Anybody use wireless network for photo editing?

[boomerd35]

I just installed a wireless network. All of my photo files are on one computer that's directly plugged into my wireless router (Linksys Wireless G with speedbooster). The other computer is a laptop with a wireless card (also Linksys). However, trying to use the laptop to access/process photo files from the main computer is too slow. (especially for RAW files). Is the technology just not fast enough yet? Does anybody have experience with this?

Thanks,

Troy T.

[bbailey]

Is the card in the laptop is running at "G" (54mbps) speeds as well?

Are you copying the files to the laptop to work on or processing them while they are still on the other machine?

[markfh]

No it's not fast enough. 802.11n should be able to though.

[boomerd35]

Originally Posted by bbailey

Is the card in the laptop is running at "G" (54mbps) speeds as well?

I didn't check to see if the laptop is running at "g" speeds. When I configured the laptop/card, I hard wired the laptop to the router and went to Linksys website. They have a function that automatically looks at the router and configures your card. I assumed it configures it to run at "g", but I'll check.

Originally Posted by bbailey

Are you copying the files to the laptop to work on or processing them while they are still on the other machine?

I tried both ways. Both are too slow. I even thought I would copy the RAW files from the main computer to a CF card and then load them on the laptop. But my laptop doesn't have USB 2.0, so that's super slow as well.


Troy

[Gordon]

Wireless is far, far too slow for editing.

I've got gigabit wired network with dedicated storage and it is at best marginal for photo editing/ review.

[boomerd35]

Maybe a better solution would be to have a mirror of my photo files on the laptop that updates every night? Then, any work I do on the laptop, I just save it to the main computer.

Troy T.

[Redmouse]

Well, when you edit a file remotely, you still cache the file locally. So it's dependant of your transfer rate. 54mb is pretty decent speed for transfer. If you're running into a lag, then either the card or the router is dropping speed. How far away are you from the router? Verify your wi-fi card in the notebook to be G compatible.

[Nocturnus]

Originally Posted by GordonMcGregor

Wireless is far, far too slow for editing.

I've got gigabit wired network with dedicated storage and it is at best marginal for photo editing/ review.

How fast are your computers?

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by Nocturnus

How fast are your computers?

2.8GHz P4 with 2Gb of RAM, using an onboard gigabit ethernet controller

The other end is a dedicated gigabit NAS server. I'm working with a lot of 48Mb+ photoshop files though.

[Mike G]

Make sure all your cabling is high quality Cat5e, gigabit should be more than fast enough.

IEEE 802.3ab Recent ‘gigabit over copper’ standards have been adopted that make gigabit Ethernet as easy to use as 100Mbps Ethernet. Gigabit ethernet can now utilize Cat5 or better twisted pair cabling and the same RJ-45 connectors that are used in 10/100Mbps networks. To achieve gigabit speeds, you must use ethernet cable with all 8 wires (four pairs) present. Many inexpensive cat5 Ethernet cables have only 4 wires and can not reach gigabit speeds.

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by nitromike

Make sure all your cabling is high quality Cat5e, gigabit should be more than fast enough.

Yeah, I have cat6 for most of the cabling. It does remind me that I need to poke in to the network performance though.

[lscottpht]

I have my images stored on an external hard drive which I plug into my laptop. I'm using a wireless connection, and it's been pretty fast. No complaints at all, really. Now, I have to make sure my wireless connection's strength is very high. If I'm not that close to the router, it's quite a bit slower.

[Mike G]

Definitely should, gigabit transfer rates if working properly are higher than a lot of HDDs

[boomerd35]

Originally Posted by lscottpht

I have my images stored on an external hard drive which I plug into my laptop. I'm using a wireless connection, and it's been pretty fast. No complaints at all, really. Now, I have to make sure my wireless connection's strength is very high. If I'm not that close to the router, it's quite a bit slower.

My desktop computer is in a bedroom that's only about 20-30 feet from the living room where I'm trying to use the laptop. Door is sometimes closed to keep the little one out, but even when it's open, file transfer is slow. The icon for signal strength in my system tray varies from "excellent" to "very good".

Troy T.

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by nitromike

Definitely should, gigabit transfer rates if working properly are higher than a lot of HDDs

Yup, I expected better. I just haven't had time to debug the issues since I bought the NAS. Good to get confirmation that is should be better though.