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Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

kabeern
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎16-04-2017

Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

Hi,

 

I am getting very slow data transfer speeds (1Mbps to 3Mpbs) when transferring data to my NAS. Reading data is very slow too, and reading large video files from the NAS often results in long pauses, making things unwatchable.

 

My details:

  • Router: Plusnet Sagecom 2704n
  • Internet service: ADSL (i get average 13Mb connection,with good WiFi around the home with laptops and phones)
  • NAS: WD My Book World, and Synology DS115j (i got the synology thinking the problem is the MyBook, but it'sstil fairly slow hence me thinking the problem is my PlusNet equiptment)
  • NAS were both plugged into the PlusNet router ethernet port, and i am transferring files to the NAS wirelessly from my laptop.

 

I am fairly good with computers, but not a networking expert, so please help me understand why the speeds are sooo slow. I assumed at a MINIMUM i would get a STRONG 10MBps connection, though i expected much more.

  • What do I need to do to improve transfer speeds to and from my NAS?
  • Would PlusNet's newer routers solve the problem?
  • What is this 10/100Mb vs Gigabit stuff. And do my network connections support these :S?

 

 

Thank you for your help!

13 REPLIES 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

Hi @kabeern, welcome to the Forums.

So first a few questions. What are you using to measure your transfer speed?

The next thing is to ask is have you tried a speed test using a wired connection? If not can you do this?

To answer your points.

First you need to diagnose what actually is causing the issue.


A new router might solve the issue if the old one is to blame.


The 10/100/1000 Mb is the speed the interface (network) as capable of running at, the higher the number the faster it can run. But this is only applicable to wired components and all of these components must have equal or better interfaces to get maximum throughput.

However, as you are using Wireless this is an instant bottle neck.

HairyMcbiker
All Star
Posts: 6,792
Thanks: 266
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

OK try plugging your pc into the router using a cable and try again.
It is probably the wifi that is causing the slow down, and nothing you change on the nas boxes will change that.

markhawkin
Pro
Posts: 552
Thanks: 121
Fixes: 11
Registered: ‎17-07-2016

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

Hello @kabeern

A assume you are comfortable with the concepts of BITS per second for data rates and BYTES per second for file transfer speeds.

Taking the 1 Mbps as bits per second, that is a bit slow and suggests connections are not working well.

What are the transfer speeds like if you connect a laptop to the router via an Ethernet cable ?

If they are still slow then the finger points at the router.

It is quite likely that an ISP router will have limited throughput.

The 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s or GB/s are three connection speeds supported by physical Ethernet connections. Less well understood is that, at the higher speeds, the router or other connected devices need to be able to sustain the data rates to get full advantage of the interface speed and file transfers.

I am the satisfied customer....
kabeern
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎16-04-2017

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

For the file transfer, i simply copy the file in My Computer/Explorer, and paste it to the NAS Drive, which also appears in My Computer/Explorer. I see the speeds the normal Windows file transfer window that appears. (Laptop is a Samsung R540, i3, running Windows 7 home)

OK i just hooked up the laptop via Ethernet port #2 (NAS to port #1) to the router (connection says 100Mbps IPv4). And done tests just now, paying attention to the exact letters:

 

Ethernet:

  • OOKLA internet test, 15.63Mbps/1.08Mbps,8ms ping.
  • ~2gb video.mp4 transfer to NAS over synology 'File Station' through Chrome gives 5-11MB/s, Avg~10MB/s. 
  • The drive does not appear in My Computer when im not connecting via WiFi

 

 

WiFi

  • OOKLA internet test, 15.49Mbps/1.09Mbps,0ms ping.
  • ~2gb video.mp4 transfer to NAS over synology 'File Station' through Chrome gives 0.5-3MB/s, Avg~1MB/s. Seems a lot worse than last night!
  • Same file over the Network Folder section of My Computer, gives 600KB/s-1.3MB/S! Avg. 1.2MB/s, seems to vary. Not sure why it's so slow. Was getting ~3MB/s last night (not Mbps).

 

Hope that helps!

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

Assuming the numbers are correct that looks sensible and I think I am correct in saying that assuming you are connecting via 802.11 b the transfer rate you see for WiFi is at it’s max, as are the others based on your 100Mbps connection.

Others will no doubt confirm or deny this for you.

