Speeding up data transfer?

Are these your write speeds?

For your NV+ (v1) units about 10 MB/s is what you'd expect for write speeds.

The NV+ is using hardware from early 2006, so the hardware is quite old.

A newer ReadyNAS may perform better. Though using a 200 Mbps Powerline adapter the performance you'd get might not be much better (200 Mbps may give you up to around 20 MB/s, but due to various factors your performance may be less). Cat5e or newer ethernet cables are better than ethernet over power.

you may be limited by either the NAS or the powerline adapter. Those things tend to never get their full speed and global performance vary depending on installations. Direct cable is always the best, but I think that if you got powerline in first place this is not possible. You could either use a better powerline adapter or use wifi N or AC if possible.
look at real throughput for powerline adapters : http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/p ... harts/view

NV+ is not the fastest NAS on the market either. You could connect it to your PC to see the max speed (just give the two devices fixed IP on the same range), that way you'd know what you can squeeze out of it.
Jumbo frames could work, but your router/switch has to support it too, and given your computer I expect you to do something else than browsing the web, jumbo frames may increase the ping in games for example.

As mdgm suggests, newer NAS are much faster. Though it seems to me that you might want to probe the bottlenecks here, since the NV+ is capable of ~15 MB/s write speeds for large sequential files, and you aren't seeing that.

-I would not recommend sending jumbo frames over powerline.

-Also, the 10 MB/s you are seeing is suspiciously close to the limit for fast ethernet. So I'd confirm that you have gigabit speeds at both the PC and the Nas (and the path inbetween).

I'm not sure I have the topology straight here. I am thinking a Router -> Powerline -> Gigabit ethernet switch -> Lenovo+NAS???

If so, the PC and the NAS are connected to the same gigabit switch, and powerline (and the router) are not being used when you transfer between them.

But if it is connected differently, then perhaps powerline is on the path - in which case it likely is the bottleneck. Your powerline module connects with fast ethernet ports, so it is not capable of more than 10 MB/s transfer, I believe your router is also fast ethernet.

If you are interested in raising the performance, I first suggest using nastester as the benchmark (http://www.808.dk/?code-csharp-nas-performance). It's a free download, and provides consistent results that can compared with what other forum members get.

I'd suggest benchmarking your setup "as is" first, then trying a direct connect test - similar to xeltros's suggestion.

I assumed that the PC was isolated in its room so I had : NAS => switch/router => powerline A => powerline B (in the other room) => Lenovo
But looks like I read a little quickly, re-reading the first post, it seems you are right and that the PC-NAS circuit only uses the gigabit switch.

10Mbytes/s is indeed pretty close to the 12Mbytes/s limit of the 100mbit/s connection. I think you are asking for a cable check here ;)
@clingon, do you use category 5E or better cables ? old cables using cat5 (not 5E) are not compatible with gigabit speeds. Can you test with another cable ?

A cable check is reasonable. It's also easy to confirm that both devices have negotiated gigabit - usually also the LED status on the switch has a different color for gigabit than fast ethernet.

Guys thanks so much for all your replies!

Set up is:

Router => Powerline => Switch & the PC & Nas are hooked up to the switch using brand new cat6a cables.

Here's the very cables I bought.....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003CL8KAQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's the switch....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000N9B688/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's my PC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DIVAOH2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's my powerline
http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Networks-200Mbps-Powerline-Adapters/dp/B008O52VN2/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1409598198&sr=1-1&keywords=On+Networks

Yup, I'm an Amazon addict :lol:

A bit gutted at the moment as I've bought all this new kit & not really seen any increase in performance yet lol

I'm probably due a new powerline & ac router, but at the moment I thought that as the Lenovo, switch & NAS were all at the one end of the circuit then technically the router & the powerline wouldn't matter at the moment.

I read this article on performance http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12242/~/how-to-optimize-readynas-performance-(sparc)(-x86) & figured that my set-up should really be hitting the 17.5 - 27 MB/sec for 'drop & drag' write speeds?

Hope thats a bit clearer & would really appreciate any help/ comments :)

Could you try to unplug the powerline adapter from the switch ? letting only cat6a cable on gigabit interfaces on it ? It should probably do nothing but I'd like to make sure that the switch doesn't use the weakest internet to set his other ports (never seen this before but...).
Couldn't find anything saying that you workstation had gigabit (didn't search for long I agree, still the techsheet didn't mention it...). Are you positive that this is a gigabit interface ? did you install the right driver for it ?
Have you done the direct connect test ?

you are right, everything passes by the switch the other hardware doesn't really matter, here the only things interesting are the switch, the NAS and the PC.

xeltros wrote:

Could you try to unplug the powerline adapter from the switch ? letting only cat6a cable on gigabit interfaces on it ? It should probably do nothing but I'd like to make sure that the switch doesn't use the weakest internet to set his other ports (never seen this before but...). Couldn't find anything saying that you workstation had gigabit (didn't search for long I agree, still the techsheet didn't mention it...). Are you positive that this is a gigabit interface ? did you install the right driver for it ? Have you done the direct connect test ? you are right, everything passes by the switch the other hardware doesn't really matter, here the only things interesting are the switch, the NAS and the PC.

Thanks Xeltros, yup sure the Lenovo is gigabit & have just been using it straight out the box so assuming the driver is correct, however will double check.

Take it this would be found under device management?

Good idea to unplug the powerline, Iwill try this & let you know if there's any difference :D

Driver from manufacturer = good driver, maybe not the latest but for network card it shouldn't have that much impact anyway. If you were up to 950mbit/s instead of 1000 maybe but you just don't have a 1 to 10 ration for the driver.
Windows should tell you if you are in gigabit though when you go to the connection properties.

For the powerline, I'm just playing the odds here, there is not reason I can see that could affect your network but I don't have that kind of equipement, my switch are either pro or semi-pro. But I think that a fictive british detective once said, "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". So I'm eliminating ;)

The PC is gigabit. I'd move on to the direct connect test next.

Are both NAS running at the same speed? Have you checked the one with 2 TB drives for 4K alignment? How about 16K block sizes? http://www.rnasguide.com/2011/06/22/why ... -readynas/