USB Connected Hard Drive - Transfer Speeds

[#1]

Okay - that would be great, thanks Mook!

[#2]

OK @lukemcinnes - I added the Plusnet Hub One to my network and logging into the Web UI I see the device under the USB connections of the Advanced Settings > Home Network.

I mounted the volume using SMB via Finder > Connect to Server and copied my ISO image file to it.

iMac:Downloads Mook$ rsync -a --progress -h ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso /Volumes/USB1/.
building file list ...
1 file to consider
ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso
       2.00G 100%    2.07MB/s    0:15:20 (xfer#1, to-check=0/1)

sent 2.00G bytes  received 42 bytes  2.17M bytes/sec
total size is 2.00G  speedup is 1.00

As you can see from the above this 2.0GB file took 15:20 to copy so at that rate we know the USB interface must be USB 2, but why the dire transfer rate?

Doing a read of the file is twice as fast as you can see:

iMac:Downloads Mook$ rsync -a --progress -h /Volumes/USB1/ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso ~/Desktop/.
building file list ...
1 file to consider
ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso
       2.00G 100%    3.97MB/s    0:07:59 (xfer#1, to-check=0/1)

sent 2.00G bytes  received 42 bytes  4.16M bytes/sec
total size is 2.00G  speedup is 1.00

So what do we take from the above?

Well for one we know its normally faster to read than to write, but neither the download or upload speeds are anywhere near the USB 2 max so this leads me to the conclusion that the SMB v1 protocol in use doesn’t really help the issue and or the router simply doesn’t come up to scratch.

@bobpullen - Did you manage to do similar tests?

[#3]

Has anyone tried substituting the USB drive for a memory stick to see what the transfer speed is?

[#4]

I did @Baldrick1,  I used a SanDisk USB3 64GB like this.

[#5]

@Mook Interesting tests, this is definitely in line with the type of transfer speeds I am seeing also. Would you be able to test the drive between two PCs connected to the Hub One? I can understand the slow rates on the router itself, but as you mentioned before, a drive shared on the network should not have such limitations. I don't have another router I can compare against unfortunately.

@Baldrick1 I have also tried a number of different flash drives with the same results.

[#6]

@lukemcinnes Not really, well not without a log of faffing. I connected the Router to the Ethernet on my second monitor. Based on the results it has to be either the router itself, the protocol in use, or a combination of both.

You mentioned getting a NAS drive, if you're serious have a look at QNAP or Synology and if your pockets are deep enough you will get a lot more out of them than just storage.

[#7]

Yeah - I'll be investing in a NAS shortly. I am in the process of moving house so will include one in my new setup.

The more I have been reading the more I see that this is actually quite a common issue when copying files over the network. Seems to be lots of opinion that SMB 1.0 is to blame. Others are swearing that disabling "Large Send Offload" in their network card properties has fixed the slow transfer rates. I don't have that option on my card though so no such luck there.