Is it possible to use multiple network adapters at the same time?

[swuster]

My current problem:

I have a machine sending a file every few seconds over its wired connection. While this is occurring, I want to be able to access a wireless network and download a file from a mapped network drive without interrupting the aforementioned file transfers. Any suggestions as to how I might go about doing this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Routaran]

I am assuming you are asking this because you want to keep the speed of the transfers at a maximum. The choke point of the data transfers is not your network speeds but usually the read/write speed of you hard drive. this is why servers usually use 10k or 15k RPM drives in raid arrays, to catch up to network speeds.
you can have multiple connections at any given time. windows will decide which connection to use based on what it thinks is the fastest. AFAIK, you can't really pick.
in anycase, you should be able to send files out and download files at the same time without any problems. but if the read & write actions are taking place on the same HDD, it will slow both processes down if you run them together.

 

[rcgldr]

You didn't mention where the file is being sent to, versus where the other file is being downloaded from. If the destination computer for the sent file is different than the source computer for the received file and each is on a different network, then the computer names will determine which network is used for each transfer.

As mentioned, the main issue is the hard drives. You'd want the the sent file being read from one hard drive, and the downloaded file being written to a second hard drive.

 

[swuster]

Sorry, right. The machine that I'm sending files to is not the same as the one I am receiving files from, nor is it on the same network. Using separate drives shouldn't be an issue; I really just wanted to make sure that I would be able to handle switching between the two adapters in such a way.

 

[LudusRex]

Yes, it is possible to use multiple network adapters at the same time. This is commonly known as network interface bonding or link aggregation. It allows for increased network bandwidth and redundancy by combining multiple network connections into a single logical connection.

To achieve your goal of sending and receiving files simultaneously, you can configure your machine to use both the wired and wireless network adapters. This can be done through the network settings on your computer. Once both adapters are connected, you can prioritize which connection is used for specific tasks, such as sending files over the wired connection and downloading files over the wireless connection. This will ensure that your file transfers are not interrupted while you are accessing the wireless network.

Additionally, you can also look into using a load balancing router, which can distribute network traffic across multiple connections, further optimizing your network performance.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your network setup!