Best NAS Drives??

[mcquaim]

Hi Maxwell, thanks again for the help on this..

Here is my current setup:

Dell XPS 8300, Win7 HP, Intel i7-2600 3.4GHz, 1.5TB HDD, Broadcom NetLink Gigabit Ethernet
Netgear DGN3500 Wireless-N Gigabit Router
Netgear GS108 8-port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch
Iomega 2TB Gigabit Network Drive (Not Cloud version)

The Router shouldn't matter as I have the Dell PC and the Iomega NAS connected to the Netgear switch.

If I attempt to drop a file (current one is a 2.3GB *.ts file) from the Dell PC to the Iomega NAS the transfer rate is 2.7MB/s.

If I ftp into the ActiveFolder (Only folder that allows FTP on the Iomega) I can get a speed of around 7.4MB/s.

I downloaded CrystalDiskInfo to check that my HDD in the Dell is up to the job but I'm not sure how to run that report.

Spot anything obvious?

Cheers,
mcquaim

[Maxwell]

Nothing obvious at all with that :

On the Dell make sure in the advanced properties for the Broadcom for speed&duplex are set to Auto,
Check that the dell is running at 1.0Gb - Network and sharing center>Change adapter settings> right click on the local area connection (may also have the Broadcom name) and select status.
you should then see info about Ip4 etc but the line we are intrested in says Speed - if its at 1.0Gb then the Dell NIC and cable to the switch is fine.
If not at 1.0Gb then unplug the cable from the switch and try it to the router, if you still dont have 1.0Gb try a different cable and repeat both checks.
If you get it when connected to the router but not the switch then obviously the switch is the problem
you can also check all your cables are good using this method.

If you cannot get 1.0Gb speed from the dell at all, goto the broadcom website and download the latest driver for your card and install that then try again.

Obviously if you do have 1.0Gb connection from the dell all is ok with the cable, so change the cable for another, make sure you get the speed with the new cable and put the original cable between the switch and NAS.

So at this point we should know that the Dell,the switch or router and cables are good to 1.0Gbs leaving only the NAS.

I am not familiar with your NAS but if it has auto backup or firewall/anti virus try disabling them.

Dont know if that makes any sense to you or not i could be just rambling by now

Edit : you dont need to be transferring any data for these checks.

[mcquaim]

Cheers maxwell, I am away all day so haven't had a chance to try your suggestions out!

I'll be back around 9 so I will try then!

Thanks again for the help!

[mcquaim]

Hi there,

I'm making some progress here but head getting fried

I checked all the settings for the Broadcom Ethernet and it looked fine and connected at 1GB and Speed & Duplex were correctly set as Auto. I then checked the Dell support website and they indeed did have an updated driver so I anstalled that and thankfully it seems to have helped.

If I attempt to drop a file (current one is a 2.3GB *.ts file) from the Dell PC to the Iomega NAS the transfer rate is now approx 10MB/s. (Big improvement)

If I ftp into the ActiveFolder (Only folder that allows FTP on the Iomega) I can now get a speed of around 18MB/s. (Again a hell of a lot better..)

The thing is, should I be expecting better than this with a Gigabit network?

I ran the following test in CrystalDiskMark, my Dell HDD looks fine??

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 109.672 MB/s
Sequential Write : 98.969 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 27.423 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 50.130 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.283 MB/s [ 69.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.581 MB/s [ 141.8 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 0.524 MB/s [ 127.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.584 MB/s [ 142.7 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 43.9% (607.3/1384.9 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2012/01/15 22:44:54
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)


This is for the Iomega NAS (Looks like this could be my problem??)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 36.072 MB/s
Sequential Write : 14.339 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 12.632 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 14.568 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.335 MB/s [ 81.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 1.609 MB/s [ 392.7 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 0.341 MB/s [ 83.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 1.763 MB/s [ 430.4 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [V: 12.3% (228.6/1858.9 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2012/01/15 23:34:16
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

Cheers,
mcquaim

[Maxwell]

By virtue of the fact you can now get above 12.5GB/s transfer with the ftp, you are definitely running a Gb network and looking at your Crystal disk info your dell is fine but your NAS is choking badly. You do have some reasonable 4k write speeds for the NAS but everything else is naff.
Your options are to see if there is any better firmware for the NAS that might improve things or upgrade.

[mcquaim]

Thanks maxwell

I checked the Iomega website and apparently the firmware is bang up to date so looks like this is as good as it currently gets...

I think the Synology NAS is my next port of call

Cheers,
mcquaim

[Flyingpig]

I have a 1 TB Western Digital World thingy which isnt the best - it was at the time thought.... Now I have a QNAP 110 TS 2TB drive as well, and it is so much better.....

It is recognised straight away by my ET 9000 and works great.

[mcquaim]

I am thinking of buying the Synology but I'm not sure what HDD to buy to put in it and there seems to be a big variety out there..

What is good and would suit the Synology well?

I don't want to have a nice NAS with crappy disks that can't handle the transfer speed...

[silverfox0786]

I am thinking of buying the Synology but I'm not sure what HDD to buy to put in it and there seems to be a big variety out there..

What is good and would suit the Synology well?

I don't want to have a nice NAS with crappy disks that can't handle the transfer speed...

there is a compatability list on the synology website

select the correct nas drive and it will list what drives can and cant be used

[mcquaim]

Cheers, I'll have a look

[Clabs]

@Silverfox

Fella - I was looking at one of these Synology enclosures to replace my recently demised Buffalo Terastation. Can you tell me what your experience is with the amount of noise this enclosure makes?

The Terrastation fan noise was truly shocking although in fairness, I don't think this product was designed with a domestic environment in mind.

For anyone else thinking about buying a Buffalo device, be warned that once you are outside of warranty you are pretty much on your own, and Buffalo will NOT supply spare parts for the vast majority of their products - very poor.

[silverfox0786]

i have the DS411j and it sits under my bed

and i cant hear it at all

it has 2 fans and they can be set to quite mode or performance mode

and either way i dont hear em

infact i hear my HDD on my ET9000 louder and know when ever a recording is about to start but the NAS

brilliant

and it has good CS support and its own forum

[Clabs]

i have the DS411j and it sits under my bed

and i cant hear it at all

it has 2 fans and they can be set to quite mode or performance mode

and either way i dont hear em

infact i hear my HDD on my ET9000 louder and know when ever a recording is about to start but the NAS

brilliant

and it has good CS support and its own forum

There was no fan adjustment on the Buffalo, short of unplugging the fan - and then the unit would shut itself down with a fan fault warning - grrr! I ended up having to put it in the loft!

I was shocked at how dismissive Buffalo Support is towards it's customers - it does make you wonder how they manage to stay in business. I didn't actually pay any money for this NAS - a friend gave it to me as a thank you for some free consultancy work I did for him. But I certainly would never consider another Buffalo product again.

Your experience with Synology and their DS311j sounds pretty impressive and you seem to be able to do so much stuff with them so that is definately going on my shopping list

Thanks so much for your prompt reply - really appreciate it.

Best regards, Mark

[silverfox0786]

no probs clabs glad to help

although i brought my nas before xmas i may upgrade it or get a second one that how impressed i was

the j series are ideal for starters in the nas and synology brand game

teh 2xxj is 2 bay and 4xxj is 4 bay so make yr choice and go for it

[Sandman]

Its worth noting you could build an HTPC for little more which would also give you the flexibility of building an HD movie library (and much more) as well as storage for your STB!