SLOW backing up to USB

How did you format the external drives? EXT3 is fastest. NTFS seems to be slower.

also you may want to check the frontview > peformance > enable fast usb writes

TeknoJnky wrote:
also you may want to check the frontview > peformance > enable fast usb writes

The option is found under System > Performance. Remember to properly unmount the disk if you check this option:
http://www.readynas.com/forum/faq.php#How_do_I_improve_write_speeds_of_USB_External_Drive_attached_to_ReadyNAS%3F.

B52hbuff wrote:
EXT3 is fastest.

EXT2 is faster actually.

B52hbuff wrote:
NTFS seems to be slower.

Yes it is. FAT32 (has a 4GB per file limitation) is in-between NTFS and EXT3 performance wise.

Another thing to be aware of is: Does your USB disk have a sleep timer? If so, connect the disk up to a PC, run the utility, tell the drive never to go to sleep, apply the changes and disconnect it from the PC.

USB speeds still aren't going to be that great on the NV+ (slow CPU etc.). The NVX, Pro etc. can do USB backups quicker and have decent speeds backing up to disks formatted using the NTFS filesystem.

mdgm wrote:

Another thing to be aware of is: Does your USB disk have a sleep timer? If so, connect the disk up to a PC, run the utility, tell the drive never to go to sleep, apply the changes and disconnect it from the PC. USB speeds still aren't going to be that great on the NV+ (slow CPU etc.). The NVX, Pro etc. can do USB backups quicker and have decent speeds backing up to disks formatted using the NTFS filesystem.

+1 on the sleep timer issue. Certain external drives (both 2.5" AND 3.5") cause BIGTIME slowdowns in the web interface AND the backup times.

Most external drives have no utility to turn off sleep timers. I've been using Seagate drives as I can use their utility to turn off the sleep timer.

This issue happens even before the drive goes to sleep. I have more than 20 ReadyNAS (NV+ and Duos) in businesses and ALL have this problem if the drive has a sleep timer turned on.

Also - backups seem to go a bit faster if you change out the RAM to say a 1GB module.

But no matter what - the initial backup will take DAYS depending on how much data there is to back up. I'm waiting for a new NV+ to finish its first backup of 156GB, it's taken 34 hours so far and it has 3GB to go.

Ok thanks for the replies!

I have shut off the sleep mode on the seagate drives by direct connect and using seagate manager.

I have a question about the fast writes: I get the following info next to the option:
"This option speeds up USB write access by accessing the USB device in asynchronous mode. If you enable this option, do not remove the USB device without properly unmounting it. Failure to do so can compromise data integrity on the device."

I am wondering if this means that every time the client goes to take it off site after backup completion they have to dismount it first? I don't want the client to have to anything but disconnect it and take it offsite. Id hate to see them corrupting the data by unplugging it to take it with them offsite.

forquer wrote:
I am wondering if this means that every time the client goes to take it off site after backup completion they have to dismount it first? I don't want the client to have to anything but disconnect it and take it offsite. Id hate to see them corrupting the data by unplugging it to take it with them offsite.

You would have to safely dismount the disk by pressing and holding the backup button for five seconds or unmount it via Frontview. If you're not prepared to risk data corruption then leave the Enable Fast USB writes option off. EXT3 filesystem would be the best to use. EXT2 may be faster, but it is less safe as it doesn't have journaling.

OK thanks for the info; i will leave the option off because i don't trust them to unmount them properly; also we are using the EXT3 file system

Mine was SLOW as well.

Steps taken to solve (all may not be required):

Stopped the slow backup, which took days to backup only 186GB.
Device Part Description Used Size FS Speed
1 WD My Book 1111 [Partition 1] 186 GB 1391 GB EXT3 480


Formatted from NTFS to EXT3. (This can be accomplished in the ReadyNAS Admin under Volumes/USB
Storage/Device "Options" Drop Menu - Format EXT3 .)

