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Forum Discussion
ReadyNAS NV+ (gigabit Ethernet) vs. USB 2.0 speeds
Hi,
I'm a long-time user of a ReadyNAS NV+ device but a first-time poster on this forum. I hope someone can give me some advice about the performance of the ReadyNAS NV+ vs. an external USB 2.0 hard drive.
I've owned my ReadyNAS NV+ since May 2010 and use it to backup my home network every week. The ReadyNAS has four 2TB WD20EARS Western Digital drives and currently has 3.6TB of free space. My network has a D-Link DIR-825 router (w/a 4-port gigabit switch) that supports Jumbo Frames. I've configured the ReadyNAS and the PC network adapter to use Jumbo Frames. I've connected the ReadyNAS to one of the ports on the back of the router. My computer is connected to another of the ports on the back of the router. The computer is a desktop machine with an Intel Core i7 CPU (3.07 GHz processor), 12 GB of physical memory (RAM), and runs the Window 7 Pro operating system. Everything is wired via gigabit Ethernet and the physical wiring is done with Cat5 cables.
I also have an external USB drive (500 MB) that I connect to the PC via a USB 2.0 port. I use this external USB drive to make biannual off-site backups of my PC.
My backup software is NovaBACK Professional v15 (http://www.novastor.com/). This software provides a good bit of information while a backup job is running, including the data transfer speed (MB/sec).
The theoretical throughput of a USB 2.0 connection is 480 mbps or 60 MB/sec and the theoretical throughput of a gigabit Ethernet connection is 1000 mbps or 125 MB/sec. So (theoretically) the gigabit Ethernet connection should be slightly more than 2x faster than the USB 2.0 connection.
When I do a backup of the PC to the NAS device, via the wired gigabit Ethernet connection described above, I routinely get between 8 - 15 MB/sec maximum transfer (write) speeds. I've never seen more than 15 MB/sec which is about 12% of the theoretical maximum speed of a gigabit Ethernet connection. Is it possible that the combined overhead of the drive I/O controllers on the PC and NAS plus the Ethernet overhead (packet transmission, flow control, etc.) are sapping 88% of more of the network performance?? What do I need to do to "unlock" the performance potential of the ReadyNAS NV+? I've seen discussions of gigabit Ethernet performance speeds of 25 - 40 MB/sec for a ReadyNAS NV+ (http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=363) and also on this forum.
In comparison, when I do the backup of the PC to the external drive, via the USB 2.0 connection described above, I routinely get between 25 - 31 MB/sec maximum transfer (write) speeds. I've never seen more than 31 MB/sec which is about 52% of the theoretical maximum speed of a USB 2.0 connection.
I'm surprised to see the speed of the USB 2.0 connection is 2x faster than the gigabit Ethernet connection when (on paper) it should be the opposite.
As noted above, my network devices (Router switch, PC network adapter, and ReadyNAS NV+) all have gigabit speed network connections, Cat5 cables, and Jumbo Frames. The network connection is PC--switch--NAS. In my research on this topic, these are the things that lots of folks point to as having significant impact on network performance. I've taken this advice, but still don't get the expected 2x speed boost of a gigabit Ethernet connection vs. a USB 2.0 connection. What do I need to do to increase the performance of my NAS device?
I appreciate any and all advice the members of this forum can give me.
Thanks,
Mark
I'm a long-time user of a ReadyNAS NV+ device but a first-time poster on this forum. I hope someone can give me some advice about the performance of the ReadyNAS NV+ vs. an external USB 2.0 hard drive.
I've owned my ReadyNAS NV+ since May 2010 and use it to backup my home network every week. The ReadyNAS has four 2TB WD20EARS Western Digital drives and currently has 3.6TB of free space. My network has a D-Link DIR-825 router (w/a 4-port gigabit switch) that supports Jumbo Frames. I've configured the ReadyNAS and the PC network adapter to use Jumbo Frames. I've connected the ReadyNAS to one of the ports on the back of the router. My computer is connected to another of the ports on the back of the router. The computer is a desktop machine with an Intel Core i7 CPU (3.07 GHz processor), 12 GB of physical memory (RAM), and runs the Window 7 Pro operating system. Everything is wired via gigabit Ethernet and the physical wiring is done with Cat5 cables.
I also have an external USB drive (500 MB) that I connect to the PC via a USB 2.0 port. I use this external USB drive to make biannual off-site backups of my PC.
My backup software is NovaBACK Professional v15 (http://www.novastor.com/). This software provides a good bit of information while a backup job is running, including the data transfer speed (MB/sec).
The theoretical throughput of a USB 2.0 connection is 480 mbps or 60 MB/sec and the theoretical throughput of a gigabit Ethernet connection is 1000 mbps or 125 MB/sec. So (theoretically) the gigabit Ethernet connection should be slightly more than 2x faster than the USB 2.0 connection.
When I do a backup of the PC to the NAS device, via the wired gigabit Ethernet connection described above, I routinely get between 8 - 15 MB/sec maximum transfer (write) speeds. I've never seen more than 15 MB/sec which is about 12% of the theoretical maximum speed of a gigabit Ethernet connection. Is it possible that the combined overhead of the drive I/O controllers on the PC and NAS plus the Ethernet overhead (packet transmission, flow control, etc.) are sapping 88% of more of the network performance?? What do I need to do to "unlock" the performance potential of the ReadyNAS NV+? I've seen discussions of gigabit Ethernet performance speeds of 25 - 40 MB/sec for a ReadyNAS NV+ (http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=363) and also on this forum.
In comparison, when I do the backup of the PC to the external drive, via the USB 2.0 connection described above, I routinely get between 25 - 31 MB/sec maximum transfer (write) speeds. I've never seen more than 31 MB/sec which is about 52% of the theoretical maximum speed of a USB 2.0 connection.
I'm surprised to see the speed of the USB 2.0 connection is 2x faster than the gigabit Ethernet connection when (on paper) it should be the opposite.
As noted above, my network devices (Router switch, PC network adapter, and ReadyNAS NV+) all have gigabit speed network connections, Cat5 cables, and Jumbo Frames. The network connection is PC--switch--NAS. In my research on this topic, these are the things that lots of folks point to as having significant impact on network performance. I've taken this advice, but still don't get the expected 2x speed boost of a gigabit Ethernet connection vs. a USB 2.0 connection. What do I need to do to increase the performance of my NAS device?
I appreciate any and all advice the members of this forum can give me.
Thanks,
Mark
1 Reply
- Your NV's performance is limited by the it's CPU, which is not very fast. If you upgraded to any of the newer models you'd see much faster performance.
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