Asus AC68u slow and inconsistent USB 3.0 transfer speeds

[sfx2000]

morpheus:~ sfx$ iperf3 -c 192.168.1.20
Connecting to host 192.168.1.20, port 5201
[ 4] local 192.168.1.128 port 63517 connected to 192.168.1.20 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 113 MBytes 944 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 941 Mbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.09 GBytes 940 Mbits/sec receiver

iperf Done.
morpheus:~ sfx$ iperf3 -c 192.168.1.20 -R
Connecting to host 192.168.1.20, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.1.20 is sending
[ 4] local 192.168.1.128 port 63519 connected to 192.168.1.20 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 112 MBytes 942 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 112 MBytes 942 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 112 MBytes 941 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 111 MBytes 933 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth Retr
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 941 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 941 Mbits/sec receiver

iperf Done.

 

[mjp93]

@sfx2000 Sorry, but what does that signify?

 

[sfx2000]

@sfx2000 Sorry, but what does that signify?

A router is not a NAS, and should not pretend to be... it's a checkbox function that sells boxes at the end of the day.

Those numbers are from my laptop to my NAS - Macbook Pro Retina 2014 with AC1300 across an AC1900 class Access Point (Airport Express AC) via a Netgear GS108T switch to a QNAP TS-453Pro running RAID10. My Router (pfSense 2.3.1 on a netgate RCE-V2440) doesn't even come into play on that test.

No, no exceptional QoS profiles on the GS-108T was put into place for that run - it's just how I run my network... Samba numbers are pretty much the same on the Mac, as well as my Win10 Desktop on the wire (i7-4790 dell)

 

[mightyberry]

FTP looks

SAMBA:
Wired: upto 15MB/s(R) and 8MB/s(W)
Wireless: upto 10MB/s(R) and 7MB(W)

FTP:
Wired: upto 37-39MB/s(R/W)
Wireless: upto 17MB/s(R/W)

What u think of these speeds? If u remember.

FTP looks very good, but samba is a bit low. I was getting about 25MB/S worst (read) and 23MB/S write) by wire.

 

[mjp93]

FTP looks


FTP looks very good, but samba is a bit low. I was getting about 25MB/S worst (read) and 23MB/S write) by wire.

So eventually we have to live with whatever speed it gives, I see ,I will continue using FTP. But the dream of 50MB/s is not coming true

 

[Mattijah]

SAMBA:
Wired: upto 15MB/s(R) and 8MB/s(W)
Wireless: upto 10MB/s(R) and 7MB(W)

FTP:
Wired: upto 37-39MB/s(R/W)
Wireless: upto 17MB/s(R/W)

What u think of these speeds? If u remember.

I have RT-AC88U too with a Samsung HDD attached to it through USB 3. The speeds that I am getting (Samba) are similar if not even slower. This is just ridiculous, how can it be so slow?

 

[mjp93]

I have RT-AC88U too with a Samsung HDD attached to it through USB 3. The speeds that I am getting (Samba) are similar if not even slower. This is just ridiculous, how can it be so slow?

I dont know the reason but unfortunately I tired all possible tweaks with no luck. May be this is what we have to live with untill we get an acutal NAS

 

[Mattijah]

Did some testing today...

- HDD connected to the USB 3 port and formatted as NTFS. (*EXT3/4 should however perform better)
- Tested on Macbook Pro 2013 and latest Mac Mini (auto-neg using Samba 1)
- Disabled Reducing USB 3 interference

SAMBA:
Wired (W/R): ~55-60MB/s
Wireless (W/R): ~15MB/s (connected on 5Ghz band and standing next to the router. Otherwise on 2.4Ghz it was around 7MB/s)

FTP:
Wired: Not tested
Wireless (W/R): ~30MB/s

Funny thing is, I tried to connect the HDD to the USB 2 port and the speed on Wi-Fi was pretty much identical to USB 3. I also tried different, slower HDD (FAT & EXT 4) with an external power supply attached to USB 2 and it delivered also about ~15MB/s on 5Ghz WiFi.

I need to now find out now whether the problem may be in Mac or the transfer speed of Samba over Wi-Fi is restricted. FTP runs on 30MB/s so I have absolutely no idea why is Samba so much slower.

 

[sfx2000]

Funny thing is, I tried to connect the HDD to the USB 2 port and the speed on Wi-Fi was pretty much identical to USB 3. I also tried different, slower HDD (FAT & EXT 4) with an external power supply attached to USB 2 and it delivered also about ~15MB/s on 5Ghz WiFi.

Check the connectors on your USB cable... You'll note below that USB 3.0-SS B side connectors are different - there's additional lines used for SS that are not present with USB 2.0 cables.

 

[Mattijah]

Check the connectors on your USB cable... You'll note below that USB 3.0-SS B side connectors are different - there's additional lines used for SS that are not present with USB 2.0 cables.

View attachment 7084

Yes, that's correct but I don't really understand what you are trying to say...

 

[sfx2000]

Yes, that's correct but I don't really understand what you are trying to say...

Short version - if you're using a USB2 cable (see above) on a USB3 device, you'll be limited to USB2 speeds...

 

[Mattijah]

Short version - if you're using a USB2 cable (see above) on a USB3 device, you'll be limited to USB2 speeds...

No I am not using a USB 2 cable on a USB 3 device. It is USB 3-SS cabel (provided with the HDD). As I mentioned above I managed to measure R/W speeds of ~55-60MB/s (wired) so the USB 3 must be working fine... The problem is when I am connected wirelessly, max Samba speed is about 15MB/s (~7MB/s on 2.4Ghz) whereas FTP speed is ~30MB/s (5Ghz). I don't get why Samba can't also run on ~30MB/s...

