Downloading direct to External HD?

[RolledUp20s]

hey, not sure where best to post this...but here goes anyway.

i have a macbook air & use an external HDD which is plugged into my wifi router, all my movies & music is stored on that.
what i wanted to know was, if i download something and set the directory to the external HDD...it downloads to that fine & doesn't take up space on my mac..ok, great..i get that. Now, does the download actually goto my mac 1st and then get copied over to the External HD? or is the EXHD like having a computer plugged in via ethernet cable to the router...which would increase download speed?

i hope thats clear..basically what I'm asking is...is it faster doing it that way or downloading direct to my macbook air via wifi?

i like having my movies and music on the EXHD as my PS3 can play them via wifi then on my TV. cheers

 

[Wokis]

Sounds like it's going through the mac from what you're describing. If it's actually making things go slower depends on how fast your local wifi is compared to your internet speed. Say you got 100 mbit effective speed between your Air and your router but only a 10 mbit internet connection, then the speed penalty from shuffling it through the mac should be minimal.

 

[RolledUp20s]

well, i'm using the mac to download a 'file' but it doesn't save to the mac, it goes straight on to my Ext.Hd which is wired into the router.
it's more of a curious question.. -

the way i see it is, this file is downloading from the internet, through my router & down the ethernet cable that my hard drive is plugged into. so my mac air isn't using the wifi connection for the download?

oh the mind boggles

obviously things like...mountain lion which is downloading as we speak is downloading direct onto my mac, over the wifi connection. i guess if i could plug my air in to the router...which you can't ..i could test the different download speeds.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

The computer is requesting the data, so the downloaded data is first sent to your computer, which then redirects it to the hard drive connected to your router.