Nas newbie. Moving files within the NAS itself

[mamexp]

Hi all,

My NAS is a diy build with Ubuntu 9.04 Server edition. My client is just a lappy with Vista Business edition.

I believe my questions are fairly general tho.

I'm using my NAS through Samba file server. So i map a network drive to one of my shared directories. And i have been downloading and uploading files since.

Is this how i'm supposed to use the NAS with Windows client? If not, what a better way then? I'm experiencing huge delay with Vista client when initiating a read/write from/to my NAS (5-10 secs). I dont have such problem with WindowsXP tho... Any idea why?

I have been using webmin files manager tool (java web based) to organizing my NAS shared files. But i dislike it because i have to login with my linux username (beside the java is slow in response). So i tried to move a file (4gb) within the NAS on my Vista client (from one network-map drive to another). It occurred to me the file is being streamed to my Vista client then BACK to the NAS. (I see the networking utilities show activies, and the file is being copied very slow as if its being downloaded from the NAS)

Can someone please confirm this? If so how do you guys organize files/folders on your NAS without using the web utility (such as webmin)? I read a review of a commercial NAS, it seems they manage the files/folders through web as well.

I'm sorry for such noob questions....Thank you for your time.

 

[thiggins]

For moving files between client and NAS, you can either map a drive (mount a share), or browse to it using your OS' network file browser.

For moving files in the NAS itself, you either need to login and use shell commands, a tool like Webmin, or install a module that provides web-based file access. I'm sorry that I don't know what that module is.

 

[Tenkian]

You can install ajaxplorer which gives you a nice gui file management web page. it's easy to install and runs on apache.

Using samba on your server you map network drives or connect to the \\server\share and browse files. So no idea why vista is slow.

 

[mamexp]

Thanks for the replies guys

I guess that confirms my finding : using Windows Explorer to move files between HDs in NAS would be a ultimate mistake as it streaming the file to the client then back to the NAS. Hence this would be using the network and very slow.

I will look into the Ajaxexplorer. In the meantime, i will have to stick with webmin then.

Another stupid thing with Webmin is because it requires you to log in with your user account (which has root access), whenever i move a files or a folder within the Shared folders, the file/folder then have root as ownership. I have to change it back to nobody after moving. Its really a pita. Does anyone know a workaround?