synchronize VERY slow (1 to 2 MB/s)

[EB2]

Dear all,

About a month ago, I bought an AS-304T with 3 WD Red, 4 TB each, in RAID 1 configuration (current system version of ADM is 2.0.4 RBM1) for my home.
I have several comments to make about it, but I shall restrict to performance problems in this first post.

When I wanted to copy the contents of another NAS (actually a hard disk included in my internet provider box) to the AS304T, by a copy between folders using network neighborood on a W7 x64 PC, the speed of transfer was about 1MB/s, then I directly copied folders from a classical 7200 rpm Hard Disk of the W7 PC to the AS304T, and the speed of transfer was a mere 5 MB/s. Then I tried a complete backup of my system partition (which resides on a SSD) to the AS304T (with ASUSTOR Backup plan) and the speed was also about 5MB/s also. Finally I wanted to make a first synchronisation of my 900 GB data partition to the AS304T (also with ASUSTOR Backup plan) and the speed was most of the time 1 MB/s (even for files of several tens of GB) rising possibly to 2 MB/s after some time using the network activity monitor of the ASUSTOR portal, but goind back to 1 MB/s after some minutes.

I think that the main performance problem comes from the fact that the AS-304T is connected to the IP box and my PC through a network with 2 dLAN 200 AVplus and 2 dLAN 200 AVeasy network adaptaters from Devolo + 2 other similar adapters of unknown brand given by my IP to establish the link between the ADSL router (IP box) and the TV set top box both provided by my IP. The develo adpaters are used to connect several PCs and a smartTV to which the AS-304T is connected by an HDMI cable. I also have a 10/100/1000 Dlink switch for the main PC, a printer and possible connection of a laptop, but it is not connected any more to the IP box due to noise on some house electrical cable.

It is my first NAS and though I have been working with UNIX/Linux/Windows/MacOS for almost 30 years now, I am NOT a professional system administrator! However even if I can understand that my home network using power outlets may limit the transfer rates, I do not understand why it is so slow for synchronization, if it would be limited only by the network, since it can go much faster for a simple copy between folders!

Could anyone tell me whether this stuation is "normal" or if there is something I can do to improve the situation (apart from recabling entirely our house with optical fibers or cat6 copper cables) ?

PS: unfortunately I do not have enough time to invest in reading the courses from ASUSTOR college at the moment, though they look very appealing for me.

[orion]

I think your speed is quite low. I got around 80MB/s when copy big data (1.3GB) to my as-304t. I just simply use file copy in Windows-7 (to a shared network folder from NAS). My connection is giga-bit cat5e wire.
Your network topology is not clear enough. You may put a simple topology diagram here, there should be someone in forum can help you. I think you can connect your NAS to 1Gb Dlink switch (that you PC connected) to have a try first.

[EB2]

I think your speed is quite low. I got around 80MB/s when copy big data (1.3GB) to my as-304t. I just simply use file copy in Windows-7 (to a shared network folder from NAS). My connection is giga-bit cat5e wire.
Your network topology is not clear enough. You may put a simple topology diagram here, there should be someone in forum can help you. I think you can connect your NAS to 1Gb Dlink switch (that you PC connected) to have a try first.

Thanks a lot for your interest in my problem.
I agree with you that my network is very probably limiting the transfer speeds and that I should move the AS-304T to connect it to my PC through ethernet cables and the Gb/s switch (but then I would not have a direct connection to my TV any more and I would still have connection speed problems with the other PCs of the house).
However, if it is only my network that limits the speed why would the synchronization be even slowlier (by a factor of 5!)?

[orion]

mm... I guess that "synchronization" means the function of ASUSTOR Backup Plan software. As I know, this software will do more things than "copy". It should find the new/changed files, then copy those files. So it will be much quick (no copies) if most of your files being the same. I believe there are some works inside the software, such that the copying bandwidth is variant. That works might depend on the number of your files (900GB vs 10GB?). It is not good to identify your bandwidth problem by this software.

My suggestion is that you can consider to adopt a WIFI 802.11ac AP (embedded 1-GbE switch) near to your TV. Your PC can use WIFI 802.11ac dongle to connect to the network. Of course, it is supposed that the wireless interference is not severe in your environment.

