Help Identifying Bottleneck (Wired Network)

[SubjectNameHere]

I used to be much more savvy with this stuff but it's been a long time since I've been up to speed on the current technology. My issue is this:

I cannot get more than 10-12 MB/s file transfer speeds between two machines.

Source File:
File is on a Seagate Backup Plus 4TB 5900 RPM External HDD connected to computer via USB 3.0.
Backup drive is connected via USB 3.0 cable to Intel NUC.

Intel Core i5-3427U Quad-Core 1.8 GHz
16 GB DDR3
Intel 85279LM Gigabit Ethernet
USB 3.0

Intel NUC is connected via Cat5e cable to gigabit switch, then from switch to QNAP TS-451 NAS.

NAS is connected to internal gigabit NIC via Cat5e cable to same gigabit switch above. Internal drives on NAS are WD Red 6TB NAS Drives x4 in RAID5. They don't publish the speed on these drives but WD says they 'can perform up to 7200 as needed' so I'm assuming 5400 RPM.

I can provide any additional data as needed but I'm assuming there's a red flag here I'm just not seeing that is preventing faster speeds. My only guess is the RPM on the source drive or destination drive.

Thanks in advance! (Sorry if this is not the right way to ask. I read the rules but this is my first post here.)

 

[gbb0330]

I used to be much more savvy with this stuff but it's been a long time since I've been up to speed on the current technology. My issue is this:

I cannot get more than 10-12 MB/s file transfer speeds between two machines.

Source File:
File is on a Seagate Backup Plus 4TB 5900 RPM External HDD connected to computer via USB 3.0.
Backup drive is connected via USB 3.0 cable to Intel NUC.

Intel Core i5-3427U Quad-Core 1.8 GHz
16 GB DDR3
Intel 85279LM Gigabit Ethernet
USB 3.0

Intel NUC is connected via Cat5e cable to gigabit switch, then from switch to QNAP TS-451 NAS.

NAS is connected to internal gigabit NIC via Cat5e cable to same gigabit switch above. Internal drives on NAS are WD Red 6TB NAS Drives x4 in RAID5. They don't publish the speed on these drives but WD says they 'can perform up to 7200 as needed' so I'm assuming 5400 RPM.

I can provide any additional data as needed but I'm assuming there's a red flag here I'm just not seeing that is preventing faster speeds. My only guess is the RPM on the source drive or destination drive.

Thanks in advance! (Sorry if this is not the right way to ask. I read the rules but this is my first post here.)

please clarify source and destination

are you copying file from external HDD connected to PC, to another external HDD connected to the NUC
or you copying to the QNAP NAS?

 

[SubjectNameHere]

I used to be much more savvy with this stuff but it's been a long time since I've been up to speed on the current technology. My issue is this:

I cannot get more than 10-12 MB/s file transfer speeds between two machines.

Source File:
File is on a Seagate Backup Plus 4TB 5900 RPM External HDD connected to computer via USB 3.0.
Backup drive is connected via USB 3.0 cable to Intel NUC.

Intel Core i5-3427U Quad-Core 1.8 GHz
16 GB DDR3
Intel 85279LM Gigabit Ethernet
USB 3.0

Intel NUC is connected via Cat5e cable to gigabit switch, then from switch to QNAP TS-451 NAS.

NAS is connected to internal gigabit NIC via Cat5e cable to same gigabit switch above. Internal drives on NAS are WD Red 6TB NAS Drives x4 in RAID5. They don't publish the speed on these drives but WD says they 'can perform up to 7200 as needed' so I'm assuming 5400 RPM.

I can provide any additional data as needed but I'm assuming there's a red flag here I'm just not seeing that is preventing faster speeds. My only guess is the RPM on the source drive or destination drive.

Thanks in advance! (Sorry if this is not the right way to ask. I read the rules but this is my first post here.)

please clarify source and destination

are you copying file from external HDD connected to PC, to another external HDD connected to the NUC
or you copying to the QNAP NAS?

Copying from external HDD connected over USB 3.0 to NUC/PC, then over network through gigabit switch to QNAP NAS internal HDD array.

 

[gbb0330]

[/quotemsg]

please clarify source and destination

are you copying file from external HDD connected to PC, to another external HDD connected to the NUC
or you copying to the QNAP NAS?

