FW Ethernet vs. LAN Ethernet priority

[puredata]

Hi, I have two macs connected to each other thru my router one through Wi-Fi and the other one through Ethernet cable. In addition to that I have a direct connection through FireWire 800 between the computers as well . What I wonder is when I try to share files between this two computers, which connection type is getting used? Should I disable LAN Ethernet 'from the router' to the desktop computer to make 'between the computers' FW800 connection prioritized?

I can see both computers in each connection scenario as a network device.

Thanks in advance

 

[HenryAZ]

If your LAN connections are all Gigabit, that path will provide your fastest throughput. Gigabit is nominally 1,000,000 bits/second, or 125,000 bytes per/second (125 MB/s). Firewire is nominally 800Mbps, or 100MB/s. Each has overhead that will lower that some. I don't recall what I used to get with a Firewire transfer, and I no longer have that interface to test with.

Platter hard drives are now available that will do 150+MB/s (disk to buffer). When I use Gigabit with those type drives on each end (desktop --> NAS transfer), I generally see around 90-100 MB/s on a sustained large file transfer.

I'm not sure you can direct the transfer to go over one particular connection out of multiple connections. Test with each alone, and then leave only that one (the winner) connected for large transfers.

 

[puredata]

HenryAZ, thank you for your answer. Unfortunately I believe I don't have the chance to use LAN cable on my retina without any adapters. So I think Wi-Fi connection might be slower than FW ethernet connection. I'm not sure though. For now I'm starting up the desktop in target mode and use it as a disc directly to get better speeds.

 

[HenryAZ]

HenryAZ, thank you for your answer. Unfortunately I believe I don't have the chance to use LAN cable on my retina without any adapters. So I think Wi-Fi connection might be slower than FW ethernet connection. I'm not sure though. For now I'm starting up the desktop in target mode and use it as a disc directly to get better speeds.

I use an adapter with my retina, when I need to transfer large files, otherwise wi-fi. I have the Apple Thunderbolt-ethernet adapter, but prefer this other one from Plugable, as the USB3 connector is more sturdy than the flimsy TB connector, and it is cheaper as well. The speeds I mentioned above were using the Plugable adapter: