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Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

NND
Aspirant
Aspirant

Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

Hi All,

 

I have RN426, connected to my Mac Pro 5.1. Two days ago I started back up of one of my Firewire 800 disks (WD 2TB). I used Carbon Copy Cloner to back up whole 2TB disk (almost full) to a newly created Share on the RN426. This NAS has fresh new two Ironwolfs Pro 16TB and two Barracuda's of 1TB each. I started back up almost two days ago and it is still copying. The files on the disk are 90% Pro Tools sessions with lots of wav and aiff audio files. This just doesn't look good to me as it is taking so long. One thing I see now is that the Share I created on NAS for this purpose has only one protocol: SMB. If I had used AFP or something different, would that help with the transfer speed? This is all quite new to me so any help is appreciated.

Model: RN426|ReadyNAS 426 – High-performance Business Data Storage - 6-Bays
Message 1 of 10

Accepted Solutions
StephenB
Guru

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?


@NND wrote:

I just restarted computer (after two days) and then run Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on that NAS share and got about 99MB/s write and 95 read, that should be good speed?

Yes, that is what you'd expect for gigabit ethernet.  However, if you copy a lot of small files, the speed will drop.

 

Have you compared the drag-drop speed to the mac with your carbon copy cloner?

 

Then perhaps also compare drag-drop from the NAS to the firewire drive with the drag-drop from the NAS to the mac hard drive.

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Message 8 of 10

All Replies
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

Is the NAS volume still syncing?  If so, that will slow thngs a lot.

 

What are the connections from the NAS and Mac to the router and/opr switches involved (gigabit Ethernet, wifi, etc.)?   Does Carbon Copy Cloner send one big file, or many?  Are files verified after writing?  Is Strict Sync enabled for the share?  Is enahced SMB access for Mac enabled?

 

I doubt the SMB protocol is the main issue, and the answers to the above may help us figure out what is.

Message 2 of 10
NND
Aspirant
Aspirant

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

  • NAS is connected to Gigabith ethernet port on Mac via the router GS116Ev2.
  • Carbon Copy Cloner is making copy of the disk content so it is sending all the files one by one, I guess.
  • I don't know about files being verified after writting, where can I check this?
  • Strict Sync is enabled.
  • Enhanced SMB? Don't know about that, can not find much about this either. Where should I look for this?
Message 3 of 10
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

Under System/Settings/SMB, there is an Enhance MacOS checkbox.  Strict sync is probably not a factor for a bunch of smaller files.

 

What about the volume syncing?  If that's still ongoing, use of the volume will be slow, and doing the backup now will slow the sync.

Message 4 of 10
NND
Aspirant
Aspirant

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

Thanx Sandshark for your help!

 

I just turned Enhance Mac OS SMB setting on.

 

Basically, this NAS so far is only used as big HD, there is no sync services set up or anything similar. I only put there a lot of big movie files, some photo's...but no running processes in the background, even disks go to sleep after some time of inactvity.

 

The copy task is now finished, it took 39:17:23' to copy 1.81 TB data.

I am copying this data to have safe back up of a disk that was working without single trouble for more then 7 years. Almost daily backing up my Pro Tools sesions and some related files.

 

I will set up new back up directly to this NAS from now on, should I turn some things on/off when creating new share for this purpose?

 

I also need to do some mory "safety" back up's soon and this time from old USB 2 drives, will I gain some speed if I connect that USB disk directly to the NAS?

Message 5 of 10
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

The sync I am asking about is the intial sync of the NAS RAID volume.  It will show on the Volumes page of the GUI and in the log.  That takes some time on a new NAS.  And if you started the backup before it completed, the two processes are competing for drive access, and the sync is going to get a bigger share.

Message 6 of 10
NND
Aspirant
Aspirant

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

Oh that sync! That happend weekend before, also took a day and more, but it was first Ironwolf and after that sync second one and then I got some real space to be used. The only thing was that NAS didn't ask for those two to be formated, but start sync immidiatelly. I guess they come preformatted for NAS stations.

I just restarted computer (after two days) and then run Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on that NAS share and got about 99MB/s write and 95 read, that should be good speed? It must be firewire to NAS, as the FW disk has now 58MB/s Write and 42 read!!

I am still wondering if I should connect USB drive directly to NAS to copy it's content, will that be faster then thru Mac?

Message 7 of 10
StephenB
Guru

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?


@NND wrote:

I just restarted computer (after two days) and then run Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on that NAS share and got about 99MB/s write and 95 read, that should be good speed?

Yes, that is what you'd expect for gigabit ethernet.  However, if you copy a lot of small files, the speed will drop.

 

Have you compared the drag-drop speed to the mac with your carbon copy cloner?

 

Then perhaps also compare drag-drop from the NAS to the firewire drive with the drag-drop from the NAS to the mac hard drive.

Message 8 of 10
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

Yes, if the drive has USB3, then copying directly from the drive connected to the NAS will be much faster than going over the LAN.  But you need to use a backup job for it, not use a computer to drag and drop or use a program (like with the Blackmagic tool you are currerently using).  Those other methods will transfer over the LAN twice -- once from the USB drive to the computer and once from the computer back to the main NAS volume.  A backup job will copy straight from the USB to the main volume.  Of course, if you are comfortable with SSH and Linux, you can use that for a direct copy, too.  Just watch file ownership.

 

My suspicion is that the Blackmagic tool has a lot of overhead, possibly file verification, or is just not designed for use with a mounted drive and that is the main source of the bottleneck.

 

I'm not sure if the Mac enhancements will take effect without re-booting the NAS.  I'm not a Mac user.

Message 9 of 10
NND
Aspirant
Aspirant

Re: Backup from Firewire 800 disk to NAS is slow!?

One of drives is USB2, so that will be a slow process, but will definately try with back up job.

 

I don't have SSH Linux knowledge, so it will be with GUI and/or app's.

 

Just restarted NAS and quickly tested the speed and now got Write 105MB/s and read is the same, around 94.

 

Thank you very much guys for quick help and tips, will keep that in mind during my further NAS explorations.

 

cheers, Nenad

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