We've gathered throughput data from our many NAS reviews for easy comparison. What do you think?

It looks like the Synology Disk Station DS-106E wins hands down in price vs performance.

There is more information on the DS-106e here

http://www.keenansystems.com/store [...] cts_id=182

I'm surprised to not see the Linksys NSLU2 anywhere in the listings? You did so many articles about hacking it, I thought you'd keep it in the NAS groupings.

I wondered if anyone would notice!

Didn't add it because the data is pretty old and didn't test above 128MB file size.

I'll get it set up again soon, rerun the data and add it.

The relevant datapoints I have are for 64 MB file size (64 KB record size):
- 5.1 MB/sec write
- 4.2 MB/sec read

Tim,
After re-collecting the data, would you be willing to remove the 133 MHz CPU clock limitation of the NSLU2 so the CPU can run at 266 MHz and then collect data again?

The reason I ask, is because the NSLU2 is now being sold with the CPU clock at 266 MHz. I would be nice to document a comparison of perfomance.

Thanks for considering my inquiry!

Will you add the ReadyNAS 1000S?

Will you add some Jumboframe for GB?

Good job anyway...

Thanks a ton for putting this analysis together, I've been jonezing for 1TB of consumer-grade NAS and haven't found anything really for under 1K worth buying. At this point I'm thinking that buying a bunch of cheap SATA drives, chaining them together with a pre-owned server, and using xcopy for backup from one disk to the other is going to be the best/cheapest way to simulate NAS and RAID in my home network. If anyone has other thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

It should be interesting when the Qnap TS-101's performance is added to the chart!

You'll be interested in an article coming up next week, then.

Probably not anytime soon

I have data for gigabit and Jumbo frames, but not for many products. The jumbo frame data tends to be for RAID 5 configurations, which need a chart of their own.

I will add both the jumbo frame and RAID 5 charts when more products are added. Meanwhile, check the reviews for the products themselves and you'll find jumbo frame data.

I can do this if the clock limitation is removed by newer firmware. Is it?

A lot of these performance numbers are ridiculously bad. Specifically, a gigabit-equipped NAS should give at least 20 MB/s both read and write to justify its gigabit capability. I use a Linux machine at home as a file server, and can write to it at 35 MB/s and read at 28 MB/s.

I also have a Kuro-Box at home, a Linux-based BYOD gigabit NAS from Buffalo. Having played with its configuration for a while, I came to the conclusion that its rather poor stock performance (about 5 MB/s read/write if I remember correctly) was due to the TCP send and receive buffers being set far too small. After adjusting them, I got about 12 MB/s both read and write. At this point, transfers are more than likely limited by the slow (266 MHz, I think) processor. I'd venture to guess that all these gigabit NAS products which turn out less than 100 Mbps are limited by one of these two issues.

Having experienced transfer rates consistently over 20 MB/s between my gigabit-connected Windows machines, I soon abandoned the Kuro-Box in favor of a full file server. When it comes to performance (and I move a lot of very large files around), there's no comparison.

Cheers.

Any idea if/when you might review the Thecus N5200 and do some comparisons with the ReadyNAS NV? I'm looking now at a solution and really like the ReadyNAS NV but as always want more performance.

Here is a link I found but it doesn't do many performance tests or comparisons.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item. [...] 181&page=1

BTW, I love the consolidated charts.

Tim,

Nope, it's done in hardware. All you have to do is remove a resistor. You can find info in the UnSlung community HERE.

I've been running an NSLU2 without this resistor now for 9 months, not a single problem. Hopefully this is something you'll venture to try.

What's the word??

What's the word??
Considering it, but no definite plans at this time.