[/quotemsg]

Copying from external HDD connected over USB 3.0 to NUC/PC, then over network through gigabit switch to QNAP NAS internal HDD array. [/quotemsg]

I see, what is the transfer rate if you do a copy from external HDD to PC?

 

[SubjectNameHere]

I see, what is the transfer rate if you do a copy from external HDD to PC?

Great question. I honestly should put on my general troubleshooting hat for this. Same file from External HDD to NUC internal SSD was ~130MB/sec.

 

[gbb0330]

I see, what is the transfer rate if you do a copy from external HDD to PC?

Great question. I honestly should put on my general troubleshooting hat for this. Same file from External HDD to NUC internal SSD was ~130MB/sec.

so this part of the process works as expected.

just curious, how big is the file?
any way to determine how saturated is the gigabit switch? I assume our file transfer is not the only thing going on on that network. same applies to the qnap? try to find out what else is going on besides the file transfer.

maybe try the file transfer after business hours, when nobody else is on the network, also consider backup schedules.

 

[SubjectNameHere]

I see, what is the transfer rate if you do a copy from external HDD to PC?

Great question. I honestly should put on my general troubleshooting hat for this. Same file from External HDD to NUC internal SSD was ~130MB/sec.

so this part of the process works as expected.

just curious, how big is the file?
any way to determine how saturated is the gigabit switch? I assume our file transfer is not the only thing going on on that network. same applies to the qnap? try to find out what else is going on besides the file transfer.

maybe try the file transfer after business hours, when nobody else is on the network, also consider backup schedules.

The file is 1.9GB. I'm quite sure there's little to no network activity at the moment as it's my home network and aside from general browsing, it's not in use. The QNAP is only used for Plex streaming and there are no users on it.

 

[gbb0330]

I see, what is the transfer rate if you do a copy from external HDD to PC?

Great question. I honestly should put on my general troubleshooting hat for this. Same file from External HDD to NUC internal SSD was ~130MB/sec.

so this part of the process works as expected.

just curious, how big is the file?
any way to determine how saturated is the gigabit switch? I assume our file transfer is not the only thing going on on that network. same applies to the qnap? try to find out what else is going on besides the file transfer.

maybe try the file transfer after business hours, when nobody else is on the network, also consider backup schedules.

The file is 1.9GB. I'm quite sure there's little to no network activity at the moment as it's my home network and aside from general browsing, it's not in use. The QNAP is only used for Plex streaming and there are no users on it.

try this:

1. confirm that both PC and qnap are actually connected at 1 gigabit.

2. try file transfer from you PC to qnap

3. if you have another PC on the network you can test your bandwidth using iperf (one PC is client another server) very easy to use and very accurate.

 

[SubjectNameHere]

try this:

1. confirm that both PC and qnap are actually connected at 1 gigabit.

2. try file transfer from you PC to qnap

3. if you have another PC on the network you can test your bandwidth using iperf (one PC is client another server) very easy to use and very accurate.

So for #1, I have verified they're using patch cabling, gigabit switch between them, and both have gigabit NICs. I don't have two PCs at home unfortunately so I'm not sure if iperf will help. I did try copying from the native SSD on the NUC to the QNAP NAS and got the same ~10MB/sec.

 

[gbb0330]

try this:

1. confirm that both PC and qnap are actually connected at 1 gigabit.

2. try file transfer from you PC to qnap

3. if you have another PC on the network you can test your bandwidth using iperf (one PC is client another server) very easy to use and very accurate.

So for #1, I have verified they're using patch cabling, gigabit switch between them, and both have gigabit NICs. I don't have two PCs at home unfortunately so I'm not sure if iperf will help. I did try copying from the native SSD on the NUC to the QNAP NAS and got the same ~10MB/sec.

lets go back to #1. go to network and sharing center, click on local area connection, this will take you to the Local Area Connection Status screen, look for speed. confirm its 1 gigabit - not 100 Mbps.
log into qnap web interface, you should be able to find the connection speed somewhere. often you end up with network devices connecting at 100 Mbps even is they are rated for 1 gigabit, we have to make sure this is not the case.

