NASLite Network Attached Storage

I have an external 250GB HDD connected to my XP laptop. I have setup a brand new Naslite server. What is the best and fastest way to copy data from my external drive to the Nas box.

Really only one simple method: in XP on the laptop use Windows Explorer and copy the root-level folder on the external HDD to the NL disk (assuming its capacity is larger than usage on the external HDD connected to the laptop -- otherwise you'll have to split onto multiple NL disks).
I recommend the laptop is cabled into your network (although if you have wireless "g" you'll be ok).
Because NL uses ext2 or ext3 filesystem, there really is no faster way (that's still easy). (Before someone comes back with ... boot a live linux CD ...)
Georg

Ugh...drag and drop. Definitely the slowest method of copying.

Invest in a quality FTP program (~$30) and log into your NAS server that way (use anonymous login). Internet Explorer can do it too, but it won't be as fast.

If you're a performance freak like me, go Gigabit-E and grab WSFTP as it's one of the fastest clients out there (CuteFTP is the slowest).