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Forum Discussion
jfitter
Feb 22, 2014Aspirant
Extraordinary SLOW performance on ReadyNAS NV+
Ive got a problem. Spent 4 days trolling the internet for answers and Ive finally admitted defeat and hope someone on this forum can offer a solution. Sofar, what I have learned from the internet is that a lot of people are getting slow performance from ReadyNAS devices, but very few getting such poor performance as I am getting. Also there are thousands of people offering solutions that are nothing short of guesses. There are very few true experts and those that are are not answering my problem.
The unit is an NV+ (says v3 on the bottom but I now know this is really a v1 - good one Netgear!!)
It has a 4x1T disk X-Raid and has worked just fine for a long time looking after work and family stuff - pics, videos, backups, etc. There is 396G of data on it.
It recently started to go very very slow. Read/write transfer speeds are 327KB/s (KB.... not MB!!). I have a small simple SOHO network for contract work and home duties, Ethernet 100 and Wireless N. All Cat6 cabling and GB switches. The GB router is coming soon.
Initially I suspected the Win7 laptop. Many configuration alterations and tweaks with no improvement caused me to look elsewhere. The following major changes all resulted in NO performance improvement.
1. Use WinXP Pro instead of Win7 (performance on WinXP was much worse)
2. Use NFS shares for Win7 (this is the 327KB/s setting - CIFS shares barely work at all)
3. FTP transfers.
4. Direct cable connection to Win7 computer (no router)
5. Direct cable connection to XP computer (no router)
6. Play with various MTU settings
7. Play with a lot of other settings suggested by "internet experts" (all now returned back to original settings)
Losing all data on the NAS is not really an option. 20 years of family photos and other stuff are in various places - dvds, backup drives, etc., but I would rather not chase this lot up. If I fix this problem I will implement a more secure system.
At present I am recovering the NAS contents, downloading the entire contents, 396G at 327KB/s - this should ONLY take about 14 days :evil:
When I have recovered it all I can do what I want. I sure had better things to do with my time, and not too happy with Netgear at present. The NAS and the drives are quite new and I would not expect hardware failures this soon. The drives are WD and on the compatibility list.
My questions are.
1. If I buy a more recent NAS, say a RN104, can I just plug my existing x-raid array into it and carry on?
2. Any clues about the likely cause of the problem? I am an embedded control engineer and in my field things just don't go slow - they work or they don't, so I am at a loss to think of a failure mode that may cause these symptoms.
This is not such a bad option for me as I get all the new features - GB connectivity and addons that the NV+ has not got. I am prepared to take a chance with Netgear just ONE more time.
One more thing - if I transfer say 5 to 10MB of data and check the error log using Frontview I see about 2500 TCP retransmits, but NO other errors. I am sure this is diagnostic. Any clues?
Also, the SMART check on each of the drives show no indication of any faults, or even any impending faults.
Any help in this matter would, I am sure, prolong my life immeasurably, and receive my gratitude.
cheers, JohnF
Added later after some thought. I have a machine running Ubuntu. Can I hook the disks from the NAS up to this to recover the data, and if so how should I go about it?
15 Replies
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- vandermerweMasterWhat firmware are you running ?
Have you hooked up a USB disk to the nv+ and setup a backup job to it? If so, what is the speed like?
You have tried different ethernet cables?
I realise you have tried many lan configurations, but have you connected PC to NAS through the switch?
Also you do not have jumbo frames enabled hopefully?
Have you done a memory test?
Have you done an OS reinstall, perhaps try this when you have backed up the data.
The disks would only be transferable into another nv+, not into any other readynas device.
Sounds like a nic card or other network problem. You say the NAS is quite new, how new? - vandermerweMasterAlso, what wd disks are they?
Have you power cycled the switch, router and NAS? - jfitterAspirant
vandermerwe wrote: What firmware are you running ?
Radiator 4.1.13Have you hooked up a USB disk to the nv+ and setup a backup job to it? If so, what is the speed like?
