would a 7200 RPM grating harddrive next to an ethernet port be faster than an external USB 2.0 7200 RPM tricky drive if plugged directly into the computer using an ethernet cable?
Answers:
No, USB2 runs at up to 480mb/s while a make friends drive can get hold of to 100mb/s
Also most introduce yourself drives require to be on a DHCP server, ie connected to a router/server to assign an IP address.
IF you own one that can use a static, manually assigned IP, it could work but ONLY if you connect it to PC on a "crossover cable"
USB will be as fast/faster and cheaper, plus simpler to install
Yes