DIY NAS file copy speeds

[00Roush]

Just wondering what others are seeing for file copies to/from their DIY NAS setups. Lets say with files larger than 128 MB. Iozone results, Vista copy window statistics, timed benchmark, or any other method you have used to measure file copy speeds is fine. Just explain how you measured. Also please give a brief description of hardware used in the NAS and the client.

I'll start.

Between my computer and the server Vista reports file copies to and from the server average 80-100 MB/sec. Average file size I have tested with is about 2 GB.

Client:
Athlon 64 X2 5400 (2.8 Ghz)
4 GB RAM
Vista SP1
Marvell Gigabit PCIe Network adapter (integrated on motherboard)

Server:
165 Opteron CPU (1.8 Ghz)
1 GB RAM
Win XP PRO SP2
Marvell Gigabit PCIe Network adapter (integrated on motherboard)


00Roush

 

[MoralDelima]

You might want to lay out a test procedure (IE, to reduce the effects of OS caching and what not) or at least set up some parameters. IE, to copy around 500MB of small documents, to copy 5GB of movies. Might give the results more meaning.

 

[zedpol]

1ghz c7d (really slow)
ubuntu server
1tb wd green drive
1gb of ram

Basically silent, draws about 30watts

average 20-40mbs

 

[00Roush]

You might want to lay out a test procedure (IE, to reduce the effects of OS caching and what not) or at least set up some parameters. IE, to copy around 500MB of small documents, to copy 5GB of movies. Might give the results more meaning.

Changed my first post a bit. Thanks.

00Roush

 

[tipstir]

How do you have the Server and the Clients connected? Any switches used? If so what are you using. I was only able to managed to transfer at 34MB/s on 1.88GB TV Show to the Media Server which is about 75FT.

1.88GB 34MB/s
http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL1099/4465559/10421180/350276807.jpg

2.08GB Transfer 41MB/s max out on PCI
http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL1099/4465559/21344768/350722138.jpg

Gigabyte Systems

Windows Server 2003 (overclock Intel Prescott 2.66GHz +1GB RAM + 500GB)
Windows XP Pro SP2 (overclock AMD X64 2.66GHz + 2GB RAM + 700GB)
Windows XP Pro SP2 (overclock AMD X64 2.40GHz + 1GB RAM + 500GB)
Windows XP Pro SP2 AMD X64 1.6GHz + 1GB RAM + 320GB)

I am upgrading (blow out the old and install the new OS + vista styler + icon packager +mod image I made up looks nice) all systems to XP Pro SP3

 

[00Roush]

How do you have the Server and the Clients connected? Any switches used? If so what are you using. I was only able to managed to transfer at 34MB/s on 1.88GB TV Show to the Media Server which is about 75FT.

1.88GB 34MB/s
http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL1099/4465559/10421180/350276807.jpg

2.08GB Transfer 41MB/s max out on PCI
http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL1099/4465559/21344768/350722138.jpg

Gigabyte Systems

Windows Server 2003 (overclock Intel Prescott 2.66GHz +1GB RAM + 500GB)
Windows XP Pro SP2 (overclock AMD X64 2.66GHz + 2GB RAM + 700GB)
Windows XP Pro SP2 (overclock AMD X64 2.40GHz + 1GB RAM + 500GB)
Windows XP Pro SP2 AMD X64 1.6GHz + 1GB RAM + 320GB)

I am upgrading (blow out the old and install the new OS + vista styler + icon packager +mod image I made up looks nice) all systems to XP Pro SP3

I am using a D-Link 8 port gigabit switch to connect all of my computers at home. (DGS-2208)

Just to let you know... when I was using Win XP Pro SP2 on my client machine my average transfer speeds were in the 50-60 MB/sec range using PCIe network cards on both ends.

For reference, on my wifes computer I see transfer speeds of about 40 MB/sec to/from the same server I listed above using a test file 2 GB in size.

Here is a few specs on my wife's computer:
Athlon XP 2400+ (2.0 Ghz)
2 GB RAM
Win XP Home SP1
Intel PRO/1000 MT PCI network card (desktop version)

If your results are from a computer running Win XP and using a PCI network card I would say you are doing pretty good.

On a side note... I have tested Teracopy on a few of the computers here at home and found no increase in file copy speed over the network versus a standard Windows file copy. In the case of Vista I found it is actually much slower. I would recommend testing both and see which one works better for you. I have found that this little benchmark program works fairly well for testing real world copy speeds in XP and Vista. http://www.nodesoft.com/DiskBench/

00Roush

 

[tipstir]

Yeah teracopy has it's limits I'll be dropping that on SP3. I see you never OC your AMDs to gain more from them if you have the right MOBO to do it. I had idea and build an additional only GIG network and turn on Jumbo Frames to full I almost got 50MB/s out the PCI bus but that also depends on what type of Ultra 133, PATA 133, SATA drive I had transfer 300MB and 2GB to and from the Server OS to XP Client. The switch can do 10GB bandwidth, 128KB buffer and 9K JF.

 

[MoralDelima]

I usually get around 3-5MB, using the horrible, horrible My World Book II WD NAS drive. Doesn't matter whether it's Vista or XP SP3.

Yeah.

 

[x_jose_x]

Hello,

I have been attempting to analyze my network performance with my ReadNAS Duo.

From the ReadyNAS to my PC (both gigabit), I get about 47Mbps, and from the PC to the NAS I get about 42Mbps.

To measure the speed I transferred a single 300MB file.

The PC has a 3ware raid card set up for raid 0. The ReadyNAS has raid 1.

The PC is pretty old, XP Pro SP2, AMD Athlon XP (thoroughbred) with 2GB RAM. The drives are a pair of 120GB Seagates. The PC gigabit NIC is on board, from Marvell I believe.

My router/switch is a Netgear WNR854T. I have a Cat6 cable from the router to the ReadyNAS and from the Router to the PC.

On the PC prior to switching from raid 1 to raid 0, my transfer speeds where in the 30s.

I see that most of the posters for this topic see similar speeds.

I have been trying to get an understanding of why the numbers are so low. Compare 40Mbps to the 1000Mbps that is possible.

From what I have read that some networks get 700-800Mbps, but never the full 1000Mbps.

I've heard that to even attempt to get higher numbers the whole network, from NIC, drives, cables, switches, and everything else need to be specially selected to get higher speeds.

My question for readers of this topic is what strategies have your found successful to see transfer speeds on your network (even from PC to PC or other network device) hit speeds in the hundreds of Mbps?

Thanks,
Jose

 

[00Roush]

Are you talking about Mbps or MB/sec? 1000 Mbps (megabits per second) = 125 MB/sec. Just wanted to make sure we are on the same page. In my case I average between 80-100 MB/sec which would be about 640-800 Mbps.

00Roush