 

[SubjectNameHere]

lets go back to #1. go to network and sharing center, click on local area connection, this will take you to the Local Area Connection Status screen, look for speed. confirm its 1 gigabit - not 100 Mbps.
log into qnap web interface, you should be able to find the connection speed somewhere. often you end up with network devices connecting at 100 Mbps even is they are rated for 1 gigabit, we have to make sure this is not the case.

!!!

Ok, so on the NUC, it says Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection, connected at 100 Mbps. On the QNAP NAS, it says Network Speed - Auto Negotiation. It has options to choose from (100Mbps full-duplex or 1000Mbps full-duplex). That 100 Mbps on the NUC seems like a huge culprit.

 

[gbb0330]

lets go back to #1. go to network and sharing center, click on local area connection, this will take you to the Local Area Connection Status screen, look for speed. confirm its 1 gigabit - not 100 Mbps.
log into qnap web interface, you should be able to find the connection speed somewhere. often you end up with network devices connecting at 100 Mbps even is they are rated for 1 gigabit, we have to make sure this is not the case.

!!!

Ok, so on the NUC, it says Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection, connected at 100 Mbps. On the QNAP NAS, it says Network Speed - Auto Negotiation. It has options to choose from (100Mbps full-duplex or 1000Mbps full-duplex). That 100 Mbps on the NUC seems like a huge culprit.

yup, NUC connecting at 100 Mbps is a problem, we have to figure out what the qnap connection speed is, you may have 2 problems. Unfortunately i don't know what the web interface looks like, but there should be something like network status or device status tab.

 

[SubjectNameHere]

lets go back to #1. go to network and sharing center, click on local area connection, this will take you to the Local Area Connection Status screen, look for speed. confirm its 1 gigabit - not 100 Mbps.
log into qnap web interface, you should be able to find the connection speed somewhere. often you end up with network devices connecting at 100 Mbps even is they are rated for 1 gigabit, we have to make sure this is not the case.

!!!

Ok, so on the NUC, it says Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection, connected at 100 Mbps. On the QNAP NAS, it says Network Speed - Auto Negotiation. It has options to choose from (100Mbps full-duplex or 1000Mbps full-duplex). That 100 Mbps on the NUC seems like a huge culprit.

yup, NUC connecting at 100 Mbps is a problem, we have to figure out what the qnap connection speed is, you may have 2 problems. Unfortunately i don't know what the web interface looks like, but there should be something like network status or device status tab.

I found it. The NAS says it's connected at 1Gbps.

 

[gbb0330]

lets go back to #1. go to network and sharing center, click on local area connection, this will take you to the Local Area Connection Status screen, look for speed. confirm its 1 gigabit - not 100 Mbps.
log into qnap web interface, you should be able to find the connection speed somewhere. often you end up with network devices connecting at 100 Mbps even is they are rated for 1 gigabit, we have to make sure this is not the case.

!!!

Ok, so on the NUC, it says Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection, connected at 100 Mbps. On the QNAP NAS, it says Network Speed - Auto Negotiation. It has options to choose from (100Mbps full-duplex or 1000Mbps full-duplex). That 100 Mbps on the NUC seems like a huge culprit.

yup, NUC connecting at 100 Mbps is a problem, we have to figure out what the qnap connection speed is, you may have 2 problems. Unfortunately i don't know what the web interface looks like, but there should be something like network status or device status tab.

I found it. The NAS says it's connected at 1Gbps.

good news is we have only 1 problem to deal with, bad news is, those problems are difficult to resolve. i would start with the cable, go get a nice, preferably shielded, CAT 6 cable and see if it makes a difference.

 

[SubjectNameHere]

good news is we have only 1 problem to deal with, bad news is, those problems are difficult to resolve. i would start with the cable, go get a nice, preferably shielded, CAT 6 cable and see if it makes a difference.

Yep, I agree. Problem is that the cable going into the NUC goes into the attic and into the master closet panel, but I can probably just disconnect it and hook it up over there for a test. I updated the driver to the Intel driver and did the included diagnostic and everything looks green except the "Link partner is not capable of higher speeds" came up on the speed test. I tried another gigabit switch in the cabinet and got the same issue, so I'm thinking it has to be the cable or a faulty NIC.

Thanks so much! I appreciate talking me through everything.