Drive Upgrades - WD20EARS-00MVWB1 WD Caviar Green 2TB

If your PC has a gigabit ethernet port and your router is only 100Mbit, then yes a direct-connection should be a little faster. See http://sphardy.com/web/directconnect Btw, I should have asked what version of RAIDiator are you running? Should also have mentioned that your version of the WD20EARS is not on the Hard Disk HCL. The Notes for the WD20EARS in the compatibility list are quite clear.

PC has a gigabit port, but yes the router is the bottleneck. Regardless of other factors, 5MB/s is pretty much what I'm getting for the copy jobs.

True, this version of the WD20EARS is not on the HCL, but I am aware of a great many people having successfully installed and used them. The main thing as I see it is that I have not taken the in place expansion route to using these disks, I have done a complete swap of both disks. Thus far, while really only being used to pump my old data back on to them, the disk have performed just fine... unless there is something else I may be missing at this point.

RAIDiator v.4.1.8 - though I did read somewhere that there is a beta version 4.1.9, but I would rather have a final product than introduce another issue from beta firmware.