As some of you may know, my fiancee and I actually did co-op gaming videos on this channel
for a couple years.
We’ve since moved that to its own channel - which we’re re-launching here in 2016
- but we’ve done a LOT of co-op videos over the past 3 to 4 years.
For that, I needed a FAST way to transfer the files between our 2 gaming PCs - we primarily
use Dxtory to record our co-op videos and those end up making some HUGE video files.
That’s no problem when you’re recording and editing on the same PC, but becomes a
problem when you need to move the footage from 1 PC to another in a timely fashion.
Network transfer wasn’t fast enough, USB 3.0 hard drives weren’t fast enough.
We needed a much stronger solution.
It ended up being easier than I imagined.
[INTRO]
The solution I always assumed would be best to quickly transfer hundreds of gigabytes
at a time between our 2 gaming PCs was a 10gigabit networking connection, BUT ethernet switches
with 10 gigabit ports cost hundreds of dollars that I didn’t have available to spend at
the time.
Conveniently, I ran across a thread on the LinusTechTips forum from a “fakeng” who
was trying to accomplish a similar goal.
A week later (maybe a little more, accounting for eBay product shipping and such) and I
got it set up!
Let’s see what it takes….
My goal was to establish direct file sharing between 2 PCs that performed faster than my
normal gigabit network could handle, and faster than using external hard drives.
To do this, I set up a direct 10 gigabit connection between the 2 PCs, while still allowing them
to connect to the internet and the rest of my home network via their normal gigabit network
connection.
So I took to eBay and purchased 2 Mellanox ConnectX-r 1-port SFP+ 10gbe cards.
These were used from old servers and cost me $45.
Not bad - much better than I thought this would cost.
I also grabbed a brand new Cisco Twinax SFP+ cable, 5 meters in length, for 30 bucks.
I ended up having to wait extra long for it, as the seller somehow got the first one returned
to them by the post office damaged.
Surprisingly, that’s all it took.
I didn’t need special drivers for Windows or anything.
Pop the SFP+ cards in the PCIe slots of the two PCs, run the SFP+ twinax cable between
them, and….
well, nothing changed.
Copying files between the PCs was still slow as balls.
What gives?
Well, Windows isn’t too smart when it comes to having multiple network connections.
It sees that internet access is available via the normal gigabit ethernet connection
and just uses that for all communication.
So to make the computers talk to each other via the 10gigabit connection, go to your network
adapter settings, which you can access from your Network & Sharing Center.
On your PCs, find your “Mellanox ConnectX-2 Ethernet Adapter” and right-click it and
go to Properties.
Select the IPV4 listing and click Properties.
Click the button for “Use the following IP address” and assign 1 PC, give it the
IP address of “1.1.1.1”, and give the other PC the IP address of “1.1.1.2”.
For subnet mask, put in “255.255.255.252” for both.
Leave “Default Gateway” empty and leave the DNS server entries empty.
Since you won’t be connecting to the internet through this connection, they’re not needed.
Now restart both PCs.
If you haven’t already, set up a shared folder on each PC.
These folders will be the ones you use to communicate between them.
For convenience and ease of setup, I’ve just set up a “file dump” folder on the
fastest drive - usually a SSD) on each PC.
Right click your folder, go to Properties and click “Advanced Sharing.”
Check “Share this folder” and give it a share name.
Click “Permissions” and make sure there is a user listing for “Everyone.”
if there isn’t, click “Add” and simply type in “Everyone” and click OK.
Now select “Everyone” in the user list and check the box below “Allow” for “Full
Control.”
Click Apply and OK.
Do the same thing for the folder on your other PC.
If you try to transfer files between the PCs via these folders now, it’ll still use the
slower network connection.
So to fix this, you’ll want to manually map a network drive or shortcut by using the
1.1.1.1 and 1.1.1.2 IP addresses we set up before.
Go to “This PC” (aka.
My Computer) and click “Map Network Drive.”
If you’re on Windows 10 and don’t see it, just right-click empty space and click
“Add Network Location.”
Click Next, “Choose a custom network location,” Next, and then in this text box, type in two
back slashes (\\), that IP address - so either 1.1.1.1 or 1.1.1.2, backslash, then the name
of the share you created.
Click Next, give it a name, click Next, and then click Finish.
This will open up that share.
Congrats!
Now if you transfer files between PCs via the use of these shares, they will transfer
via the faster 10gigabit connection!
In most cases, your Sata bus speeds and hard drive speeds won’t be anywhere near fast
enough to run a FULL 10 gigabit speeds, but it will certainly be much faster than transferring
over your
normal network.
That’s it!
The shares will remain accessible as long as the respective PC is on.
Keep in mind that if a PC is off and you accidentally click its shortcut on your other PC, Windows
Explorer will hang for a bit.
Nothing is wrong, it will just keep trying to connect.
If “Wake On LAN” is enabled in your PC’s BIOS, you might even turn the PC on by clicking
that shortcut.
Thanks for watching my video on 10gigabit connections between two gaming PCs!
I do hope you enjoyed.
If you’d like to see more custom tech projects like these, get subscribed, smash that like
button, and leave me a comment down below.
Otherwise, my name is Adam or EposVox, and I’ll catch you in the next one!