We discovered a number of things as a result of our purchase of what is not, as the average purchaser might imagine, an external hard drive, but a relatively cheap NAS (Network Attached Storage) device. We learnt for instance, that when a manufacturer like Western Digital installs a Linux operating system in its equipment, it opens the way to the user community extending the functionality of the device. We also learnt that when you own a NAS, the typical 10/100Mbps Ethernet that most of us use these days, is very slow indeed.

We do not recommend waiting around for a folder full of video files to be backed up over that sort of network. What you do, instead, is automate the process and let it grind at its petty pace overnight, or indeed several nights.

We knew back then that we'd have to upgrade our network to gigabit ethernet, which moves data at about 10 times the speed of the so-called “Fast Ethernet” which tends to be the home or small office standard. We knew that doing so would be relatively simple.

Since the PCI Express bus was introduced in 2004, true gigabit ethernet has increasingly become standard in motherboards, and we had gigabit ethernet ports in all our PCs. We'd even bought a gigabit router, the D-Link DIR-655 in October 2007.

All we had to do to increase the speed of our backups, and to make video-streaming over the network stutter-free, was to ensure that all our ethernet cable was at least Cat 5e - in fact we already had quite a bit of Cat 6 cabling in place – and buy a gigabit switch.

Somehow we didn't get round to doing that until a couple of weeks ago, when we wandered into Radio Parts new headquarters in West Melbourne and noticed a special on the TP-Link SG1005D five-port switch. We picked one up ($75), and prepared for another project.

In the interim, we'd taken delivery of what to our mind is the Rolls Royce of consumer-level modems, the D-Link DIR-855, which offers such refinements as dual 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wireless networks, so we hooked that up instead of the DIR-655, which at $179 represents excellent value, unless you happen to have an excess of desire and a spare $390.

We, or someone in the supply chain, managed to crunch the installation CD that came with the DIR-855, but installing it couldn't have been easier. We just plugged the ethernet cable from our ADSL 2 modem into its Internet port, plugged in the switch and the My Book World Edition drive, and suddenly our files were shooting across the wire.

One interesting effect of this new-found speed is that we've been having a look around for additional network storage. We are thinking ultimately of stuffing one of our older PCs with some hard drives and installing Windows Home Server.

\But just last week, while we were looking at OfficeWorks catalogue, we discovered they were selling the Western Digital ShareSpace, a 2TB or 4TB unit which seems to be an advance on the My Book World Edition. The price tag ($899/$1699) reflects the fact that they're equipped with either two or four of Western Digital's GreenPower drives.

They also include a built-in media server that will stream media to multimedia devices, and iTunes server support, automatic network backup and an email alert system.

The fact that we're already thinking about extending our gigabit ethernet project to include one of these things suggests that the speed of discontent may have suddenly accelerated.