File Transfer Time Calculator
Copying 500GB over gigabit Ethernet is not the same as over WiFi. Enter a size and compare realistic transfer times before you start the copy.
| Connection | Real-world speed | Time for this size |
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Speeds are realistic throughputs including protocol overhead — gigabit Ethernet tops out around 112 MB/s in practice, not the theoretical 125. WiFi numbers vary a lot with distance, walls and interference; treat them as optimistic.
What to expect from a first big copy
Gigabit Ethernet is the standard on almost every home server board, and it moves real data at about 112 MB/s — an hour for every 400 GB. That means the first full backup of a media library is an overnight job, and 10 GbE only helps if every hop in the chain (cables, switch, both NICs) supports it. WiFi is a different league: even good WiFi 6 rarely sustains half of what a cable does.
The other ceiling is the disks. A single hard drive writes at 100–250 MB/s depending on the zone of the platter, and SMR drives can collapse to under 20 MB/s on large writes — the storage guide linked from the RAID calculator covers which drives to avoid. For planning purposes, assume the slower of network and disk speed, and be generous.