Author Topic: Linkstation Pro Duo speed?  (Read 5939 times)

bankerboy

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Linkstation Pro Duo speed?
« on: May 25, 2009, 01:41:57 PM »
   

I recently got the Linkstation Pro Duo to replace a failing backup drive that I have.  The backup drive is an eSata Lacie drive connected directly to the PC.  Given that it's an eSata drive, it's really fast.  

 

So my question is what kind of speed should I expect, realistically, from the new Linkstation Duo Pro?  I know the theoretical limits of the Gigabit transfer speed, but I wanted to know about real-world values.  The reason I ask is that the drive does seem slow.  It transfers 400MB of iTunes files in about 40 seconds.  Likewise, the whole transfer of my 250GB backup drive that was failing took about 8 hours.  Does this seem reasonable for real world usage?  I also noticed that lots of small files (such as photos) transfer much slower than 1 large file.  That part makes sense.  

 

I have a Dell Dimension 8400, which is 4 years old, and am connecting through a LinkSys wireless routed (to which the PC and Linkstation are hardwired).  I'm using WEP encryption on the wireless part.  

 

Other things I noticed are that the print server takes a while to respond.  Printing a doc from MS Word takes about 1-2 minutes to actually start.  

 

On the plus side, I have a Ubuntu Dell laptop that connects seamlessly to the same linkstation, which was nice.  The performance from the laptop is exactly the same. 

 

Any comments are welcome.

 

Thanks! 


joe42

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Re: Linkstation Pro Duo speed?
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2009, 02:21:10 PM »
   As far as real world speed goes, read/write should be about 7 megabytes per second on a Gigabit ethernet network, or 3MB/sec on a 100 base-T network. Typically, a 1 GB transfer should take around 5-7 minutes. The speed is, for the most part, limited by the processor on the unit.

bankerboy

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Re: Linkstation Pro Duo speed?
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2009, 05:08:13 PM »
   Hmmm.  In that case, I guess I'm doing pretty good.  I'm just spoiled by the eSata connection.  Thanks.

frankienap

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Re: Linkstation Pro Duo speed?
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2009, 10:28:55 AM »
   I am also having difficulty accepting the speed of this hard drive.  I have 1.xx firmare set to a static IP address.  I have a wireless-N router and wireless card, but the fastest speeds I ever get are around 2.5 mb/sec.  Is this abnormally slow, or are my expectations too high?

rinthos

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Re: Linkstation Pro Duo speed?
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2009, 11:40:03 PM »
   

@frankienap,

 

2.5MB/sec is actually pretty good for wireless.

Connect via gig-E (Wired) and you should see that improve considerably.

The latency of wifi impacts not just the LS Pro but most Network Storage solutions.

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mtaylor

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Re: Linkstation Pro Duo speed?
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2009, 05:10:29 PM »
   

You can do better.

 

1) Make sure you are connected over 1000 MBps (check the lights on your router to be sure)

2) Make sure that you are using cat6 cables!  This is actually a big deal for gigabit ethernet speed as you need cables capable of handling 250 Mhz.  Cat 5 is capable of around 100 Mhz (I think).  It all has to do with the way that ethernet works (more complicated than just pushing electrons down a copper pipe) 

3) Make sure that both the client and the server / linkstation are configured to use "Jumbo Frames".  Use the largest you can for maximum transfer speed on large files. (I use 9000 MTUs; 1500 is standard)

 

I have routinely experienced 10 MB/s transfer speeds for 100 MBps devices and upwards of 30 MB/s transfer speeds for gigabit devices (for instance, my linkstation pro duo).  These are real-world numbers.

 

3) It depends on what you are backing up and how much processing is involved.  Lots of small files transferring will lead to much, much slower throughput than a few large ones, for instance.