Poor performance of ds 209, need help troubleshooting

[RichardL]

Hello!
I've just bought a ds209 and and a new Samsung 1.5 TB disk (HD154UI).

When copying files to the NAS I get a write speed of around 30MB/s and when reading I'm getting a rather low ~20MB/s. According to the NAS charts performance should be around 60MB/s.
I'm copying large 4.5GB files over a gigabit network and would expect the same results as the large file copy benchmarks.

My PC is a 3ghz c2d with fast drives so that shouldn't be a bottleneck.

This is what I've tried:

Jumbo frames disabled, 4k, 9k on both NAS and PC
Another disk (older 500GB WDC)
Another computer (macbook pro on gigabit)
Bypassing the switch and connecting the nas directly to my PC

Nothing helps. With jumbo frames enabled I would sometimes see transfer rates of 50MB/s but they dropped to 30 after some seconds.

*Edit* I tried FTP and then I get 30-35MB/s so that actually works better..

I am using the latest firmware (DSM 2.3-1157) that should support my disk.

Can any of you guys help me? Am I missing something or should I not expect the same performance as in the charts?

I'd be very grateful for any pointers in the right direction here

 

[zurge]

Some Thoughts

First off, the Samsung HD154UI hard drive that you purchased is a Ecodrive. Ecodrives are intended to be a combo of low power consumption and performance. Now there is nothing wrong with a Ecodrive but they typically do not give you the best performance so this could play a role in reduced transfer speeds.

Now Ecodrive aside:

What transfer speeds where you getting when you connected the PC directly to the NAS?

Is There any services running on either the NAS or you computer that may be slowing down transfers? i.e. Firewalls, sharing services, antivirus, etc...

Also, I don't think you should expect 60MB/s continually. If you go to the DS209 Review it appears that many of the values are averages. Notice on the charts how the speeds drop when the file sizes get larger (Numbers appear to be more in the 40-50MB/s range for 4GB files).

 

[claykin]

Check to see if that model Samsung disk is on Synology's HCL (compatibility list). If its not (and the other WD 500GB is not) try a known compatible disk.

What type networking cable are you using? I hope its CAT5e or better. Also, is your Gigabit switch Jumbo Frames enabled? Not all GB switches support Jumbo Frames. Most switches built into simple routers do NOT support JF.

When you connected directly, did you use a crossover cable or still through a switch? Maybe try a different switch?

Also, what size files are you reading from the DS209? Try to dump a single large file to the NAS and see what the result is reading from the DS209.

Do you have any additional services installed and enabled on the DS209? If so, try disabling them one by one to see what is causing the problem.

 

[RichardL]

Thank you for answering!

I have another HD154UI that when installed in my PC benchmarks 100GB/s on the outer surface of the disk and dropping to 50MB/s as the sectors get closer to center (HD Tune). The disk is on the compatible list since DSM2.2-0942.

The switch is a dlink dgs1005d that should support 9k jumbo frames. I didn't see a performance difference when bypassing the switch.

I do have the firewall enabled on the NAS and Windows 7 firewall on my pc.
I tried disabling them now but I dont see a difference.

FTP read from NAS speed: 30-35MB/s and 8-15% cpu is used by ftpd
FTP write to NAS: 25-30 MB/s and 50-60% cpu used.

SMB read from NAS speed: 20-22MB/s and 15-20% cpu used by smbd
SMB write to NAS: 30-35MB/s, 60-70% cpu used.

What kind of performance are you seeing with your ds209? I can live with 30-35MB/s write speed but 20MB/s read is too slow!

Is there anything else you can think of?

Thank you again for your help!

 

[claykin]

Based on Tim's review, yes you've got a bottleneck somewhere. Your read speeds should be 2x what you're getting.

What NIC is in your Win 7 PC? Do you have the latest drivers for it?

Have you tried opening a support case with Synology or posted to the Synology forums?

 

[RichardL]

I have an onboard nic:
Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit
The driver is the latest according to windows 7, but there is a newer on Marvells website, I can't get it to install however. The installation completes but after reboot I still have the older driver.

As I said I have two drives in the NAS and I just found out that when reading files with FTP from the WDC 500 GB I get 70-80MB/s which is excellent. Using SMB from the same drive yields 28-32 MB/s which to me indicates a problem with SMB rather than the drive.
The newer Samsung 1.5TB still only delivers 20-22MB/s when reading over SMB and 30MB/s using FTP.

I'm gonna install my 1TB Samsung F1 (7200 rpm) from my PC and see if that performs any better.

Is there any known issues with enabling AAM and using this NAS? The drive was so loud in the enclosure so I set AAM to medium using a samsung tool.

Thank you for your kind help! I want to nail this issue

 

[replicant]

Any updates Richard?

I'm having similar throughput issues with my recently puchased ds-209.

Thanks and good luck.

 

[RichardL]

No sorry. I gave up. Still havent started using my NAS. The throughput problem and the noise level turned me off