Hi all,
First off I'm new to this forum but have been doing some reading here and elsewhere about performance issues with this NAS unit. A lot of the posts are 2007-2008 though - this is Nov 17 2009 so I'm not sure if much has changed. I haven't quite found answers that are accurate and that don't conflict yet so figured I'd ask what I need directly. Also for anyone who kindly responds, please keep the B and b references accurate so as not to be confusing - 10MB is not 10Mb.
A quick note on what I've done to improve performance so far:
Got rid of the WD-supplied CAT5e cable. A CAT6 cable made a very big difference in data throughput performance (maybe 40%+) - bearing in mind I'm also using a Gb switch. No point in having a CAT6 cable with a Gb lan port on the NAS if the other end of the connection is 100Mb.
I have 2 topics/questions.
Topic 1: Why is my 2TB WD MyBook World Edition II so slow?
Raw data throughput is one thing and I'll elaborate in a moment, but it's also very slow to even get a directory listing. Moreso [in WinXP here} a right-click > Properties on a folder takes a very long time for it to tabulate the contents and correctly report the overall size + file/folders count.
(Sidenote...) Sometimes the NAS goes to standby because occasionally when it takes longer than usual for me to access something, if I listen closely I'll hear the drive(s) starting to spin up. But once it's up and going, it's still really slow on the whole Folder size thing.
In the reading I've done, some people have said something about an ARM proc running at 200Mhz being the problem - max is 3-5MB/sec throughput. These are 2007 posts. I bought my unit in 2009. Not sure if WD has updated the World II proc but I get much faster than 3-5MB/sec so I'm not sure what merit that argument has.
On that note, a copy from the X: drive (my NAS) to my WinXP desktop sustained at about 23.4MB/sec. Interestingly, there was no burst initially, it basically ran at this speed from the moment I clicked Paste. Maybe my math is off, so for reference it was a 1.59GB folder containing 3 movie files and it transferred from X: to C: in 70 seconds.
Interestingly, when I reversed the direction of the copy so putting this 1.59GB folder back to X: from C:, it took 99 seconds.
FWIW, my C: is a 2-drive RAID0, though at ~23MB/sec I suspect I wasn't getting much of a perforamce boost at the local PC end.
So is that speed normal? And does anybody have any suggestions on how to make this thing work faster, if not in raw transfer speed, than perhaps with file properties and general folder access speeds?
Topic 2: Recovery on a drive failure
I haven't had any problems with this unit (yet) but up until now, I had assumed that if a drive fails in RAID1 set you simply replace it after having received a warranty replacement drive from WD. And also in my mind, if the controller or NAS box itself fails, you have WD replace that, then just swap in your two HD's and you're safe.
Do these assumptions apply correctly to the real-world use of this device or should I start thinking about investing in a better small-business backup solution?
Thanks for reading this long post.
PS: Speaking of backup solutions, I find that the "continuous backup" function of the WD software does a bad job of removing files from the backup location that were deleted from the source even though I've enabled the option to do so. Anyone have experience with this?
First off I'm new to this forum but have been doing some reading here and elsewhere about performance issues with this NAS unit. A lot of the posts are 2007-2008 though - this is Nov 17 2009 so I'm not sure if much has changed. I haven't quite found answers that are accurate and that don't conflict yet so figured I'd ask what I need directly. Also for anyone who kindly responds, please keep the B and b references accurate so as not to be confusing - 10MB is not 10Mb.
A quick note on what I've done to improve performance so far:
Got rid of the WD-supplied CAT5e cable. A CAT6 cable made a very big difference in data throughput performance (maybe 40%+) - bearing in mind I'm also using a Gb switch. No point in having a CAT6 cable with a Gb lan port on the NAS if the other end of the connection is 100Mb.
I have 2 topics/questions.
Topic 1: Why is my 2TB WD MyBook World Edition II so slow?
Raw data throughput is one thing and I'll elaborate in a moment, but it's also very slow to even get a directory listing. Moreso [in WinXP here} a right-click > Properties on a folder takes a very long time for it to tabulate the contents and correctly report the overall size + file/folders count.
(Sidenote...) Sometimes the NAS goes to standby because occasionally when it takes longer than usual for me to access something, if I listen closely I'll hear the drive(s) starting to spin up. But once it's up and going, it's still really slow on the whole Folder size thing.
In the reading I've done, some people have said something about an ARM proc running at 200Mhz being the problem - max is 3-5MB/sec throughput. These are 2007 posts. I bought my unit in 2009. Not sure if WD has updated the World II proc but I get much faster than 3-5MB/sec so I'm not sure what merit that argument has.
On that note, a copy from the X: drive (my NAS) to my WinXP desktop sustained at about 23.4MB/sec. Interestingly, there was no burst initially, it basically ran at this speed from the moment I clicked Paste. Maybe my math is off, so for reference it was a 1.59GB folder containing 3 movie files and it transferred from X: to C: in 70 seconds.
Interestingly, when I reversed the direction of the copy so putting this 1.59GB folder back to X: from C:, it took 99 seconds.
FWIW, my C: is a 2-drive RAID0, though at ~23MB/sec I suspect I wasn't getting much of a perforamce boost at the local PC end.
So is that speed normal? And does anybody have any suggestions on how to make this thing work faster, if not in raw transfer speed, than perhaps with file properties and general folder access speeds?
Topic 2: Recovery on a drive failure
I haven't had any problems with this unit (yet) but up until now, I had assumed that if a drive fails in RAID1 set you simply replace it after having received a warranty replacement drive from WD. And also in my mind, if the controller or NAS box itself fails, you have WD replace that, then just swap in your two HD's and you're safe.
Do these assumptions apply correctly to the real-world use of this device or should I start thinking about investing in a better small-business backup solution?
Thanks for reading this long post.
PS: Speaking of backup solutions, I find that the "continuous backup" function of the WD software does a bad job of removing files from the backup location that were deleted from the source even though I've enabled the option to do so. Anyone have experience with this?
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