Sucks man this NAS. Better sell it away.

Any fw to upgrade?

Really sucks. I think speed for USB hd connected to Asus router using USB much higher.

well there is an unofficial linux fw that someone made, which supposedly, judging by the user reports, will make the transfer rate much higher. officially the last few updates have been seagate enhancing shit stuff, like enabling streaming using tappin.com app on your mobile. like wtf who cares if speed is too slow?!

anyway i really want to try the unofficial firmware. seems easy enough to flash. but i don't want to try and then have to rebuild my 12tb RAID 10 all over again

i think transferring harddisk using someone in a wheelchair from kl to kelang is faster than this RM1k++ gone just like that. don't really mind the money, but damn fak really bad experience with my first ever NAS

This post has been edited by C-Fu: Jan 7 2013, 01:34 PM

Actually since now that you manage 20+MB/s it's performance really isnt that bad. Its slow but for the price you paid (it was RM 640 per unit right?) its decent. You obviously cannot expect to compare with equivalent units from Qnap and Synology (i.e. 4 HDD bay units). Those cost RM2k+ each. The cheapest SYNOLOGY DS-413J is RM 1199 with RAID 5 write of 48MB/s.

Not all is lost, at least now you have confirmed that your major bottleneck is the connection from your upstairs computer to downstairs NAS.

Just use the old fashion clock / stop watch and time the copy process.

Or you can use softwares like Bandwidth Meter to detect your transfers.

Are you intending to put your storage on your network? How many PCs are using the storage?

If you're just with 1 PC, best would be to buy a 4 bay eSATA external box and connect via eSATA. Faster and cheaper.

What? Qnap / Synology 4 bay would cost a bomb.

Seems you're not on Gigabit network? That speed is about right for 100Mbit line.

Too much money for not so much benefit in speed, security and function. My cheapo N36L does 110MB/s transfers although no RAID 5. I'm fine though as I don't store mission ciritical data and at most, I keep important data on a separate drive offsite.

Anyway for consumer use using consumer drives, relying on RAID 5 is not secure enough. It means you're only allowed for 1 drive in your RAID 5 array to fail. If during data rebuild (which I hate that it usually takes super long) another drive fails, then you're in deep shit. That is why RAID 1 for consumer use with consumer drives is still safer.

Else, go for more expensive option of RAID 6 to be used with at least on a 5 bay enclosure that allows 2 drives to fail at once. Else on a 4 bay enclosure, RAID 6 is actually RAID 1.

Yup. Just a basic N moden router link to NAS, pc, tablet and A/V. Bottleneck is on the internet speed.

And increasing demand on the A/V side. Which I think the router cannot coupe and probably the NAS would have lack of streaming.

Ok Guys, Here is my cheapo NAS setup.

PC 1 = 1 Gbps network port
PC 2 = 1 Gbps network port
Ipad 4 = Wifi
Laptop = Wifi b/g/n standard
Samsung Smart TV with DLNA Wifi
Stupid Unifi stock black Wifi router, don't know what is the Wifi speed.
2 Aztech 200Mbps homeplugs (place my unifi wifi router far away in another room due to takut kena cancer from the wifi radiowave signal)

Newly bought from lowyat
1 WD Mybook live 2TB rm449
1 Dlink 5-port Gigabit Switch RM70
3 Cat6 cables rm35

How I setup my network at home are, the 5-port Gigabit Switch as my centralized connection for every device. Cables are all Cat6 type.

5-port Gigabit Switch
Port 1 -> PC 1
Port 2 -> PC 2
Port 3 -> WD MyBook Live 2TB
Port 4 -> 200mbps Home Plug -> another room with unifi WiFi Router + modem
Port 5 -> nothing

WD MyBook Live settings has to turn off all the features like remote internet access, twonky and itunes have to be turn off.

Ok here is the thing, Samsung Smart TV, laptop and ipad can read movies from the NAS smoothly, no jerk, no loading time, just instant. Tested the file transfer speed to/from Mybook live to my laptop via Wifi and homeplug, I get around 3MBps/24Mbps.(Suspecting is the Homeplug bottlenecking instead of the N standard WiFi)

My Home Unifi speed max is 0.625MBps/5Mbps.

Now my PC that is connected via cable to the switch and Mybook live. Transfering file from PC to Mybook live, I get around 35MBps/280Mbps.
Transfering file out from mybook live to my PC, I get around 70MBps-90MBps/560Mbps-720Mbps.



This is real life scenario and consistance as I tried and did recorded down the result of my setup.

Hope this will give a clue to you guys on the hardwares and connection cables and settings of the Mybook live NAS.

This post has been edited by Vannus: Jan 7 2013, 11:52 PM

Your Synology NAS is overkill then because any decent NAS would be able to cope with that kind of workload and transfer.

Are you running full BDs from your NAS? Gigabit routers are cheap. For AV purposes, never use wireless.

I don't trust the speed that Windows displays in the dialog box. I believe that's the average speed it records and not the actual speed the file is being transferred. Best is to time the file transfer with a stop watch from when the actual file starts to transfer and when the file transfer ends. Else, get a monitoring utility like Bandwidth Meter that will record your actual network speed transfers.

Have you tried doing the same (transferring files) over the network between PC 1 and PC 2? Your findings will help isolate and narrow the problem. Anyway, what hardisk are your PCs having?

