My New Synology NAS Drive : Very Slow

bertie40

bertie40

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Greetings.
I am now the proud owner of a Synology DS214 NAS.

I was using a d-link NAS but was getting silly TX rates of 6 MB/S.

Also, this Synology was boasting speeds up to 100, confirmed by on line reviews.

So....
I connect it up with 2 x 3TB WD red drives, let it go through the rigmarole as it installed the software and formatted / created the Raid.

Then it updated the firmware. All ok.

Speeds now ?
11 MB/S
far less than the 100-ish i was expecting.

People online are complaining about a slow 50MB speed.
(Don't I wish !)


Ok.
The setup is .......

NAS --->Virginmedia Superhub Modem/router --> 5-port switch --->PC

All gigabit. No long cables.
Note. cables are bog-standard ethernet, not the 5e ones.

Yes, I tried it without the switch. Speed dropped down to 6MB !
Reconnected the switch and speed went up to 11 again.

I checked over all the ethernet config settings i could find, all appear nominal.

Its almost like an 11 MB/s upper limit has been set somewhere.

If any of you guys has come across this, and has a quick solution, I would heartily welcome it.
The Synology really is a nice bit of kit.
 
Check the jumbo frames setting.

I upped it on my Synology station and it helped with network speed.

You may want to get some 5e cables as well.


How are you measuring the speed?
 
Hi.
Thanks for responding.
Im using teracopy for testing transfers.

5e cables probably a good idea, but i thought it didn't matter with short lengths.

I gave jumbo frames a try, but there's a lot of confusing info on using. choosing the correct settings.

hay Ho.
 
11 MB/s sounds like something in the chain is connecting at 100 maps. Is the modem/router fully capable of gigabit network connections on all ports in use?
 
Cheers Martyn. I'd gone through that already, but I checked again just to be sure.


I suspect / hope it's the cat 5 I'm using.
So a trip off to the shops to get some 5e.

Q. Is the wiring identical to conventional cat 5?
I think it is.

Are there any issues in using bulk cable ? Or is the crimping more critical here.

I believe it's just that more of the wires are used.
I may be wrong [emoji6]
 
Glad this thread came up.... Just in the process of vetting nas devices and from what I'm reading, Synology are a serious contender.

The model mentioned by the op looks interesting.
 
bertie40 said:
Cheers Martyn. I'd gone through that already, but I checked again just to be sure.


I suspect / hope it's the cat 5 I'm using.
So a trip off to the shops to get some 5e.

Q. Is the wiring identical to conventional cat 5?
I think it is.

Are there any issues in using bulk cable ? Or is the crimping more critical here.

I believe it's just that more of the wires are used.
I may be wrong [emoji6]
Click to expand...

I think that for gigabit cable the strands are more tightly wound than for megabit, to prevent crosstalk. And it uses all 4 pairs for data, rather than just 2 pairs for megabit.
 
It certainly sounds like a device is connecting at 10/100.
I have a long run of CAT5e from house to workshop and I'm able to get speeds of around 40-50MBps.

@kpk1: Synology is the only brand of NAS I will supply/install at the moment. Started using them a while back based on recommendations from YeOldStoneCat and others.
 
Love Synologies.
Although the Reds aren't blistering fast...they're faster than that!

Yes CAT 5 supports gigabit....especially fine over short lengths. While it's better to use 5e or 6...because those are designed for optimal gigabit and handle crosstalk better, technically..on the books...in writing...gigabit was designed to utilize existing CAT 5.

However...the condition/quality of your existing cable...who knows, and it's easy enough to snag a few new short lengths of factory made 5e or 6 for testing, right? (gives you an excuse to pour another pint!)

What are you testing from? Is the antivirus real time protection disabled while performing the test?
 
I'd agree, sounds like its running at 10/100.


You won't get superfast speeds with WD Reds, though certainly they should be much faster than that.

I've got a couple of servers that are identical except for their internal backup drives; one has a couple of WD Blacks in RAID 1 and the other a couple of WD Reds in RAID 1. Backups take approximately twice as long to complete on the server with the Reds. I believe Reds are designed more for longevity and sturdiness and usually spin at a mere 5400rpm.
 
Last edited:
I believe there may be issues with the latest firmware.

New purchasers, maybe worth checking before updating ?

I believe downgrading a firmware in this case isn't straightforward.

Regards
 
I installed a DS412+ here in January, full of 4x4TB WD Red's, all ordered from Amazon.

We've had fantastic throughput, I move a LOT of data to and from this machine with no issues. We're also using both NIC's in the device, which has been an interesting learning experience, but I just wanted to tell you that we're on the very most recent DSM version with no issues whatsoever.

The system is on cable I crimped too. I haven't done read/write speed tests, but it's pretty remarkably fast.
 
Moltuae said:
I believe Reds are designed more for longevity and sturdiness and usually spin at a mere 5400rpm.
Click to expand...

Lower energy consumption, lower heat output, and the firmware is optimized for being used in RAID setups in NAS 'n DVRs. Designed for 24x7 use in those tighter environments of NAS and DVR units. Similar to Seagates Video series of drives.
 
I have been bit twice in the last month by cat5 cables. A lot of routers (and some switches) wont even use em anymore. Like, they detect the category, and say "Nope!". Change for a 5e, life is good. Don't know a lot about Synology, but that kind of throughput and the knowledge of sub-par network cables would make me upgrade those immediately...
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Our Synology RS2212+ is populated with 4xWD Reds....I just copied a server 2012 ISO from it, transfer rates bounced between 96 and 110 MB/s.
Click to expand...

You got those striped?

I've just done a quick test ...

Like I said, otherwise identical servers, both containing backup drives in RAID 1 configuration. Transferring a 14GB file, the Blacks are averaging around 110MB/s, the Reds aren't managing more than than 50MB/s.
 
Yeah it's on Synology's hybrid RAID...consider it similar to 4 disks in RAID 5 for performance...normally a hair slower but our 2212 has a beefier CPU and more RAM than smaller units so it's less of a hit on it.
 
Last edited:
That would explain it. Yeah, striping should make up for the slower performance of the drives.

I've got a 4 bay Lenovo NAS attached to the same server in fact, over 50+ metres of Cat5e, and transferring files to/from that NAS is actually slightly faster than internal transfers. Those drives are WD Blues, I think though, and RAID 10 (I don't like to trust RAID 5).
 
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