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it would be kind if someone who is an expert on this field state what I have to expect in regards to the latency accessing files for the given scenarios (comparing them):

A) Current Windows PC with an attachedn USB Harddisktrive

vs

B) Two current Windows PCs with the remote PC having an attached USB drive that will be accessed via WLAN (802.11g++) from the other PC.

=> The Question is how much slower will the access (in regards to latency) variant B) be? Will I notice the latency or will the latency be so small I will not notice it.

thanks!! jens

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Smells like homework... It will vary depending on the type of access, the application(s) involved, caching, exact hardware, ad nauseam. All else equal, adding complexity will always add single path latency. Whether that is noticeable or not is dependent on all of the above.

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  • good answer, do the math also, see how fast the USB stick can write locally, if it's less than 54Mbps, well then, you're probably not going to outrun it. It will probably be marginally slower assuming you have good signal. Nov 26, 2010 at 2:38
  • Latency <> speed. 54Mbps has nothing to do with latency. The more hops between a host and it's storage means increased latency for the most part.
    – murisonc
    Nov 26, 2010 at 3:15
  • Also Tom, if the end device is a USB drive being served over WLAN, then you're still constrained by the max write speed on the box it's plugged into. Nov 26, 2010 at 3:46
  • hi, funny to read the homeworkd assumption. well I would give a lot of money if I were that young again;-) background is I want to save money and protect the environment and use a laptop that is on 24/7 rather then my "monster pc" that consumes about 150-200 Watt/Hour. So my question is only focussed on WLAN latency (I might buy WLAN N Hardware with 600Mbit/second...I never Read about the latencies of WLANs and further more USB dirves 2.0 or 3.0. They only talk about speed but not latencies..., hence my question)
    – jens
    Nov 26, 2010 at 17:12

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