Mac <> Synology NAS connection issues

[m0ckduck]

I'm currently trying to do a full Time Machine restore off of an old Synology DS116. I have the MacBook plugged into the router via ethernet cable and the router connected to the NAS via ethernet cable. Time Machine finds the backup source and starts the restore process, but it's extremely slow: 5-11 mbps per second, meaning more than 36 hours for about 700GB.

Can anyone provide tips on how to get faster transfer speeds??

Update: have connected MacBook directly to NAS via ethernet, bypassing the router. Now getting 80mpbs but still .... not great.

 

[Time to Mo Vaughn]

Since you're at 80mbps, my guess was that you're limited by reading off the hard drives more than the transfer process at this point. A quick google found me the datasheet for the DS116, which seems to indicate the maximum read speed is only 112 mbps anyway. I'm guessing that's the limiting factor at this point and you're not going to get much faster as that's under full ideal conditions and for limited time. Still, if you let it run overnight, you should be close to down now...

 

[cgori]

The data sheet says 112MBps (bytes, not bits - so x8 for bits, about 900 mbps), so something is very slow. It could be getting capped on HDD read speed @ 80mbps, but that feels pretty low honestly. Whatever was happening at 5-11mbps was yet again something else (probably your router has a throughput or packet-per-second limitation)

It's also possible you have a bad cable, believe it or not. Can you check the port statistics for errors and/or retransmits? Something like "netstat -s " or "netstat -e" from a shell. Also make sure the port is actually connected/auto-negotiated as gigE and not 100mbit, that would get you the throughput you are seeing - typically would happen if you used an old cat3/cat4 patch cable by mistake (or a badly crimped cat5), the link training would fail and it would drop back to 100mbit.

You can try to enable jumbo frames (mtu of 9000) on the mac - especially in this direct-connected scenario, since both the synology and the mac should in theory support it. If you have the router in between there's a good chance it wouldn't work. You'll have to google how to do it, I don't know on a Mac.

In theory the USB 3.0 ports on the back are 5gbps (i.e. 5x gigE) but I don't know if Time Machine will work over those (again, I'm mac-oblivious, sorry).

Lastly you can check the SMART drive stats on the synology to see if anything weird is happening there, like if one of the drives in the array is failing and generating lots of retries or something like that.

 

[Andy Merchant]

I'd also check the network interface speed on the Synology DSM GUI: Control Panel->Network->Network Interface.

If it's not reporting 1000 Mbps, full duplex you might have a bad cable or switch in the mix.

 

[m0ckduck]

Thanks, everyone. I learned a lot from this. Mostly that I should update my 9 year-old NAS.

 

[cgori]

Thanks, everyone. I learned a lot from this. Mostly that I should update my 9 year-old NAS.

I have a DS412+ that seems to be working fine (knock on wood). I think it's on end-of-life for software support but otherwise no issues.

 

[Andy Merchant]

I have a DS412+ that seems to be working fine (knock on wood). I think it's on end-of-life for software support but otherwise no issues.

Huh, I have a long decommissioned DS412+ sitting under my desk right now. Even the DS1019+ I replaced it with 5 years ago is starting to get a bit long in the tooth.

 

[cgori]

I've thought about buying a new chassis (and/or drives) for quite some time now. The UI isn't exactly zippy anymore. But it keeps on trucking...