduced a new term - jumbo frame - let me take a few minutes to explain it.  Your data travels across the LAN in packets or frames - each frame can have a maximum of 1500 bytes of data.  With gigabit ethernet, larger frames are allowed, but are not necessarily required - anything larger than 1500 bytes is considered a jumbo frame - popular sizes are 4000 bytes, 9000 bytes and 16,000 bytes - the DNS-323 supports frame sizes from 3000 ~ 9000 bytes.

You won't really see the advantages of gigabit and jumbo frame unless you're transferring lots of large files - the housekeeping tasks of updating directories and so on as files are written slow things down considerably so you can go go look at some prices and decide if you want to spend the money now or maybe hold off a little  - your choice.

If anything needs clarification - just ask.