Two routers, many computers, loads of files, sharing

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Ok, let me start with the facts.

I have one main PC with a whole host of drives on it. 6TB or so of music tv shows and films, as well as work files.

I have just bought the components to build a new pc for the garage to act as a box in there.

I have my usual broadband wifi in the house.

I have moved the storage to the garage unit and leave it on 24/7, i have tried copying files from it to main pc via homegroup but speeds are appalling slow. I have tried streaming files from garage pc to main pc but speed hampers any playback.

Router is a sagem N. Computers are about 4m away from each other with two walls in the way on the same floor. Both computers are max 7m away from router with 2 walls in way.

What is the best way for me to use the computer in the garage as a NAS, without it being a NAS, ie i need it to still be usable itself to play the content and music as a windows 7 box.

I have a spare router that could be used specifically for the homegroup, but would this then cutout the internet connection to the main router?

Would setting it up as a network drive be the solution?

Networking is not my strong point, so please treat me like a novice and recommend things and i'll let you know if i've tried.

Many thanks.
 
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It sounds that your network isnt up to the task (Nothing to do with the Homegroup) its to do with your actual network equipment.

I would say get a Gbit switch something like this ( http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-011-TP&groupid=46&catid=2316&subcat= ) and attach your computers and router to that. So your computers can connect to each other at gigabit speeds which will help loads for moving files around.
Router Connected to Switch (Just put a cable between the two) then use the switch as the point of connection for your computers.

If i'm honest you cant beat a proper cable when your moving large files. What's the feasibility of running network cable's to the computers? Homeplugs and wireless are good until you start trying to move massive files on a regular basis. If you cant run cables then home plugs are your second option.

With that switch i have linked i can happly move files over my network between my computers and my HP Microserver at roughly 70-80MB/s which is about as fast as i get moving between drives on the same computer.
 
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Ok, home plugs are an option as is the switch.

What would i do with the switch? Where would it go? What would be plugged into it?

That seems from what you have said to be the most efficient way of doing things.
 
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Position of the switch isn't really important. You could place it next to your router. Basically you connect your router to the switch with a network cable (They do the rest between them there is no setup or config for the switch i linked it just gets on with its job.)
After that you connect your computers to the switch to take advantage of the gigabit speeds that it will enable between devices connected to it. When data needs to go out to the internet the switch will then pass that on to the router it will work seamlessly and you wont notice.

Homeplugs should ideally be your second option. Your first should be seeing if you could run a network cable back from both computers to where you would place the switch and router (A central Location). This is what would give you the best speeds.
 
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Ok, many thanks for the proper responses, so my final thicko question....

Do i need the computers hard wired with network cables to the switch, or just the router? Ie can the computers remain wi-fi but with switch in place it will speed everything up?
 
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The idea is to hard wire them to the switch which will be hard wired to the router like this

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wifi is good and all but you really shouldn't be using it to push large files over a network unless you enjoy inflicting pain on yourself :p
 
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