Wi-Fi Transfer Speed?

I've had an iMac for about 4 years now which is one with Wireless G (54mbps) Airport Extreme and this connects via Wi-Fi to my Wireless G Router. Yesterday I bought a new MacBook Pro (lovely!) and whilst this has Wireless N I can obviously only use it at Wireless G speeds.

The problem I have is that there is a database file (for MacFamilyTree) that I want to use on both Macs and had planned on using something like chronosync to sync the most recent version of this file to the other Mac. However this file is nearly 4GB in size and last night when I performed a sync it took 1hr 20mins to complete. Both Macs and the router and in the same room and within 1.5m of each other with no obstructions by walls etc although there are other electrical equipment in the room.

That seems very slow to me though, by my calculations it should take more like 20mins (very approximate), so why is it taking an extra hour?

There are many, many factors in file transfer speeds over wifi.

It could be the tool your using, the enviromental factors of the network, other traffic, interference, one or both machines using the disk and so on.

Either way 'syncing' a 4gb file is quite a big ask. Would it be possible to perhaps house the file on a network drive or share out the location of the database on your iMac?

Also is there an option to compress/housekeep the database? It's obviously possible to get a 4gb database stacked full of data but often they grow as data is moved around and don't shrink is size afterwards. A housekeeping/compacting procedure often brings the overall file size down considerably.

First things first, WiFi Ethernet access is more for convenience than speed/reliability. If you watch the packets going back and forth on a WiFi signal, you'll see that there are tons of drops and retransmits and fluctuations of speed. The faster your Wifi connection is the better things gets masked, but it's also more prone to disruptions..

For large file transfers, it's always best to use a wired Ethernet connection, at 1 Gigabit, that 4G file would've transferred over in around 5 or so minutes..

Regards

Cheers guys for your replies, much appreciated.

Using a wired network unfortunately isn't going to be that feasible as it will mean running cables of furniture and as this is something we'll need to do 4-5 times a week that's going to get very annoying very quickly.

I had thought of sharing the database on the iMac and getting the MBP to open it over the Wi-Fi but when I tried this the other way around (the iMac opening the file on the MBP) it took a long time to open and then was very slow to operate. This could well have been because the database was open at the time on the MBP so I will test again tonight.

Opening a single large file of that size over the WiFi network each time will be chore as well..having local copies will yield the best response. You can setup a sync operation during the night or other idle time to ensure that you are all working with the latest copy of the file..

Regards