What is the fastest way to tranfer movies to WD TV Hub from a computer?
Though a network cabel or a USB cabel or another solution?
My experiences:
The fastest way: open the Hub, take out HDD and connect it to computer’s SATA connector,
or open the computer and take out computer’s HDD and connect it to Hub with (S)ATA-USB adapter.
Transfer through ethernet cable will last approximately 5 times longer.
Mare
You just opened up a BIG bag of snakes…
You can…
- Map it as a drive on the computer that has the files you want to copy to the Hub
^^ ** this is how I do it since I mass copied all my movies to the Hub with it connected
to the PC on CAT5 and now only need to update
2) Copy the files to it as a network device
3) Connect the Hub directly to the computer using CAT5 and a NIC
4) Remove the HDD from the Hub and connect it on a SATA connection or a USB SATA adapter
^^ **_ Destroys your Warranty _**
5) Remove your computer’s HDD and connect it to the HUB by whatever means you want to use
^^ ** MAY destroy your PC’s warranty **
6) Copy files to a backup USB HDD then connect it to the Hub and copy the files
7) Use a USB thumbdrive
I’m sure there may be other ways that I might not have included here. Try some of them and see what works best for YOU.
If you open the HUb and remove the hard disk wave goodbye to your warranty 
Transferring a 1080 mkv file over the network from the PC to the hub is taking me 2 hours. I think I will just connect an external drive to the HUB and sync it to the HUB
you don’t have to sync
I find it easier to select the file(s) and copy it across from the external drive to the WD internal drive - via usb
@ flhthemi,
what do you mean with points 1) to 3), they sound nearly the same. Could it be that you used a crossover cable? In this case please tell me your rate of transfer.
the transfer rate I get via network is up to 7 MB/s, but most of the time 5 MB/s. In connection with the software “teracopy.exe” it’s a little bit more.
But as this is not much I take the external drive with me to the WD Hub and connect it via USB. The transfer rate is around 15 MB/s. By the way, your nickname (as mine) sounds DEUTSCH 
.
Herbert
HerbK wrote:
@ flhthemi,
what do you mean with points 1) to 3), they sound nearly the same. Could it be that you used a crossover cable? In this case please tell me your rate of transfer.
Point 1
If you’re using windowz 7: Open Network from your desktop or Windowz Main menu. Double click on WDLIVEHUB where it’s listed under COMPUTERS. RIGHT click on WDTVLiveHub. A menu will appear.
Select Map network drive… Take the defualt settings, which, should map your hub as drive Z on your PC. Copy your movies to Drive Z. I see 7-8MPS this way from a PC that’s wired. Wifi I see about 3-4MPS
Point 3
I don’t thinK you need a cross over cable as the Hub will detect the cable your have inserted. Either that or maybe my NIC did it. I just use a short piece of CAT5e and plug the two up to each other. Make sure you have the network settings on the Hub set to Automatic or you’ll probably need to set it up with a a static IP. I got pretty good rates this way. Not as fast as it would be if WD had just added a USB slave port for us to use. Can’t recall how the rates were but it was faster than mapping the drive.
Don’t like quoting speeds cause someone always wants to dispute them for whos know why…
hi flhthemi and thanks for your response!
Indeed the NICs are much more intelligent than in former times and the direct connection PC - WD Hub worked with a normal patch cable, the transfer rate I got was 6.5 MB/s in average.
Very curious thing: Since I switched the cables back to PC - router - WD Hub my transfer rate went up from 5 to 8 MB/s ??? All tests done with the same big file.
But in any case I will stay with the USB sync method, it’s still the fastest version.
Nice would be a real sync function, that means files no longer existing on the sync drive are deleted in the sync folder on the WD Hub automatically.
Best regards from Germany
Herbert
Sorry to rehash this conversation, but I am still unclear on whatnis the best method for data transfer to the hub. I would imagine directly connecting a drive will always be faster than using a network. So I put my data on a USB drive and thenplugthat drive directly into the hub. But then I seem to have a few options for actually making the transfer.
- use the hub on screen interface to select files or folders to copy using the option button. I tell it were to copy the data and let it do it’s thing.
- use my wirelessly networked computer to access the hub and USB drives. Drag and drop the data from the USB folder to the hub.
- same as #2 except that the computer is wired to the router.
I originially thought the process wouldnt matter since the drives were directly connected. But I have found #1 to be the fastest. Why is this? Do method 2 and 3 actually send the data through the computer rather than directly sending it from drive to drive?
Other than method 1, is there something else that would be faster?
Thanks,
RG
My understanding is that if you’re drag/drop, copy/paste, or whatever from Windows that the computer can’t just tell drive “A” to give the files to drive “B”, but actually reads the data and then sends it off to be written, which would explain the delays you see with #2 and #3. The files are going over the LAN to the PC and then back to the Hub.
It is also why one large file can be copied on your computer faster than many small files. Trying to copy all the .wmf files from my old Office 97 CD’s takes close to an hour because there’s tens of thousands of them, even though they’re individually tiny. Copying the same amount of data, but contained in a single file, from a CD is much, much faster, because there’s far less overhead for Windoze to deal with.
So according to your response, it will definitely be the fastest to connect a drive to the hub and use the UI to copy/move files?
Why has no one made this simple claim in any of the other discussion about data transfer?
Now that I want to move my itunes folder (160GB) to the hub, seems like my best bet is to create one perfect folder on a usb drive, hook it up to the hub, and then use the UI to copy the folder into the hub’s Music folder. Sound right?
Thanks,
RG
I drag and drop and the mkv file size you are talking about is under 15 minutes.
I am transferring 160gb of music.
Are you saying that can be done in 15 minutes? What?
Sorry,
I was talking about the,
“Transferring a 1080 mkv file over the network from the PC to the hub is taking me 2 hours.”
comment by BigSam.
I posted in the wrong place, Sorry.
Removing the hard drive worked for me. transferred nearly a TB 6 times faster than through ethernet. Thanks
I have a fast internet connection and am wired, so a typical 8 gb file takes about 5-8 minutes. But if I have a lot to do,
I drag and drop all the files at one time, shut off the monitor and go to bed.
Patience is a virtue…
Hi all,
I’d like to have it cleared one point when it comes to a thumb USB drive connected directly to the WDTV:
Is it possible to copy/paste only what we want or just the SYNC options is available?
The ideal would be to choose what we need to copy. SYNC sometimes can be longer and not so accurate.
Ideas?
Regards,
RACA
racasil wrote:
Hi all,
I’d like to have it cleared one point when it comes to a thumb USB drive connected directly to the WDTV:
Is it possible to copy/paste only what we want or just the SYNC options is available?
The ideal would be to choose what we need to copy. SYNC sometimes can be longer and not so accurate.
Ideas?
Regards,
RACA
Highlight the file(s), press option, you should be able to copy or move the files to where you want. With the latest firmware you can also create a new folder in the destination.
badmen, thank you.
are you saying that with the new firmware is possible to “browse” a USB drive connected to the WDTV?
