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chasg · May 25, 2006, 08:45 AM

Hi All,

I've just set up a LaCie Ethernet Disk Mini, which communicates via 10/100baseT. For some reason, as I transfer 80Megs from an internal drive, I'm getting throughput way down in the 4MB/sec range, way off the 12MB/s I was expecting.

The Mac is a G5, hooked to a 10/100 switch, and then on to the ethernet disk.

Any suggestions as to how I can problem shoot this? Once this small copy is done, I have to transfer almost half a terabyte, and I don't want it to be copying until next year.

Chas

Macola · May 25, 2006, 09:10 AM

I've had the same problem with several LaCie NAS...par for the course, i think. However, I did notice that transfer speed was better when the disk was formatted FAT32 as opposed to ext3.

chasg · May 25, 2006, 09:56 AM

Thanks for the info Macola, at least I know it's not an isolated thing. Perhaps overhead from WindozeXP embedded?

The disk is still formatted FAT32, glad I left it that way.

Do you know anything about this prohibition against Mac-specific characters in file names when connected via USB? What I'm doing is moving all data from an almost full firewire 500Gb drive to this 500Gb ethernet drive (mostly projects in progress that don't need to be accessed at high speeds), and then I'll have my high speed drive back in use.

If I could transfer the 1/2 TB via USB, I'd get a lot faster transfer speeds. But, I fear that, deep within the hierarchy, will be tons of files with the prohibited characters in their file names (will they transfer? Will their names be changed? What?).

Thanks again for contributing,

Chas

ghporter · May 25, 2006, 08:31 PM

Since FAT32 has no journaling and limited (VERY sparse) permissions, there's less overhead when moving and copying files to and from a drive with that format. However, the way an ethernet data interface is implemented (as in LaCie's) can be good or bad-in this case, it sounds bad. That means that you might get very slow performance over the network. My CoolMax NAS box also has a USB port, and it's FAST using USB, though it's only acceptable for relatively small files through the network.

Sorry, but I don't know anything about any Mac-specific character issues.

indigoimac · May 25, 2006, 08:46 PM

I've found that Samba slows to a crawl on files over 50meg, or at least it goes in bursts, this makes for a fun time moving DVD images from Windows to Mac.

chasg · May 26, 2006, 04:25 AM

Glenn and indigoimac, thanks for the info.

I got an email from LaCie tech support this morning staying that the 4MB/s I'm getting is actually better than what they get! I guess that's an official "it ain't gettin' better mate!" from LaCie. To be honest, if I'd known it was going to be this slow, I wouldn't have bought the drive (12MB/sec I can live with, a third of that is more than frustratingly slow).

Glenn, I gave up on transferring the 500MB via ethernet and decided to risk file-name problems and hook the drive up via USB. To be honest, it wasn't too much faster (from the "time remaining" indicator in the copy dialog, it looked to be only 2x faster than the very slow ethernet transfer). What a drag (literally!).

indigoimac, thanks for that. Most of the files I just moved were quite huge (big layered photoshop files, video clips, that sort of thing). I'll check out how it reacts to bunches of small files.

Chas

thanatopsis · Jun 30, 2006, 10:06 PM

I wish now I would have bought a Mac Mini for network storage. A cheap Mini and an extra non-network hard drive would have only been a few hundred dollars more. Plus I could use the Mini with my EyeTV instead of always having to hook up my laptop when I use it.
My G5 connected to my Laptop (gigabit ethernet) transfers 40-60 MB/s, over 10x that of the <4 MB/s I get with the LaCie.

Jim

tobster · Jan 13, 2007, 02:19 PM

Originally Posted by thanatopsis

I wish now I would have bought a Mac Mini for network storage. A cheap Mini and an extra non-network hard drive would have only been a few hundred dollars more. Plus I could use the Mini with my EyeTV instead of always having to hook up my laptop when I use it.
My G5 connected to my Laptop (gigabit ethernet) transfers 40-60 MB/s, over 10x that of the <4 MB/s I get with the LaCie.

Jim

I experience the exact same thing. I have the LaCie Ethernet disk 2TB with Gigabit ethernet in a photography studio. All the network is set up with Gigabit ethernet and all Photoshop files fly between all computers. The Ethernet disk however operates as if it were a 100 Ethernet only. LaCie gave a similar answer to yours - this is as good as it gets. I wonder what the use of such a fast connection is then!

I wish there was some solution to fixing this as the whole reason for something like this is for quick access to big storage. The unfortunate thing is that with these slow transfer rates we have to return it and find another solution.

- tobbi