[EB2]

mm... I guess that "synchronization" means the function of ASUSTOR Backup Plan software. As I know, this software will do more things than "copy". It should find the new/changed files, then copy those files. So it will be much quick (no copies) if most of your files being the same. I believe there are some works inside the software, such that the copying bandwidth is variant. That works might depend on the number of your files (900GB vs 10GB?). It is not good to identify your bandwidth problem by this software.

I indeed use ASUSTOR Backup plan software and I believe the synchronize is based on rsync, so that it adds extra bookeeping. However, even in this case, when the decision of copying a file of 30 GB or 60 GB (Virtual machines HDD files) is taken, then the transfer speed should be at its maximum during the (long) transfer time.

My suggestion is that you can consider to adopt a WIFI 802.11ac AP (embedded 1-GbE switch) near to your TV. Your PC can use WIFI 802.11ac dongle to connect to the network. Of course, it is supposed that the wireless interference is not severe in your environment.

We do not have any WIFI at home because my wife wants to avoid too many sources of radiation. Furthermore, when I made some tests enabling the WIFI AP of my IP box, the quality of transmission was not that good (we have thick walls and a thick slab of concrete between storeys. This is the reason why I use electric power outlets...

[EB2]

Your network topology is not clear enough. You may put a simple topology diagram here, there should be someone in forum can help you.

Do you have a name of a free drawing program with objects such as PCs, switch and network adapters already defined, for such a task?

[ho66es]

you could try something like cobian backup and see if it is any faster. I switched to using that for my backups, however I cannot comment on speed as i use cat 5 and managed gigabit switches so it is going to be a lot faster.

[EB2]

you could try something like cobian backup and see if it is any faster. I switched to using that for my backups, however I cannot comment on speed as i use cat 5 and managed gigabit switches so it is going to be a lot faster.

Thanks for your answer.
You are right that I should try with Cobian backup. I used it years ago at work, but stopped using it when I could not recover a deleted file (probably due to a backup configuration error I did). It is true I should give it a new chance.
Also, I would like to try rsync from a Linux boot.
I may try both things + moving the AS-304T to connect it directly to my switch, during the Christmas holidays.

In fact, since my TV is a smartTV DLNA compatible, I wonder whether it is really useful to connect it directly to the AS-304T thanks to an HDMI cable (apart maybe to use it as an attached external disk to record TV programs?) because I can see directly the multimedia files in the shared folders of the AS-304T...

Thanks for your help orion and ho66es.

[Auberon2k]

I hope I understand your network layout roughly. It sounds like you are running two networks in the house, one for your TV and such over the DV connections and then your main PC is on a GB switch with the printer. You 304T is also connected by HDMI to the TV. The slowness using Windows explorer (network neighbourhood) to copy from your PVR to the 304T would also be partially from the extra network traffic, you are essentially pulling data from PVR->PC->304T. This is not truly direct, your PC is playing middle man. If you are going to use apps like Boxee or XBMC you would need the HDMI connection but could move the 304T LAN to your GB Switch and have much better network/backup performance. If you don't use Boxee or XBMC there is no need for that HDMI connection at all, you could just serve everything over DLNA from Plex/UPnP/UPnP2. I personally have my 608T in a spare room with my cable modem and other gear all tucked out the way. I share all my media via UPnP2 DLNA to my PS3s. It works great. I don't have any personal experience with the powerline networking, it could be contributing to slowness. My 608T performs very well over my GB LAN switches.

[EB2]

I have moved the AS-304T to put it near my PC with the Gb/s switch in between.
Transfer of a movie by a simple copy from the AS 304-T to my PC was done at 100 MB/s at the beginning, gradually going down to 70 MB/s
The resynchronisation of my data disk goes on very slowly at the moment (less than 400 KB/s on the network activity monitor), but with peaks up to 80 MB/s when copying mailbox files of several GB).
I shall test with cobian backup for the backup of my wife's PC (also connected to the switch by cat5e cables) when I have time, because I am quite disapointed by this ASUSTOR Backup plan

I have installed and launched UPnP2, but it seems to me that less movies are in a format than can be read than when I get them (the same) from the hard disk of my internet provider Box. I have to chek that in details another day.
I tested XBMC by connecting the screen of my PC to the AS-304T thanks to the HDMI cable (+ keyboard and mouse in USB plugs). It seems OK at first sight.

By the way, what is the difference between the UPnp and the UPnP2 Apps?