The transfer from Mybook to PC looks fine but PC to Mybook is a little low. Perhaps the write speed of the Mybook is the bottleneck.

I seldom transfer big file. Since the NAS can do everything, the big file just keep in NAS. I use the NAS mainly for sharing video and picture with family and friend around the world. Torrenting and backup file running 7/11. So the bottleneck is at the internet speed.

As my AV is upgrading now, the demanding speed is getting more. The 3D and BD streaming require high speed. That I probably need to upgrade my network to gigabit. Those streaming AV hardware is wired to the router. The wifi is using for the HP, tablet and non streaming AV.

I dont understand why some of you are quoting your internet speed for the slow transfers you are getting from your NAS... you are not transfering across the web. What is important is the quality of your internal network system.

For BD the max data rate specified is 54Mbit/s (40Mbit/s for AV streams). In theory any wireless N system should be sufficient, even a 100Mbit/s LAN router should be sufficient to stream BD. 3D BD is still limited to a max 64Mbit/s BTW... and that is a really rare occurrence that any movie needs the max data stream.

so look into your homeplug if it is still slow. I think as the few people here have indicated, homeplugs are slowwww.

but it shouldn't be, no? mine's rated 500mbps, so at the very least it should be getting half of gigabit speed (50MB/s at least). the wireless homeplug is 200mbps, so should have ample leeway with WiFi N connecting to it as well.

Mine aztech 500Mbps.. The best I can get is around 80-100Mbps.. This done using same powerstrip.

For real line setup, 1st floor to down stair, I can copy file around 11MBps.. I believe they is something else limited the transfer (internal powerplug component/firmware). The aztech utility reported around 200-300Mbps speed when tested using the same powerstrip. But UDP packet test just goes above 100Mbps. For the info, UDP packet test done using linux nc program. This is acceptable to test the network. No disk reading overhead or TCP overhead and ack packet.. Just pure packet transfer from 1 point to another.

ozak mentioned that he uses the NAS to share files / videos over the internet. Fastest internet speed is 2 to 3MB/s and that is still sufficient for a slow poke network.

But my argument is what's the use of a NAS when it's useful to share with the internet but becomes very limited when shared in the local LAN?

In theory yes, Wireless N can cope with the HD or Full BD bandwidth but the key things to consider with wireless are interference (microwaves, wireless telephones, etc.), dropped connections, lag, latency issues and worst of all, slow speeds when it really counts. Try transferring huge files over wireless and you'll most likely get time outs. With a wired connection, you don't get any of those lag issues which is very important for AV.

Yeah, 100Mbit LAN is also sufficient for Full BD but it's on the limit. You need to account for loss of efficiency and transmission overhead. Sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. So why gamble when Gigabit hardware is relatively cheap and available to deploy?

Homeplugs are also not straight forward.

In theory yes. But once you count this and that overhead, and what you receive at the end is peanuts.

No experience with homeplugs but is your house electrical wiring single or 3 phase?

Single phase.. When testing I use same power extension. side by side..

NAS is not just keep file and transfering file.

I seldom transfer big file. Since the NAS can do everything, the big file just keep in NAS. I use the NAS mainly for sharing home video and picture with family and friend around the world. Torrenting and backup across the net file running 7/11. So the bottleneck is at the internet speed. My internal networking is more than sufficient for this sharing.

As you said, it is theory and unconfirm. I m in the mid of upgrading the AV. At the moment, it did show some shuttering and not playing big media file. But probably the media player cannot coupe. So ordering a new 1 and see it will improve or not. Just need to check 1 by 1. Include the networking.

Would it be more cost effective and 100% effective if I use gigabit switch and wired to AV? Instead homeplug.

What is the bitrate of the media you are trying to play and what media player are you using? I am currently using a Raspberry Pi and it has problem playing 10-ish GB files when streaming over wifi. But I think it is the lack of processing power of the ethernet/USB controller rather than wifi constrains.

Short answer is yes... 100% effective. The only problem is the issue of running the cables all over the place. If you have built in conduits, just run the cables.

Sorry, I m not skill enough to understand IT. How to know the bitrate of the media when playing? Where can I check it?

Those file which 10GB or over will have shuttering, cannot play, long waiting time to start play and not support format. Using TVIX 5000HD media player with wired to the NAS. Some of this problem is from the player fw. And some from the network streaming. It is 6yrs old player which is at the ending life. Will replace the media player with med1000x3d. This probably will solve all the media format problem. Than can see how is the network and NAS coupe. Before further solution.

The NAS and network is just 2m from the AV in the hall. So there is no problem to wired the AV to the router and NAS.

If need wifi, the dual band router (2.4g and 5G) will give a better speed?

Planning to get a decent NAS....any recommendation? Below RM500...

I had used before the Synology (2 Bay), both the normal and junior ones.... they are really good... but I don't have a budget for that....

My question is, what would be the "Most Value for Money NAS 2 Bay" under RM500....

I was considering the Buffalo Linkstation Duo Pro or the Dlink 320?

This post has been edited by eric_tan: Jan 21 2013, 08:03 AM

I also have the same question as yours. For budget NAS (specially this 2), which one is better in term of transfer speed and functionality?

New Microserver?

HP Proliant N54L, looks like just a new CPU and nothing much else get upgraded compares to N40L..