[Techy] Directly connecting a NAS to a Windows 7 machine

I’ve just purchased a Synology DS1815+ 8 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure
(Network Attached Storage) device to replace an ageing 4-bay Drobo non-NAS device (well, I made it a NAS via a RaspberryPi) and I’ve started to transfer data across to it.

However, despite the fact it is sitting next to my Windows 7 Professional machine, the data would need to travel out of my GigE network port to the 500Mbps TP-LINK AV500 Two-Port Powerline Adapter that my Win7 machine and the Synology NAS is plugged into, travel down to the router (connected to another Powerline adapter), be routed back up through the electrical system, back through the same Powerline adapter to connect to the Synology’s own GigE Lan port…. Because of that, a transfer of about 500Gb was estimated to take in excess of 14 hours….

So how to speed it up? Well, my PC has 2 LAN Ports and the Synology DS1815+ has 4 LAN ports so I should be able to directly cable them together shouldn’t I? Well, I should – but when I did that, I lost all network connectivity on my machine (I’ve got no idea if the NAS lost it as well as I couldn’t see it’s status). But thanks to the lovely Kat (full disclaimer: I married her 😉 ), there is a solution and it’s got a 14hour+ transfer down to about 1 hour and transferring data over 100MB per second (it would probably be faster, but the Synology is still checking the new disks). So what’s the secret I hear you ask?

1. First of all, make sure the two machines (PC and NAS) are NOT directly connected to each other.

2. Login into the Synology, go to Control Panel->Network, select “LAN 1” (which should be the currently active one) and ensure “Set as default gateway” IS selected

3. Now switch to “LAN 2” (unused). Turn OFF DHCP and set a manual configuration – I’ve got for an IP address of 192.168.65.23 and a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 (leave the gateway empty, and just use 8.8.8.8 as the DNS server).

4. Before going any further, let’s ensure the firewall (Control Panel->Security->Firewall) is correctly configured. I’ve got allow the “built in applications” “Network backup (873)”, “Cloud Station (6690)”, “Windows file server (137, 138, 139, 445, 137, 138)” all enabled under the “Ports” setting and under “Source IP” I have a “Specific IP”->”Subnet” entered of the IP address 192.168.0.0 and subnet mask for 255.255.0.0 selected (which should cover all the “common” home/SoHo IP private ranges which start 192.168 as that mask covers 192.168.0.0 thru 192.168.255.255). Ok and Save that firewall setting.

5. Now is the time to hook that nice network up between the NAS and the Windows 7 PC.

6. Windows should do a little something, but if you wait for it to recognise the network cable being connected and go to “Open Network and Sharing Center”, select “Connections: Local Area Connection 2” (which I’m assuming has just shown up) and select “Properties”. Select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)->Properties and set it to “Use the following IP address”: 192.168.65.1 (so the first 3 sets of digits match the same first 3 sets of digits given to the Synology – but the final one is different), Subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and the default gateway of 192.168.1.1 (this should match your normal default gateway). Save that – Windows will warn you about the gateway not being on the same subnet, but just ignore it.

7. In Windows Explorer, go to \\192.168.65.23\ (the “secondary network IP” for the Synology) and it should prompt you to login – and you are all done!