LAN SPEED (Windows-to-Mac=Fast/Mac-to-Mac=Slow)

Summer Storm

Summer Storm

Registered
I've scoured the Web and this board for a solution to this problem and as of yet have come up with nothing.

THE PROBLEM:

For some odd reason which I am unable to resolve through my own exhaustive efforts, I can copy across the LAN a large file like a 1G-to-2G movie file from a Windows machine to either of two Macs in a zippy 1-minute or so. If I try to copy the same exact file from one Mac to another Mac, it takes upwards of 30-minutes.

In this particular case all of the computers are ''hardwired'' via Gig-Ethernet to a D-Link DIR-655 router.

Now, the kicker is that this isn't consistent. For a while this problem had disappeared and I was getting equally fast speeds all around the LAN i the minute-to-two-minutes range. Even going wireless-N took only 2-to-3 minutes max.

THE NETWORK:

I have a typical small network. On this network I have two Macs and one Windows machine.

The Macs include an older Power Mac G5 (2004) running the latest updated Leopard 10.5.8 and a brand new MacBook Pro i7 (2010) running the latest updated Snow Leopard 10.6.4.

The Windows machine is a Dell XPS 410 running the latest updated Windows XP/SP3.

The network router is a D-Link DIR-655 and my ISP is Verizon DSL via a Westell WireSpeed 6100 Dual Connect modem.

Why are Macs ''arms open wide'' to a Windows machine but not to it's own kin?
 
When you're doing a Mac-to-Mac transfer, what protocol are you using? SMB? AFP?

SMB (also known as "Samba") is typically slower on Macs than their PC counterparts. Ensure that you're using AFP for Mac-to-Mac transfers, and see if that helps.
 
Got the same machine but mine is running slow seemingly since my update to Snow Leopard. However, part of the problem may be related to two things:

1. A 7200RPM hard drive. This is a known issue. I know I sent mine back to Apple (within the 1-year warranty) and they replaced it because it was failing. Now I have a Toshiba brand hard drive. Another ''however'' is that there seems to be some consensus that the SATA firmware/driver is in conflict with the configuration in general and while I don't know the 10.5.8 solution, I have heard that the upcoming update (10.6.2 Snow Leopard) is supposed to address this issue. It also makes for occasional stop-and-start video.

2. Permissions and disk repair. This is the easier of the issues and with you still running Leopard it is even better. Get AppleJack (totally free at VersionTracker.com). Install it and run it to fix all the important maintenance and repair tasks at boot-up. I cannot stress just how much of a savior AppleJack has been over the years from Tiger to Leopard. It is totally free and if I were to make a list of the most useful and best utilities ever created for Mac, this would be it. I'm just hoping the developer(s) hurry up and make a Snow Leopard-compatible version....soon. Also, check your fonts for corruption. Use the Font Book utility in the Utilities folder. All of these can make for ''slowness'' on an expensive laptop that should really just plain work. MacBook Pro owners paid a premium for a ''pro'' level machine and it should perform to this level.

Oh, forgot to mention that there was apparently a graphics card issue that is also well known. Apple has already said that it will, warranty or not, replace faulty graphics cards. I haven't had to replace mine (yet if ever), but others have not been so lucky. Check into that too just FYI. Apparently this syndrome can manifest itself anytime during the life of the machine.

Good luck.
 
Got the same machine but mine is running slow seemingly since my update to Snow Leopard. However, part of the problem may be related to two things:

1. A 7200RPM hard drive. This is a known issue. I know I sent mine back to Apple (within the 1-year warranty) and they replaced it because it was failing. Now I have a Toshiba brand hard drive. Another ''however'' is that there seems to be some consensus that the SATA firmware/driver is in conflict with the configuration in general and while I don't know the 10.5.8 solution, I have heard that the upcoming update (10.6.2 Snow Leopard) is supposed to address this issue. It also makes for occasional stop-and-start video.

2. Permissions and disk repair. This is the easier of the issues and with you still running Leopard it is even better. Get AppleJack (totally free at VersionTracker.com). Install it and run it to fix all the important maintenance and repair tasks at boot-up. I cannot stress just how much of a savior AppleJack has been over the years from Tiger to Leopard. It is totally free and if I were to make a list of the most useful and best utilities ever created for Mac, this would be it. I'm just hoping the developer(s) hurry up and make a Snow Leopard-compatible version....soon. Also, check your fonts for corruption. Use the Font Book utility in the Utilities folder. All of these can make for ''slowness'' on an expensive laptop that should really just plain work. MacBook Pro owners paid a premium for a ''pro'' level machine and it should perform to this level.

Oh, forgot to mention that there was apparently a graphics card issue that is also well known. Apple has already said that it will, warranty or not, replace faulty graphics cards. I haven't had to replace mine (yet if ever), but others have not been so lucky. Check into that too just FYI. Apparently this syndrome can manifest itself anytime during the life of the machine.

Good luck.
 
I... am... confused.

You're answering yourself, twice, with general troubleshooting information that is highly unrelated to the problem at hand... and now my brain asplode.
 
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