On Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:22:42 GMT, (Malcolm Hoar)
wrote:

In article , mm wrote:

An alternative, assuming both can access the internet and he has a
high-speed connection, is to use the 8-or-so Gigabyte storage offering of
Google Mail and send the files as attachements from one machine while
retrieving them with the other machine.

Isn't that still slow because the email protocol is slow, including
for attachments.

Email is a silly idea for lots of reasons:

1. DSL and Cable Internet services will download data pretty
fast but they are VERY slow to upload. It will kill you on
GByte data volumes.

2. As you say the protocols associated with email and attachments
carry a significant overhead.

3. Few mail systems accept very large attachments. Gmail is more
generous that most but the limit is somewhere around 10-15MB.

Much better to network the computers:

1. Point-to-point with a cross-over cable. This is the cheapest
option.

2. In a star network with a relatively inexpensive hub.

3. A full network so that both computers can share your
internet connection as well as each others storage,
and maybe a printer or two.

Option #3 is pretty inexpensive these days and offers so
much utility that it's simply not worth messing around
with options #2 or #3.

You can buy a good quality router/firewall and a bunch of
good quality cable for less than $100 and both computers
can share anything. Just do it.

I don't know if it is good quality or not, but OPtimized Cable Company
had Cat5E 100 feet with no-snag covers for 25 dollars, no charge for
shipping, when BestBuys had 50 feet for 38 dollars.

Opt has lots of lengths and lots of colors and doesn't charge much
more for Cat6 either.

I haven't used it yet, to go from the second floor to the basement,
but my needs are small and if it is low-quality, I probably won't be
able to tell.