Fix Summary -- Thecus N7700Pro V2
On a GigaBit network I was getting around 1 MB/s data rate between PC + NAS.
FIX 1 -- Plugging the NAS from the GB Switch to the GB Router it is now 10 MB/s.
Fix 2 -- Replace NAS old network cable with new CAT-6 cable -- Write increased almost 10 fold. 10 MB read / 100 MB write
Fix 3 -- PC old network cable with new CAT-6 cable --> Another 10% improvement. 57 MB read / 110 MB write
So the old cables were dragging the NAS down to slow network speeds.
Case Closed. Waiting for Thecus Support comments but I think we have the problem solved.
So at the end of the day my Thecus NAS with RAID-5 now looks something like this... (RAID-5 - 6x WD TB Black + Spare)
Hardware
PC is new build with Win 7 64 bit.
Mother Board = Intel DZ68BC
CPU = CPU I7-1 Intel Core i7 2600 /3.40GHz LGA1155
Mem 8GB
NIC = Onboard Network
Disk Drives = 2x Crucial 256GB SSDs + 2x WD2002FAEX -- Western Digital 2TB WD Caviar Black 3.5
Router = new DLINK DIR-645 (Amplified 300+ N) - Gigabit Switch
NAS = N7700PROV2 + 7x WD Black 2TB
Test Software - Crystal
About Crystal Bench Mark Tests
- All : All Test (Seq, 512K, 4K, 4K QD32)
- Seq : Sequential Read/Write Test (Block Size = 1024KB)
- 512K : Random Read/Write Test (Block Size = 512KB)
- 4K : Random Read/Write Test (Block Size = 4KB)
- 4K QD32 : Random Read/Write Test (Block Size = 4KB, Queue Depth = 32) for
NCQ&AHCI
System C: Drive = Crucial 256GB SSD (SATA 3)
27/8/2012 -- Replaced the old Crucial with OCZ Vertex 4 (still 256GB)
D: Drive =
Crucial 256GB SSD (SATA 3)
27/8/2012 -- Replaced the old Crucial with OCZ Vertex 4 (512KB)
E: Drive = 7200 RPM USB 3 Drive
M: Drive -WD 2TB Black drive -- On SATA 3 connection.
Thecus NAS N7700PRO V2
Network Equipment = 4 Port GBit Router + 10 GB Unmanaged Switch
NAS X:\ == Raid 5 Disk on NSA (5 disks + Spare - all 2TB WD Black)
Took forever (15-20 mins) :-( Very slow!
==> NAS on Switch + PC on Router = BAD!
==> NAS on Router + PC on Router = Best!
At smaller test file size (50MB) much the same.
==> NAS on Router + PC on Switch = Fair (Write is down)
Rechecking....
==> NAS on Switch + PC on
Router ==> Write Errors! (could be a TMO error)
==> Back to Both on Switch ==> Still Very Bad!!
Conclusion:
NAS must be on the Router. PC best also on Router but OK on Switch.
===
Another Test
==> Reminder: NAS (RAID) & PC both on the Router. Slightly smaller Write speed because we are using small 50MB file to speed things up.
==> NAS also has a single WD Black 2TB (JOB) Y: == About same as RAID 5 (Write down a bit)
== Let's Stripe some NAS disks together
Try Disk Raid 10 (6x 2TB = 5.5GB)
So trying to squeeze some some better performance.
Not much difference.
Other people are posting around 90 MB/s + transfer speeds. Or maybe they are quoting Mbs not MBs?? Or maybe they have 10 GB connections??
Back to RAID-5 to increase Disk space -- Try 6x 2TB disk + Spare = 9.3 TB drive space
Similar figures. But we have redundancy.
Setup RAID-5 (4 disks + 1 spare) 5.5GB
Fix 2 - New CAT-6 cable to NAS
Replaced old cheap cable with new CAT-6 cable (Router to NAS box) *** Alomst 10x the write speed!!
Fix 3 - New CAT-6 cable to PC
So now we have all new short CAT-6 cabling between PC-Router-NAS. I also plugged both the PC and NAS into the router.
Side note: I will be purchasing all new CAT-6 cabling.
2x Readings at 50MB files to RAID-5 share on NAS (you can see the range of results but not too much).
Test to RAID-0 is exactly the same (so RAID-0 did not help performance any more).
Here's a longer test at 500 MB test.
Finally
Blew away NAS configuration and created new RAID-5 (6x Disks + 1 Spare -- All 2TB WD Black)
Thecus N7700Pro V2 Setup
