ix2-DL NAS Slow Transfer Speeds

[sthapns247]

I have a Lenovo (Iomega) ix2-DL NAS with a single 4TB harddrive in one of the bays, the other bay is empty. Typically over my home network I get around 100MB/s transfer speed; it is a well maintained gigabit network. However, when I transfer to my new NAS I only get around 25MB/s.

I have conducted tests and can confirm that transferring the same 8GB file from the source HDD to an SSD on another wired computer I get about 100MB/s, but this same file from the same source HDD peaks at only 25MB/s to the NAS. I have ensured the NIC on the source machine is configured to gigabit full duplex, and I have also tried enabling Jumbo Frames on the NIC and in the settings for the NAS, but this seemed to reduce the transfer speed.

I am looking for any help from anyone who has this particular NAS or general tips that may apply to any NAS. I have seen people complain about the speed of this NAS, but I have also found others who claim to get around 100MB/s transfer speeds.

I transfer from both an Windows 8.1 desktop and an OSX Mavericks MacBook. The 4TB drive I have in the NAS shouldn't not be the limited factor because I had it in a USB 3.0 enclosure prior to the NAS and was getting around 70MB/s, which seems be the practical peak of USB 3.0.

Thanks for any help!

 

[corroded]

...are you up to date with firmware?
https://lenovo-na-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/31178

Mostly the limiting factor on these small NAS devices is the CPU and RAM.

What is your download speed back to the computer from the NAS?

 

[sthapns247]

Yes, the firmware is up to date and the transfer speed from the NAS to the PC is about 50BM/s. So essentially twice as fast, but still no where near the 100MB/s I typically get.

 

[corroded]

Does this NAS have a monitor in its web admin?

I've used various NAS and most do. Can you monitor its system usage to see if anything is peaking on upload versus download?

 

[sthapns247]

There doesn't appear to be a comprehensive readout of the real time hardware usage. Do you think I'd see any speed increase if I put another drive in and set them to RAID 0? I'm thinking it is probably a limitation of the RAM/CPU like you mentioned before, but am not sure if RAID 0 will make any difference.

 

[corroded]

I doubt it. The only other thing to try woyuld be an SSD, but that would not change the thruoghput of the system if it is a hardware limit you are not seeing.

I'm using a rig built on FreeNAS. (freenas.org) the actual system is an A8 w/ 16GB RAM and 2 3TB drives in RAID0, the OS is on a Flash drive so the HDD's are all storage. I get pretty good up/download speeds. The FreeNAS iso is free and th whole system only cost me about $500 (less actually, I just do not totally remember)

I will do an up/down test and add it here.

 

[corroded]

Uploaded the CENTOS6.5 ISO (4.3GB) in under 60 seconds, Windows task manager Networking tab read about 99% (99MB/s) for 90% of the transfer...

Downloading same file, averaging about 70% (70MB/s) download capacity...

All Gigabit hardwired network, through main router and a switch to/from NAS using this machine, a 3ish year old i7 Windows 7 64bit...

 

[sthapns247]

Thanks for all your help. I wish I could afford to build a dedicated machine just for file transfers, but I can't. Been looking at online reviews and I found a few units that seem to offer faster speeds and are in my price range.

Again, thanks for your help. If it wasn't for your input I may have chalked my issue up to something else.