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Thread: File transfer question

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    File transfer question

    Quick question:

    I have a wireless router downstairs, this has two computers (upstairs) networked to it. Of course, wireless file transfer is horribly slow across the network between the two computers. I have a spare router, and two standard ethernet cables.

    How can I effectively add this second router upstairs to connect the two computers for wired file transfer? Are there any special settings I'd need to set up?

    Apologies for my cluelessness; networking has forever been the black spot in my computer knowledge!

    Many thanks to anyone kind enough to lend me some advice.

    =)

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    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: File transfer question

    Do you mean you want to connect a cable between the two routers? If so then just disable DHCP on the second router and only use the LAN ports to connect everything so you're using it as a switch.

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    Lapis (28-09-2010)

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    Re: File transfer question

    I understand how to connect the routers, however, that wouldn't be possible (or at least easy) due to their physical locations.

    What I was asking was if there was a way to use the spare router and the two cables independently to create a 'direct connection' of some kind between the two computers, exclusively so I could use it as a way to transfer files quickly.

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    Re: File transfer question

    You don't need the spare router, just run your network cable directly from one computer to the other.

    You might need a 'crossed' network cable if neither computer has a network port that can auto switch between a straight and a crossed configuration. All Gigabit ports can switch themselves, and also most Macs, but if both your computers are older and only have 100 meg ports, you will need your router, or a special crossed cable.

    The other thing you may need to do is to disable the WiFi on one of the computers, and bridge the network access between the two interfaces (wired and WiFi) on the other one.

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    Lapis (28-09-2010)

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    Re: File transfer question

    Quote Originally Posted by chrestomanci View Post
    You don't need the spare router, just run your network cable directly from one computer to the other.

    (...)

    The other thing you may need to do is to disable the WiFi on one of the computers, and bridge the network access between the two interfaces (wired and WiFi) on the other one.
    The disadvantage of this arrangement is that one computer has just become a slave of the other. If PC1 isn't switched on, PC2 can't use the network.

    I think the original poster had the right idea, but whether it'll work depends on the capabilities of your second router.

    If the second router specifically supports a bridge mode, or it's compatible with DD-WRT (i'd give you the link but i'm blocked from posting links as a newbie) and you are brave enough to overwrite the router firmware, then you should be able to do what you want.

    You might also consider using a powerline networking link between the two floors and a cheap 100BaseT or GB Ethernet switch upstairs. How well this will work depends on the configuration of the wiring in your house, but it probably requires less head scratching and fiddling with router parameters than the first option.

    Regards: colin_e

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    Lapis (28-09-2010)

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    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Re: File transfer question

    If this is just to transfer files, then chrestomanci's suggestion is fine. Internet connectivity isn't really the issue. If you want both computers to have better internet access, then you really need wired connections to the router - either long cables downstairs to the router, or move the router upstairs and extend the 'phone line.

    But for file transfer between the two local machines, use an ethernet cable. You may need to set up static IPs for the ethernet interfaces tough (although in theory the apipa system should allocate random interoperable IP addresses in the 169.254.0.0 range)

    If you do set static IP addresses, make sure that they are different from those used on the wireless interfaces.
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