Windows has an I/O monitor in the Task Manager - that will help give you an idea of what your read speed is. If your laptop HD is mechanical (disk plate with arm) then that may be the reason why your read is low. Your Red Drives should be able to handle high write speeds though based on the specs.

3.77 Megabytes per second is about 31.6 Megabits per second. The slowness may not be your network, but it may be the read from your HD and the write to your NAS (I/O).

There are 3 types of ethernet splitter - passive, active (requires power to amplify signals) and PoE splitters. This one seems to be an active ethernet splitter, thus it is powered. The LED indicators can exist in either a splitter or an ethernet switch. They can’t call a switch a splitter and vice-versa, because each device works differently than the other. Just because it is powered and has LED lights doesn’t mean it’s a switch. The old ethernet hub has LED lights and is powered, but it is not a switch.

It can work simultaneously, by limiting the link speed to 100 mbps each (2 pairs each port). It literally “splits” the RJ45 input into 2 pairs to power both ports. So if you are good with 100 mbps link speeds for 2 devices (i.e., a smart TV that usually has a 100 mbps NIC and an old Apple TV HD which also has a 100 mbps NIC), then you can buy/use this product.

The only risky stuff I do is download pirated games on my desktop and very, very rarely watch corn on the laptop.

Downloading illegitimate software and installing them onto your PC will bypass all the security set by your network devices, as the networking devices doesn’t have the capability to scan/check if a downloaded file contains malware or not. A good anti-virus software may be able to sniff-out a malware from your downloaded file; therefore, building your own router doesn’t really help you in any way.