HairyMcbiker
All Star
Posts: 6,792
Thanks: 266
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

OK results are showing that the nas box is fine, it is your wifi that is the issue.
Things you can check, change the channel the wifi is on (on the router) to a different one, you can use one of the free wifi sniffers to see what is on what channel at the moment.
Suggested ones are 1/6/11 but checking would be best. If you have any android devices than avoid anything above 11 as it can cause problems.
markhawkin
Pro
Posts: 552
Thanks: 121
Fixes: 11
Registered: ‎17-07-2016

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

@kabeern

 

I would say that your results are not unusual for WiFi from a "basic" router.

 

To answer your initial question, "Would PlusNet's newer routers solve the problem?"

The "Hub One" may well help as it supports 5GHz WiFi (which can be faster).

It requires the connected devices to work with 5GHz WiFi and may bring other problems (however making the 2.4 GHz & 5GHz networks have different names often helps).

Probably worth a try if you can blag a Hub One, otherwise buying a router (a whole set of questions around which one !) could be a good idea.

I've got an Apple Airport Express for 5GHz and I've been pleased with the performance of that in conjunction with another router..

 

I am the satisfied customer....
markhawkin
Pro
Posts: 552
Thanks: 121
Fixes: 11
Registered: ‎17-07-2016

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

I have just started moving a directory of files from my PC to a NAS (this is over a cabled connection).

There is about 20GB of files and it will take 30 minutes.

My rough calculation suggests this equates to about 45 Mb/s through a router and a cheap hub. All in all, probably OK for home use.

I am the satisfied customer....
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

@markhawkin - All of this is of course relative, and dependant on other variables like disk latency, other loads on the network and the type of hardware being used.

But you (or anyone) can easily increase those transfer speeds by using a switch or crossover cable, full duplexing, jumbo frames, or various combinations there of.

kabeern
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎16-04-2017

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

Hi guys,

Thank you again for all your responses.

 

I went out and got a BT HomeHub 5 from gumtree last night, only had a little while to play.

HomeHub5 works fine, outputs 2.4 and 5Ghz signals. The NAS connected at gigabit to it via Ethernet.

My main Samsung laptop has Atherors AR9285 and i also have a less used  Samsung Ultrabook NP530.

 

I used http://www.totusoft.com/lanspeed.

My main AR9285 based  laptop still have around 2.5MB/s avg rate, connected at 2.4GHz to the HH5.

My Ultrabook gave around 21MB/s avg rate, connected at 5GHz to the HH5 (not sure what i can do to improve this further)

 

The fact my Ultrabook achieved nearly 10x better rate leads me to believe my main bottleneck is the AR9285 wifi card in my main laptop. I'm thinking the next step is to upgrade this Atheros card with a dual band 5GHz AC card.

markhawkin
Pro
Posts: 552
Thanks: 121
Fixes: 11
Registered: ‎17-07-2016

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

@Anonymous

 

Good points, I would point my finger at my cheap TP Link hub first.

What I was trying to do was an illustration of domestic "real world" performance.

@kabeern

As you no doubt know, the BT HomeHub is similar to the Plusnet Hub One. Your WiFi card upgrade seems a good plan.

 

 

 

 

I am the satisfied customer....
kabeern
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎16-04-2017

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

Update:

So i swapped out my wireless card from my Ultrabook (Intel N 6235) into my main laptop,and the transfer speeds increased by 8-10x. 
LAN speed test now gives around 12MB/s, and transfer in Windows explorer 16-20MB/s. 

 

WiFi now can connect @ 5Ghz, 300Mbps

 

 

So i believe the 2 things which significantly improved performance were:

  1. Swapping basic PlusNet router with the much better HomeHub5 (Same as PLusNet One hub)
  2. upgrading the old PCIe wireless card to a dual band 300Mbps one.

 

Next question:

  • Now i have a 300Mbps Wireless N card here, if i buy a dual band 1300Mbps Wireless AC card, should this yield significant speed differences when transferring files to/from my NAS?

         (significant as in maybe doubling my speeds).

 

 

Thanks!

DafOwen
Grafter
Posts: 30
Thanks: 10
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎09-12-2016

Re: Very slow NAS transfers - Help!

I'm getting 40/50MB/s on my cheap NAS and ~80MB/s on my new NAS.

Network speeds as others have mentioned are : 10/100/1000 (also called Gigabit/1G) and 10,000 (aka 10Gb)
My router (Technicilor TG582n) is only capable of 100Mbp
So I bought an inexpensive 5-port GIgabit switch ~ £10

Before it I was only getting ~10 MB/s   [100Mbps = 12.5 MB]


I also enabled what's called "Jumbofiles" a.k.a. set a higher MTU on both the PC and NAS.

Connect both NAS and PCU into the GIgabit switch and I'm getting the above speeds.