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Forum Discussion
Time Machine is painfully slow
I just got a new Ultra 4 (RNDU4220) and am finding Time Machine so slow as to be unusable. I've read various threads here, but am not finding a solution.
I'm not well-versed in networks, but if I drag & drop a 1.84 GB file to the NAS, I see network write speeds of 45 - 75 MB/s in iStat Pro. When doing a Time Machine backup, these speeds plummet to 216 kb - 2.9 MB/s (usually reading less than 1 MB/s). It is taking roughly 15 - 30 seconds for Time Machine's progress bar to increment 1 kb ("Backing Up: 20 KB of 688.8 MB").
The initial Time Machine backup of 1.4 TB took about 26 hours. Since the initial setup and initial Time Machine backup, I've added a 2TB Western Digital drive (RE4 WD2003FYY). There has been no noticeable change in performance.
I also measured performance using Helios LAN Test and measured write speeds of 47.36 [MB/sec] and read speeds of 58.69 [MB/sec]. It seems that only Time Machine is having problems.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
John
SYSTEM CONFIG:
Mac:
-----------------
System: Mac Pro, early 2009 Quad-Core Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz
RAM: 6GB
Network connection: Gigabit, hard wired
Jumbo Frames enabled
Router: D-Link DIR-655
READYNAS:
-------------
Model: Ultra 4
Firmware: RAIDiator 4.2.19
Memory: 1024 MB [DDR2]
Volume C: Online, X-RAID2, 3 disks, 32% of 3692 GB used
Drives: Seagate ST2000DL003 (2, came with unit); Western Digital RE4 WD2003FYY.
Frontview:
------------
NETWORK -
Status: Online / 1 Gbit / Full-Duplex (no errors or collisions listed)
Speed/Duplex Mode: Auto-negotiation
MTU: 9000
Enable jumbo frames: checked
PERFORMANCE -
Enable disk write cache: checked
Disable full data journaling: checked
Enable fast USB disk writes: unchecked
SERVICES - Standard File Protocols -
CIFS, AFP, HTTP, HTTPS: checked
All others: unchecked
SERVICES - Streaming Services -
ReadyDLNA: checked
Automatically update database: checked
Enable TiVo...: checked
iTunes Streaming Server: unchecked
Services - Discovery Services -
Bonjour service (and all Bonjour options): checked
I'm not well-versed in networks, but if I drag & drop a 1.84 GB file to the NAS, I see network write speeds of 45 - 75 MB/s in iStat Pro. When doing a Time Machine backup, these speeds plummet to 216 kb - 2.9 MB/s (usually reading less than 1 MB/s). It is taking roughly 15 - 30 seconds for Time Machine's progress bar to increment 1 kb ("Backing Up: 20 KB of 688.8 MB").
The initial Time Machine backup of 1.4 TB took about 26 hours. Since the initial setup and initial Time Machine backup, I've added a 2TB Western Digital drive (RE4 WD2003FYY). There has been no noticeable change in performance.
I also measured performance using Helios LAN Test and measured write speeds of 47.36 [MB/sec] and read speeds of 58.69 [MB/sec]. It seems that only Time Machine is having problems.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
John
SYSTEM CONFIG:
Mac:
-----------------
System: Mac Pro, early 2009 Quad-Core Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz
RAM: 6GB
Network connection: Gigabit, hard wired
Jumbo Frames enabled
Router: D-Link DIR-655
READYNAS:
-------------
Model: Ultra 4
Firmware: RAIDiator 4.2.19
Memory: 1024 MB [DDR2]
Volume C: Online, X-RAID2, 3 disks, 32% of 3692 GB used
Drives: Seagate ST2000DL003 (2, came with unit); Western Digital RE4 WD2003FYY.
Frontview:
------------
NETWORK -
Status: Online / 1 Gbit / Full-Duplex (no errors or collisions listed)
Speed/Duplex Mode: Auto-negotiation
MTU: 9000
Enable jumbo frames: checked
PERFORMANCE -
Enable disk write cache: checked
Disable full data journaling: checked
Enable fast USB disk writes: unchecked
SERVICES - Standard File Protocols -
CIFS, AFP, HTTP, HTTPS: checked
All others: unchecked
SERVICES - Streaming Services -
ReadyDLNA: checked
Automatically update database: checked
Enable TiVo...: checked
iTunes Streaming Server: unchecked
Services - Discovery Services -
Bonjour service (and all Bonjour options): checked
4 Replies
- What version of Mac OS X on your Mac? Were you running an older version when you did the first backup (if so, what?).
Do you remember what version of RAIDiator you were running when you did the first TM backup?
If not, determine when you did the first TM backup by looking in TM preferences on your Mac. Then go into Frontview and download your logs (Status > Logs > Download all logs). Look at initrd.log and it will indicate when you updated to different firmware versions. - I'm using Snow Leopard. The NAS is fresh out of the box (arrived 11/23) with the latest firmware (I don't have the version handy*, but did check the website for firmware & software updates).
* Note: I had purchased the 4220 (came with two 2 TB Seagate drives -- cheaper than buying them separately). One of the Seagate drives has died -- after being powered on for less than three days. Thus, the whole thing is boxed up and going back. Right I'm debating on giving Netgear another chance, but providing my own drives (this is my 4th Seagate failure in less than 6 months); or going with a different solution.
Thanks,
John - Using Snow Leopard is good. It's the most reliable version of Mac OS X for Time Machine backups at this time. Have you installed the latest 10.6.x update?
Time Machine does backup lots of small system files so performance is going to be a lot lower than transferring large files. Also TMs backups with versioning does have overheads. However your speeds do appear to be terribly slow.
I would try with a diskless model choosing your preferred disks from the HCL
Insert one disk, ensure the NAS is running the latest firmware, then put all disks in and do a factory default (http://www.readynas.com/kb/faq/boot/how_do_i_use_the_boot_menu)
This will ensure you have a clean setup on the latest firmware.
Then configure Time Machine and see what the backup performance is like. - I wanted to post a follow-up on this. I returned the Ultra 4 (RNDU4220) due to the poor performance and the failed drive. I replaced it with a Ultra 4 Plus (RNDP400U). I currently have just one drive in it, a 3TB Hitachi Deskstar that was on the compatibility list. The backup speed is running between 8.5 - 48.6 MB/s (as measured by iStat Pro). Something was obviously wrong with the other unit.
I'm going to try this one out for awhile and hopefully it continues to work better than the previous one. I plan on installing a second Hitachi 3TB next week.
John
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