"Marek Novotny" wrote in message
...
On 2015-12-30, NY wrote:
"J.O. Aho" wrote in message
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On 12/22/2015 08:12 PM, hank williams wrote:
Periodically I have large video files that I'd like to transfer
(copy or move) from Linux to Windows (rarely the other way)
over my local network.

In my experience, forget copying via wifi and use Ethernet instead. Even
with a supposedly 300 Mbps wireless router and a good signal strength (eg
laptop right next to router), I get very much lower transfers speeds for
laptop to/from desktop over wifi than over Ethernet. In both cases, the
desktop is connected to the router by Ethernet, so the only difference is
laptop to router by wifi or by Ethernet.

As someone who copies 25 to 50 GB files many times daily I can agree
with this. Even if you have to use a USB to Ethernet dongle, it is worth
doing. WiFi is good for the internet, but Gigabit Ethernet is much
faster. And now we can see 10G on the horizon. I'm already considering
it right now.

Ethernet also has the advantage that it is far more reliable. I find that I
occasionally have to disconnect and reconnect the wireless connection on
wireless-connected devices when they lose the ability to talk (on a variety
of Windows, Android and Apple iPad devices, and to a variety of Netgear,
Belkin and TPLink routers); sometimes it's even necessary to reboot a
computer or a router to get normal service back. Ethernet doesn't suffer
from that.

I have an always-on PC that I use (amongst other things) for recording TV
and which I sometimes access remotely via TeamViewer when I'm away from home
(eg to schedule new programmes to be recorded) and you can't
disconnect/reconnect wireless on this PC if your only way of accessing the
PC is via that wireless connection! That's why I made sure the router is
physically close to that PC, so I can use Ethernet. If I want to transfer
large (eg multi GB) files/folders to/from my wireless laptop, I always plug
in an Ethernet lead to the laptop to do that.

As you say, wireless is fine for almost all purposes, but it's slower for
bulk transfers of data and it's not quite 100% reliable.