Loaded Ext2IFS_1_11a.exe on Windows 7 in order to be able to read USB Partition on my Windows 7 PC
when needed. (You need to use Vista Compatibility settings to install without errors. Right Click - Properties - Compatibility - Windows Vista (SP 2) works )

Updated the WD My Book drive firmware from 1.03 to 2.03 version. (This seems to have enabled the software to see EXT3 partition information/data) This could have also been the Ext2IFS. I would need to have reviewed more between steps to be sure.

Updated my VCD software on PC from 1.1.0.7 to 1.2.1.26

Downloaded a tool (WDSmartWareVirtualCDManagerforWindows-v1.0.7.4) to allow me to turn off the VCD (Virtual CD) function since the ReadyNAS will not use the tools anyway, and this may limit volume confusion.

You can also Turn OFF the VCD in the newer software.

Disabled the Sleep Timer (Temporary test, although once the backup is running I figure this has little to do with backup speed, only startups) In the Software goto - Settings/Software Settings/ and Turn OFF the "Pause backup until computer is idle".

Go to ReadyNAS admin System/Performance and "Enable fast USB disk writes".

At this point Disconnect/Dismount the USB volume and power cycle the USB device, reconnect.

Restart the backup.

This worked for me. If I had more time I would test after each change, but I’ll leave that up to the rest of you. 

W

As far as I'm aware (and the last time I tried was several firmware updates ago), the "Backup" facility in Frontview is a straight cp copy operation when used in the manner described in this thread: all the data over again, every time the backup task runs. Is this still the case?

If so, yes, the Frontview-created disk-to-disk backup jobs are going to take hours and days.

So I'd like to point out that using rsync "manually" through a remote shell to the ReadyNAS will speed up your backups by a huge margin, as it's designed to only copy new files and the parts of existing files that have changed. You could even create a small shell script and cron job to automate the process. You'd need to install the SSH addon, be logged in as root and so on, so a full discussion is way beyond the scope of this thread. But if you've never heard of rsync and its ilk (rsnapshot, unison, et al), then I recommend you find time to do some reading about it on the interwebs (http://www.google.com/search?q=rsync%20backup). I can practically guarantee you won't regret it.

I'd also like to point out that the steps you'd need to take to get that far (e.g., installing the EnableRootSSH addon - http://www.readynas.com/?page_id=617) will likely mean you're on your own as far as official support from NETGEAR. Y'know, caveat haX0r.

I would imagine (or hope) that the feature suggestion has already been made to incorporate the functionality of 'rsync' into Frontview's backup system for disk-to-disk backups (e.g., from the ReadyNAS to an external USB disk). As I recall, it's already supported for other backup scenarios, like to/from remote rsync servers. I know the ReadyNAS folks have a big to-do list.

Potentially useful references:

http://www.google.com/search?q=readynas ... up%20rsync

ReadyNAS form post: Backup ReadyNas to ReadyNas with rsync and exclude lists

P.S.: Don't forget to look into rsync's --delete option, or else the external that you're backing up to will eventually fill up as, by default, no files on the destination filesystem will ever be deleted without it.

Greetings,

I am trying to backup my data because of a failed array expansion. Once backed up I will do a factory reset and start with a blank slate. I am using backup as configured from FrontView, and it is taking forever.

I have 916GB to backup (7868380086272 bits), and the target drive is a 2TB drive in an external enclosure, plugged in to the front panel USB port. I figured that at 480Mbps, this would have to take at least 4.55 hours.

I started the backup at 8am, 7/13 (yesterday morning). It is now 9pm 7/14, so it's been going for 37 hours. I can't seem to get the backup log (the Frontview webpage nevers returns a file), and I can't get at the USB drive volume via CIFS to see how it's going. I did discover that in Frontview, the volume tab shows that the USB drive volume:
1 ST320005 42AS [Partition 1] 364 GB 1863 GB NTFS 480

So, 364GB in 37 hours means that it is copying data at about 9.87GB/hour, or 2.8MB/s, or 22.4Mbps. This seems wrong.

The usb drive is not set for fast disconnects. It is NTFS rather than EXT3 (but it needs to be, for what I'm doing). Are there any recommendations on how to make this go a bit faster?

Thank you,
Arthur