[CobraNT]

I recently picked up a Dual 1Ghz G4 Tower to use as a server / backup system. The plan was to use it to backup to with Time Machine instead of always having my USB drive connected. I got it all setup but the transfer of data seems very slow. My USB drive could backup my entire drive (70GB) overnight. Going through the network it only backed up 18GB overnight. Is there something I am missing here? Should this not be faster than a USB 2.0 drive?

[Cold Warrior]

What sort of network do you have?

[CobraNT]

Here is a break down of my network:
IP Based

Powerbook - Airport Wireless - Connects to Airport Extreme - DHCP IP from Base Station
Airport Extreme Base Station connected to cable modem, and 10/100 hub.
G4 Desktop connected to 10/100 hub via ethernet cable - Static IP

[ghporter]

Your wired network is capable of at most 100Mbps. Don't count on more than about 60% of that for any length of time. The hub may be giving you a bit of a bottleneck if your G4 is connected to that. But here's the REAL problem: even if you have one of the new, 802.11N AirPort Extreme bases, wireless networking takes a lot of overhead (channel management, error correction, etc.), which eats into your actual throughput, giving you less, usually MUCH less, usable throughput. If you want to back up ANYTHING through your network, it should be on a wired network.

Now let's burst your bubble. The theoretical maximum throughput of USB 2.0 is 480Mbps, or more than four times the theoretical max for 10/100 Ethernet. And even though you will get less than 480 averaged over any lengthy activity, it will still be much faster than Ethernet. Firewire has a max throughput of 400Mbps, and supposedly has a better streaming capability than USB, so it would be better for backups too.

Sorry, but you're either going to have to manually connect your PowerBook to a wired network and wait a while, or connect it to a USB or Firewire drive and wait less. Or leave things the way they are and wait and wait and wait...

[CobraNT]

Thanks for the input guys. I ended up connecting my laptop to the G4 via a firewire cable and doing the full backup that way. Now the incremental backup is pretty quick over the network. Not sure why I didn't think of this first.