Mod's please don't delete I need answers. I have a Linkstation Live that is only 2 weeks old and have had a multitude of problems. I have all my information on the NAS drive and have been trying without any success to get it all onto the attached USB drive (Attached to the NAS). It starts to move things over then 15 minutes into it I loose the connection and the LS freezes in no-where land. I have to physically unplug the power cable and then it restarts and I have to restart the process again. I read on one of these forums yesterday that you could connect the LS straight to a computer using the LAN cable. I did that this morning and was able to find the LS using the NAS-Navigator, and started to move stuff from the LS to my laptop so that after that I can move the items into the USB which is formated to XFS using a Linux disc. Sounds like alot of work but its faster than having to restart my NAS 50 times. The question is this?
The NAS is set up for the highest Frame Rate size (Jumbo) and its a Gigabit NAS, my laptop has a Gigabit Ethernet port and I am using a Cat6 cable, but I am getting speeds of 7.86 MB/S. Is this correct? This is the kind of speed I was getting when I had the NAS on the network and was trying to move the stuff over to the atttached usb drive. I thought since the NAS was connected to my laptop and both are Gigabit I would see much faster speeds? Am I wrong or is it just a Linkstation thing were Gigabit is advertised but its just a joke?
NAS throughput is NOT determined by the speed of the LAN port. This is always a blatant misconception! NAS througput is determined by the NAS performance, client performance and network performance, which means that if you want to achieve a good NAS throughput, your client computer should be at least a fast Dual Core desktop or a laptop (not those cheap less than or equal to $1000 specials ok, a good fast NIC card (not some generic crap), Windows 7 or Vista (Windows XP gives you slower throughput on the client computer even peer to peer) and a lot of memory on the client side so Windows isn't doing a lot of disk swapping. On the network side, use Cat5e or 6 but more important is a good gigabit switch (not hub) with the ability to do NAT table lookup and forwarding, so it doesn't get bogged down by other low bandwidth devices (100mbit) or by itself. Lastly, the LS Live itself is a low end NAS box, which means it usually runs on a slow Marvell chip. You really can't compare this to say a ReadyNAS Duo or a NV+/NVX or NV Pioneer, which are more money. Having said that, a NAS is not a server.
In backing to a USB drive, make sure that the drive itself is powered by a power supply and does not contain a virtual block CD image which is come common with a lot of external drives these days -- the Clickfree automatic backup like software solution. I have a Synology NAS and it doesn't like these drives, but plain drives housed in a plain USB enclosure works just fine as a backup solution.
Thanks TechDude for the explanation. I have all Cat6, a Linksys Gigabit Switch, and a Gigabit card in my laptop. The laptop is a top-of the line Dell running Windows 7 and all the bells and whistles. I fear that the boggin down is being caused by the Linkstation as I have read here that these models tend to not be working to specs. Bummer....
Unhappy09,
There is a difference between a server and a NAS. A server is most likely faster than a NAS due to the fact that it has a lot of horsepower under the hood. A NAS box is a dedicated appliance to provide media service as well as basic file serving. A server is like your normal Dual Core or Quad Core computer where power and space is not a problem. A NAS is like those typical Netbook computers which has a slower and underpowered CPU. Yet, there are equally as many netbook users complaining why their computers can't even play basic 1080P HD video or have problems playing high frame rate games. They confuse a Netbook being just as powerful as a desktop computer. This is simply untrue, which is why in my town, there are a lot of people selling theirs on Craigs List. People bought netbooks not for the CPU power, but rather for power efficiency and size. The trade-off is processing speed on all fronts. This is the same as a NAS. Unfortunately, people tend to lump server and NAS together as though they are alike. They are not. I personally run a full fledged server powered by an Intel Atom processor running server / media software and a media array that are not available on any NAS, or is more cost effective compared to the ReadyNAS NV Pro Pioneer. I also run a Synology NAS as well as a Buffalo Flexnet drive, but they both complement the server. However, the top Buffalo Terastation has the muscle power to serve fast in a gigabit network. Question is, is this what you are looking for budget wise vs performance.
Just like computers, a NAS is equally dependent upon how much money are you ready to sink in to get speed.
TechDude, I understand what you are saying. I was not expecting a Ferrari out of my Linkstation Live, I was just hoping for a bit more speed when I had it connected straight to my laptop, versus going through the network. It was a bit faster just not what I expected. Seems transfering stuff to my old Linkstation Gigabit was quite a bit faster than to my new Linkstation Live. I dont know if that was because the LS Gigabit was just a storage device and didnt have all the extras running on it like Media Server and such. You seem to know a bit about this stuff, I am considering returning my LS live and getting the LS Pro, do you think I will see a difference in speed?
Unhappy09, I understand you are expecting gigabit performance which in the network world is Ferrari speed. Another issue you need to consider is the fact that the LS Live is designed primarily as a media boat and broadcaster and if you compare this to a dedicated NAS without running all the external options, the dedicated file NAS will go a bit faster. Which is why we use a Flexnet here simply for file serving and leave the media/website/iTunes serving to the server and Synology NAS which are on the gigabit network. Having said that, LS Pro will be an upgrade to your old LS Gigabit. It runs on a faster platform, but again you need to dampen your expectation of how much gain you are going to get with these single drive NAS media products, Buffalo notwithstanding. When I advise my clients, I try to understand what are they trying to achieve with their NAS box. Too often though, they are being clouded first by the price tag, next by the ubber hype of RAID, X-RAID or Drobo. They have their place. Yeap, a $1000 or $2000 NAS box is a bit hard to swallow at first, but that is what you are going to expect to spend if you want good gigabit performance. If you want the best, start with the best and the Buffalo Terastation RAID setup as a fire and forget solution. It's not as perfect as say a ReadyNAS NV Pro or a Synology 509, but then you are not paying their price tag either. You are probably wondering why am I telling you to spend $1000 on a NAS box? Well, I tell my clients that if you are comfortable with spending $1000 on a nice laptop, CAT 6 cabling and a nice top end gigabit switch ports and yet you are not willing to spend a bit more on a NAS? It all comes down to driving a Ferrari, but all you could afford to fill her up is cheap regular gas.
Thanks for the info TechDude. I get it. Happy Holidays.
Glad to help. Happy Holidays to you and your family!
Cheers. :smileyhappy: