Connect PC second port to NAS second port

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Deeley_s wrote:

 but I want to use the second to make a direct connection between my PC and the NAS so I can do video editing without fighting the traffic on the switch (two kids playing massive online games).

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Since the kid's video traffic isn't directed at either your PC or your NAS, there shouldn't be any conflict with your traffic.  A decent switch will have enough bandwidth to allow all ports to operate at full speed in both directions.

For instance, look at the Nighthawk switch spec's here: https://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/switches/Nighthawk-switches/GS808E.aspx#tab-techspecs.  It's an 8 port gigabit switch, with 16 gbps backplane bandwidth.   That's 2 gbps per port, allowing all ports to operate at full speed in both directions simultaneously.

Though the Nighthawk switch certainly isn't the cheapest, the backplane bandwidth spec isn't unusual.  All Netgear switches have similar backplane bandwidth, and I expect competing switches do as well. 

Note also that your local wired traffic doesn't touch the router at all, since the switch is forwarding the traffic directly to the destination (using the destination MAC address in the ethernet header).  When I'm streaming video from my NAS through my switch, I can turn the router off, and the stream isn't affected at all.

So I recommend that you simply leave the ports unconnected.  If you are using a fast ethernet switch, the best solution is to upgrade it to gigabit.

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Deeley_s wrote:

How do I configure the second ethernet on the NAS and the second ethernet on my PC to talk to each other?

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The process is to assign a static IP address to second ports on both the NAS and the PC.  For instance, if your router uses address range 192.168.1.x, then you could assign the NAS to use IP 192.168.2.2 with a gateway of 192.168.2.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.  Assign the PC's second port to 192.168.2.3, gateway 192.168.2.1, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

Then be careful to access the NAS using IP address 192.168.2.2.  Don't use it's hostname or its router IP address.

As noted above, you won't see any performance difference if you are using a gigabit switch.