No. Would this be a good thing to do?You have tried different ethernet cables?
All brand new cat6 - bought them 2 days ago.I realise you have tried many lan configurations, but have you connected PC to NAS through the switch?
direct connection and through a switch. Brand new GB switch, bought it with the cables.Also you do not have jumbo frames enabled hopefully?
No jumbo frames - wise to that one.Have you done a memory test?
Not yet. Will it be diagnostic? Is the memory removable?Have you done an OS reinstall, perhaps try this when you have backed up the data.
Definitely - when I get through the recovery. If I get the data off, then fixing the NV+ is of academic interest to me only. I'm quite happy to bin it and get a better one. What I need now is an expedient means of successfully recovering the data, preferably something that is not going to consume the next fortnight.The disks would only be transferable into another nv+, not into any other readynas device.
Yes, I figured that from reading hundreds of posts. My real question is "can I mount the disks on a Linux machine" and if so, how should I go about it. My Linux skills are ordinary - I work with embedded controllers and all my tools are Windows based, so I don't get much practice with Linux.Sounds like a nic card or other network problem. You say the NAS is quite new, how new?
NAS - 18 months old but much of that time it is switched off. Originally had only 2 drives and 2 more added later. 2 drives have 3441 POH and other 2 have 10060 POH. None are showing any read or write errors.
NIC is fine. The problems are unchanged regardless of the NIC used - Laptop LAN, Laptop wireless, Desktop LAN, wifes Laptop Wireless. Direct connections eliminate the router. New cables and switch eliminate the rest. - vandermerweMasterIf you have a spare disk and a USB caddy you can attach it to the readynas, format it in a format that windows can read, then setup backup jobs to copy the data onto the USB disk. If the slow performance has something to do with the LAN port on the Nas, you may get faster speeds with USB. Another way to get your data backed up.
http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=306
There are ways to mount the raid volume, start with the article above. I'm not an expert on that. - jfitterAspirant1. Memory test done and tested OK (took a long time).
2. Got a USB3 drive, so now just figuring out what to do with it. If it works, good, otherwise I will follow the directions on the (very) good link on how to set up the drives on Linux.
Thanks so far.... - jfitterAspirantUSB disc is connected and backing up. Hope it works.
I plugged the USB drive in and it's share is visible in Explorer but I cannot connect to it. It asks for a username/password to connect and none that I have will work. Yet another round of reading hundreds of posts, only to find that this is a problem known to Netgear and has clearly NOT been addressed. What a bunch of amateurs :evil:
I may review my options to upgrade the NAS to a later model ReadyNAS. Why should customers part with hard earned cash to beta test the manufacturers product, simply because the manufacturer was in a rush to put the product to market and make fast money. Ever heard the term "not fit for its intended purpose" :twisted: - vandermerweMasterAre you using Share security mode on the readynas?
Did you setup permissions for the share on the usb disk?
Did you dismount the USB disk? - jfitterAspirant
vandermerwe wrote: Are you using Share security mode on the readynas?
Did you setup permissions for the share on the us disk?
Did you dismount the USB disk?
1. Share security mode - yes
2. Permissions - yes R/W
3. Dismount - yes
Hundreds of users are having this problem - easy, just count the posts - and still not fixed by Netgear. Good for business :? , users just bin the old model and buy a newer model. Is that how it works?
Recovering data is progressing - slowly. All afternoon to get the first share onto the USB drive, about 170GB. A couple of days and the job will be done and then it's the BIN for this lump of junk. - StephenBGuru - Experienced UserThey deprecated share security mode a long time ago, and provided information on how to switch to user security mode.
That would likely have solved your issue. - jfitterAspirantOK, thanks. I read a LOT of posts and other stuff and could not find a reference to this. Where do they tell us this gem? Switching to user security is a snap - the trick is to know that this will solve the problem. I don't think it is obvious!!
Thanks again, I will try it.
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