USB 3.0 - 1.5 TB external disk - copy over wireless slow (Asus RT-AC68U)

[bostjanc]

Hi guys.
RT-AC68U with latest merlin firmware.
I have external USB device 1.5 TB seagate disk connected to USB 3.0.
If I am on WI-FI in going on network share (for example \\192.168.1.1) copying files to the disk over WIFI is very slow. It copies only 4 MB's per second.
Please advise.
With best regards

 

[dried_mango]

What's your Wifi type: B, G, N, ..?

 

[MichaelCG]

Need way more details to help. With what you posted, it sounds like you are probably connected via 2.4GHz which gives you around 30Mbps.

 

[bostjanc]

1st of all thank you for replies.
Im connected to 5 ghz wifi.
I've made some print screens of current configuration and uploaded them on google drive.

PICTURE1:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u7Wsf3QJp4trRFWaTT3dzfhkAn4RVEqW/view?usp=sharing

PICTURE2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ljoR2bWok234QOCZknepladiQ6DINPrN/view?usp=sharing

 

[ColinTaylor]

Try disabling Airtime Fairness and Universal Beamforming.

Also, check the System Log > Wireless Log

 

[bostjanc]

Hi there.
Thanks for the reply.
Current copying to USB drive over \\192.168.1.1 connected to 5GHZ wifi is around 10 MB's per second.

This are current settings of WIFI 5GHZ:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F3eWphZXhBvc2Swt3SvoEO5pXX_u-9FQ/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O8nyDRfcKqZsNpfcOzUXQyZEUQ7zunha/view?usp=sharing

And this are current settings of WIFI 2GHZ (could it interfair 5ghz signal?)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NroQbLzlN3fKD3uxBISabkITIfI4XNOG/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I4k_jeg_Jo4cTpEdLyqWVgkuve8r36-j/view?usp=sharing

Should I simply turn off 2ghz WIFI and leave just 5GHZ wifi enabled?
Still can't understand why only 10 MB's per sec

 

[Klueless]

Let's see if I have this right. You were writing to your storage disk at 4MB(ytes) per second, made a couple changes and now you are writing at 10MB per second?

1. First off sounds like a major improvement already!
2. Second off I'm envious. I use a similar router and I'm only seeing 4.7MB when I write onto my storage drive.
   1. It's ok for me because it's fast enough to record high definition video streams.
   2. I also noted that on my way to those slow speeds I'd burst at 190 Mbps over my WiFi which I didn't think was horrible for my house and my ancient PC.

Should I simply turn off 2ghz WIFI and leave just 5GHZ wifi enabled

I'm not sure what this means. Does it suggest that you're not sure if you're connecting at 2.4GHz or at 5GHz?

And here's a link to an old thiggins review of the 68U. His bench shows 12MB/sec to a FAT32 drive and 24MB to an NTFS formatted drive. And that's over gigabit Ethernet.

Long shot but you might want to load a WiFi Analyzer onto your laptop or smart phone. That will show you if anything else nearby is contesting you for your channel. You're currently using channel 52. Actually because you're using channel width of 20/40/80 (usually a good thing) you're using more than channel 52. You're using 52, 53 & 54 (or 52, 54, 56 or whatever?) the point being is to make sure that you're not using the same channels as your neighbor.

Long story short ... no help here : -)

 

[bostjanc]

Thanks for the answer.
I would not expect such a limitation between network and external usb drive attached to router. I thought the speed would be quite similiar as attaching the disk to usb 3.0 slot on laptop and copying the files onto it.
One thing that I also did before doing those changes that you have recommended me to do was, that I did a factory reset of router.
About 2.4 ghz question, I was thinking about turning 2.4ghz wifi access and leave only 5ghz wifi network available for devices to connect to it, but doing a quick look over the router settings haven't found that option...
Now I'm dealing with a new challenge but don't know if this is the right forum to ask or should i start a new thread.
I just found out two days ago that this asus router supports downloading torrents with DOWNLOAD MASTER app. I had a sparkle in my eyes for a moment, but my first experience was very crappy. The speed is not what I would expected. I have 300 Mbit download and 50 Mbit upload contract with my ISP an speedtest gives me that kind of results, but download master's max download speed gets to the 100 Mbit and yes for the test purpouse I took a torrent with a lot of active seeders.
Also after couple of hours download master just stopps working and I need to reboot the router. Very unstable app.
The app is on latest version and I also have router on latest Merlin firmware...
This are currently two bad experiences with router which I never would expect to happen. I thought this router is more 'professional' as it doesnt cost 50 dollars/euros.

 

[Klueless]

I thought the speed would be quite similiar as attaching the disk to usb 3.0 slot on laptop and copying the files onto it.

• Just curious, what were those speeds?
• Tim did report 24MB/s (with NTFS), that sounded promising?
• Tim also reported early release quirks that he thought would be addressed?
• Maybe run a test through a gigabit Ethernet connection and fine tune wireless to see how close you can get to that?

I thought this router is more 'professional'

Talking about two things here; wireless performance and network storage performance.

• Run wireless speed tests, tune as needed. I suspect they'll be competitive?
• Network storage is simply a feature. It is not a high end NAS. To fit in the footprint of a router they use an old version of Samba. Newer, tweaked out versions of Samba run on a dedicated NAS device. They would not "fit" on a router.
• Check out Max's wireless benchmarks writing to a NAS. He reports 67MB.

Let me know when you finish tweaking your wireless/samba configuration. Then I can steal your settings. I'm happy but I wouldn't mind being happier ; -)

 

[ColinTaylor]

@bostjanc Running John's fork of Merlin's firmware on an RT-AC68U. Transfers done over 5GHz Wi-Fi.

USB2 attached HDD formatted NTFS: Read speed ~ 26MB/s, Write speed ~ 22MB/s

 

[degrub]

The router to USB storage is likely CPU or bus limited. That is not a cpu that you would use in a laptop or desktop machine. So low bandwidth, even over wired, is not surprising. It may also depend on if you are transferring individual small files or streaming one large file (video).