 

[namtih]

If you have some time you could try some different settings for your SAMBA configuration - smb.conf.
Use the jffs feature to create a new smb.conf or directly edit the configuration /etc/smb.conf and restart the SAMBA daemon.

I remember as I've testet some recommended settings my performance was a mess. So I've tried some other settings and kept the following configuration, which gave me about 55-60MB/s via SAMBA.
I think the settings for strict allocate, strict locking, use sendfile and socket options (uncommented it) were critical.

more /etc/smb.conf

[global]
workgroup = WORKGROUP
netbios name = ARouter
server string = ARouter
unix charset = UTF8
display charset = UTF8
log file = /var/log.samba
log level = 0
max log size = 5
security = USER
guest ok = no
map to guest = Bad User
encrypt passwords = yes
pam password change = no
null passwords = no
max protocol = NT1
passdb backend = smbpasswd
smb encrypt = disabled
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
force directory mode = 0777
force create mode = 0777
max connections = 5
obey pam restrictions = no
use spnego = no
client use spnego = no
disable spoolss = yes
host msdfs = no
strict allocate = no
strict locking = no
bind interfaces only = yes
interfaces = br0 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0
use sendfile = no
map archive = no
map hidden = no
map read only = no
map system = no
store dos attributes = yes
dos filemode = yes
hide dot files = yes
oplocks = yes
level2 oplocks = yes
kernel oplocks = yes
wide links = no
#socket options = TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY
#[URL="http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/manpages-3/smb.conf.5.html"]www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/manpages-3/smb.conf.5.html[/URL]
[asus3]
path = /tmp/mnt/asus3
writeable = yes
#create mask = 0777
#directory mask = 0777
browseable = no
guest ok = no

 

[Mattijah]

I remember as I've testet some recommended settings my performance was a mess. So I've tried some other settings and kept the following configuration, which gave me about 55-60MB/s via SAMBA.

Yes, I can try to play a bit with the configuration. Did it give you 55-60MB/s on Wi-Fi? I can get the same speed via LAN but I never use LAN so it is pointless for me...

 

[namtih]

It's via LAN. Sorry, I've didn't read your comment correctly.
I don't have any laptop here at the moment, so can't give it a try.

 

[mjp93]

Yes, I can try to play a bit with the configuration. Did it give you 55-60MB/s on Wi-Fi? I can get the same speed via LAN but I never use LAN so it is pointless for me...

Bro, even on LAN(wired) I get maxed 15MB/s on samba and ~38MB/s on FTP.. so u must have figured out how low they will be on wireless

Sent from my AOSP on HammerHead using Tapatalk

 

[Mattijah]

Bro, even on LAN(wired) I get maxed 15MB/s on samba and ~38MB/s on FTP.. so u must have figured out how low they will be on wireless

Sent from my AOSP on HammerHead using Tapatalk

That's very slow. I've received an answer from Asus support and they claim the following:

The transfer rate of the router via the USB 3.0 should be 50-60MB/s writing speed and up to 100MB/s reading speed, which can be achived using one of the LAN ports for the file transfer.

I think I have also found the issue which slows down the transfer rate (in my case). The router uses pretty old version of Samba protocol (SMB_1) which seems to be buggy on OS X.

For example:
Samba (OSX) - Wi-Fi (5Ghz): ~15MB/s [r/w]
FTP (OSX) - Wi-Fi (5Ghz): ~30MB/s [r/w]
Samba (Windows 10) - Wi-Fi (5Ghz): 17-20MB/s [write] and ~30MB/s [read]

*I run Windows 10 on the exactly same machine (Macbook Pro Retina 13" Late 2013) in VirtualBox so in reality it could be even faster than that...

 

[Simon T]

I'm afraid I ditched my AC68U purely on the USB 3.0 speeds. Purchased a Linksys WRT1900ACS which provides 110mb / sec up and down (that's the maximum the USB 3.0 1TB HDD can do even plugged in directly to the PC). Even over 5Ghz Wi-Fi to my phone it manages 65mb/sec massive improvement over the AC68U. It's impossible for transfers to go any faster than this as the gigabit port is maxxed out to my PC when transferring at that speed.

 

[sfx2000]

I'm afraid I ditched my AC68U purely on the USB 3.0 speeds. Purchased a Linksys WRT1900ACS which provides 110mb / sec up and down (that's the maximum the USB 3.0 1TB HDD can do even plugged in directly to the PC). Even over 5Ghz Wi-Fi to my phone it manages 65mb/sec massive improvement over the AC68U. It's impossible for transfers to go any faster than this as the gigabit port is maxxed out to my PC when transferring at that speed.

At the end of the day - one should probably just let the router, any router, just route... and there, the AC68U will be fine... does a decent enough job for most folks on the Routing and Wireless sides - and these days - as an AC1900 class device, probably deserves the title of "classic"... if one keep a fairly basic setup, and then leave it alone, it does a good job - folks get into trouble sometimes trying to do things outside of the scope, but that's another story and thread, and there's plenty of those threads here on the sub-forums, so we don't need to rehash everything here...

The WRT1900ac does have some advantages with regards to USB shared disks - it should - as the chipset used there is a commonly used NAS chipset in many ARM based NAS's... I've always liked the device from a HW design (there it's really good), but it's been held back to some degree by the firmware -