01-09-2010, 07:53 AM

Am not really a network guy and am trying to figure out where to start looking. And I'm sure it's quite possible I just don't understand all this stuff properly.

I'm just beginning to move extremely large files across my network. If I have gigabit ports all around, why is it the fastest I can move data is 10-11MB/sec? Shouldn't this be more like 100MB?

Just tried moving a 46GB folder to my server. Says it's going to take 2 hours and 25 minutes?? on gigabit ports? This can't be normal or you'd never be able to stream said media back from the server. I can move the same file over wifi to my MBP in approx 3 hrs it says. That I can understand. It only took 40 minutes to move that folder from disc to hard drive.

My setup:
folder stored on Win 7 homebuilt rig
connected to Time Capsule
connected to DIR-655
connected to my WHS (Windows home Server)


Tried a 7+GB folder - time 12 minutes - still only at 11MB/sec.
Tried this same 7GB folder from the Win7 to TC to MBP - all wired - the same 12 minutes.
Network Utility says it's a 1Gigabit connection to the TC.
Device Manager says the Win7 machine is a 1000Mbps. The BIOS options for the GigaBit LAN only has Auto or Disabled.
So why am I only seeing 100mb instead of 1000mb?

(Yes, I know I'm not going to get 100MB. Running single drive 80Mb would probably be peak and 50MB probably best expectation for network traffic.

Have already unchecked 'Remote differential Compression' on the Win box.

Have also now tried the Vista hack of turning off the autotuninglevel.

And there is no firewall running other than the DIR-655 default.)

01-09-2010, 01:09 PM

I'm not a network guy either, but I know that the speed of our LAN is limited by the slowest switch in the line of transmission. We have a LAN with three switches, and got a big improvement when we upgraded to faster switches.

01-10-2010, 10:28 AM

Have found that on the Win7 rig, the Local Area Connection Status only shows the Speed at 100 Mbps instead of the 1000 Mbps capability of the NIC.

Have found nothing on how to change this.

01-10-2010, 01:21 PM

Bob,
Other factors to consider are small files versus large files ( number of open/close instructions ) and fragmentation of the source and destination disk.
You can also check the number of transmission errors ( if any ) and fragmented packets.

Cheers ... McBie

01-10-2010, 02:10 PM

I've tried moving a few different file sizes from a few MB all the way up to a single 23GB file. Get a constant 10.6 - 11.3 MBps no matter what. Fragmentation is not the issue either, at least not yet. Have not checked transmission error.

Right now, since Windows is seeing it as 100 Mbps card, I'm thinking is has to do with driver compatibility & Win7 64 bit. Now that I'm doing a little research on getting a new NIC, this seems to be the case with a whole bunch of cards out there that are only seen as 100 Mb cards.

Did find some that said rolling back to the MS driver instead of the nVidia driver worked, but not here.

01-11-2010, 12:40 AM

Try troubleshooting first and narrow down your problem. Connect the computer to computer with a crossover cable if needed. Try transferring files to see if the speed improves. If it does, then something in your network is faulty.

01-11-2010, 01:04 AM

I'm new to Mac networking too, but I had a similar issue on the windows PC's. I resolved this by setting all network adaptors to accept jumbo frames, and set the same frame size on each. This made things much faster. I'm sure the principle is the same on the Mac.

01-11-2010, 07:08 AM

Thanks for the suggestions...

Computer to computer was one of the first things I tried.
Also attempted changing jumbo frame size to no effect.

I'm pretty convinced it has to be driver issue with none available for this onboard NIC that will get it to work at gigabit speeds with Win7. Have both XP and Win7 on my MBP and status in both of those do show 1.0 Gbps for the status. Going to spend the $30 or so for a new NIC that's verified to work with Win7 and will post back in a few days.

01-11-2010, 02:45 PM

Well from what you have told us so far, it seems you have tried everything possible to narrow the problem down. Go head and try that NIC and let us know what happens.

01-11-2010, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by bobtomay

Have found that on the Win7 rig, the Local Area Connection Status only shows the Speed at 100 Mbps instead of the 1000 Mbps capability of the NIC.

Have found nothing on how to change this.

What does the W7 box plug into network wise? 10MB/s is normal for 100BaseT.

Also remember, Gigabit will never get 100MB/s due to the hard drive write speed in your computer you are copying to. The fastest I have seen is to my Gaming system with a 10K RPM Raptor and it's around 50-55MB/s which is very fast.

Also what motherboard is in that W7 system? Are you sure it has a Gigabit chipset? Can you give me brand and model?

01-11-2010, 03:12 PM

Keep in mind that Gigabit NICs in consumer-grade equipment can transfer up to 1Gb/s. In reality, that will almost never happen. It will certainly exceed 100Mb/s, but it will never be near 1000Mb/s, mostly due to limitations in the hardware of your PCs (and Macs), the quality of cabling, switches, etc.

Gigabit networking (especially over copper with consumer grade hardware) is a pipe dream mostly. Now, if we're using enterprise class infrastructure with servers, that's a different story.

01-11-2010, 03:38 PM

Agree with CWA also. Excellent info.

Fastest I have ever seen here with home grade equipment is 55MB/s which is not bad! Sure a lot better than 10 or under!

I do notice though when I do write speed tests on the hard drive being written to, it's about the same as I am getting over the network.

CWA, in your opinion is Cat-6 necessary for Gigabit? Will it make a difference in speed all other things being up to speed in your experience? My cable runs are not that long for the most part and all Cat5e.

01-11-2010, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Agree with CWA also. Excellent info.

Fastest I have ever seen here with home grade equipment is 55MB/s which is not bad! Sure a lot better than 10 or under!

I do notice though when I do write speed tests on hard drive being written to, it's about the same as I am getting over the network.

CWA, in your opinion is Cat-6 necessary for Gigabit? Will it make a difference in speed all other things being up to speed in your experience? My cable runs are not that long for the most part and all Cat5e.

In my informal tests, CAT6 yields no benefit, other than better shielding. If you have a lot of EMI issues in your home or extremely long runs of cable, it might be worth it. Otherwise, there's no tangible benefit that I've seen.

01-11-2010, 03:52 PM

Best I'm really hoping for is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-25MBps.

That particular box plugs into the Time Machine which is connected to just under 100LF of Cat5e cable to the DIR-655 which routes it another 15' to the server.

You may think that would have something to do with it, however, if I take that same cable and plug it into my MBP running Win7, I do get a status report of 1.0 Gbps rather than the 100Mbps shown on the HTPC. Have not tried transferring data from my MBP to the server over ethernet, guess I should.

Have a Asus P5N7A-VM - has a nVidia 730i northbridge. Asus says it's a 10/100/1000 ethernet and it shows in Device Manager as a nVidia 10/100/100 Pro something or other. Some of the newegg reviews indicate others have had issues with gigabit support on this board also. I haven't had any of the other issues users have talked about with this board. The thing does Blu-ray, HD-DVD, and everything else I've thrown at it thus far. Will need to upgrade the graphics if I decide to play games on it.

Went ahead and ordered this Rosewill card today. Best I can figure out, this one uses a Marvell chip instead of a Realtek and has some overall pretty good reviews. So, we'll see.

01-11-2010, 04:02 PM

That is indeed interesting that if you plug in your MBP into the same cable that your W7 machine is plugged into you get a Gigabit connect. Might be a driver issue.