Synology NAS, wired network slow speeds for back up.

PlacidCasual · 19 Jan 2022 at 16:42

Hi Peeps

I'm far from proficient at much computing stuff despite lurking here for nearly 20 years.

I have a Synology NAS DS218j it is connected to a D-Link ethernet network switch. I have my laptop which I'm trying to back up which is also connected by cable to the same network switch.

I've set a back up going but the download speeds to the NAS are barely breaking 100KB/s the NAS CPU is running at about 90%. I was expecting more like 100MB/s.

By comparison I uploaded about 1000 iphone pics to the NAS in 30 minutes via the wifi to the same NAS. Not sure what speed that was but surely faster than 100KB/s

Any suggestions as to why it might be so slow? Anything I can check?

edit: found a background task that I stopped that was pushing NAS CPU, that has dropped to 20% but slow network speed continues.

bledd · 19 Jan 2022 at 17:49

Is your laptop power cable connected? They can have limited speed on battery.

Also, tried other cables?

Quartz · 19 Jan 2022 at 17:58

Have you checked the link speed on the laptop?

TheVoice · 19 Jan 2022 at 18:05

Something I discovered recently (after having my Synology NAS for years) is that my transfer speeds to my NAS when I'm using it as a mapped drive are terrible, but accessing it directly via the network (e.g. \\NASNAMEHERE) is far, far quicker. No idea why.

PlacidCasual · 19 Jan 2022 at 19:11

Thx for the responses. I had a play around turning off firewalls temporarily etc to no avail then I remembered I have my VPN turned on on the Laptop. Turned that off and speed increased 10 fold straight away.

@Quartz how would I check the link speed, pardon my ignorance?

Quartz · 19 Jan 2022 at 19:49

PlacidCasual said:
@Quartz how would I check the link speed, pardon my ignorance?

Go to Network and Internet Settings. Click on your ethernet connection (where it says 'Connected'). Then under properties the first entry is Link speed and it says 1000/1000 (Mbps) on my PC.

PlacidCasual · 19 Jan 2022 at 19:54

Both seem to show 100Mbps now not sure if NAS was showing Bytes or bits. But irrespective of the absolutes it was darn slow until I killed the VPN. Strangely teh VPN on the phone made no difference to the transfer rate but killed it on the Laptop :confused:

And thank you all once again for the responses.

Quartz · 19 Jan 2022 at 21:36

Standard is bits s you’re still too slow. That box supports gigabit Ethernet.

That the VPN was the cause indicates a routing issue. Likely you need to add a routing rule but I’ll let the tcp experts advise you there. Back when i was doing it professionally having two NICs was often the easiest way with the VPN only on one NIC.