File/Print/NAS Server w/gigabit and non-gigabit Wifi router?

[Namuna]

Sorry for this newb level question, I think I already know the answer but I want to confirm...

I've got the following gear:
- 10/100 Wifi Router (WHR-G54S) as the Internet and Wifi Router.
- LAN attached PC with gigabit capable NIC
- 2 Wifi/g connected Laptops
- Slimline P4/2.8ghz 512mb, onboard SATA and gigabit NIC for the File/Print/NAS Server. 2x400gb SATA drives on order for it

Here are the questions:
1. Obviously having the LAN PC and slimline connected to the Router negates the gigabit, is it as simple as having the LAN PC, slimline and router connected to a gigabit switch (LIKE THIS) so that files moving between the LAN PC and slimline will go at gigabit speeds?
1a. If so, do I need to do anything special for connecting the Router to the Switch? It's just connecting a regular rj45 to a LAN port on the Router and one of the ports on the switch right?
2. On a side-note, would I get better performance with the 2x400gb drives with software RAID-0 or just having 2 shared drives?

Thanks.

 

[Madwand1]

Yes, confirmed, it's that simple (1a, 1b).

2. 2x RAID 0 is potentially faster for sequential transfers, but your receiving side has to be fast enough to receive it -- most likely, for simple file transfers, it would be the bottleneck, so you'd be down to more like single drive speeds. But with a good uncrowded drive, single drive speed can be pretty high these days.

Moreover, if you have a good RAID 1 implementation like Intel's, then read performance is also higher than a single drive's -- the implementation takes advantage of data duplication to "stripe" the reads. This isn't as fast as a good RAID 0, but it might match gigabit with decent drives, etc., and the redudancy is better for file server than the increased data risk with RAID 0.

 

[Namuna]

Thanks for your help Madwand1.

I think I'm going to go with Software RAID-0 (going to run Win2k on the box). Even if the performance is just on par to running the drives on their own, I like the idea of having one chunky drive to write everything to.