# Slow transfer speeds to WD My cloud



## G25r8cer

Recently bought a WD MY cloud 2tb for streaming/backups. 

I have my other 750gb external plugged into the back of it to transfer my files over. 

I have both the WD and the 750gb external mapped in "my computer". 

I am getting extremely slow transfer speeds. Anywhere from 5-6mb/s 



I tried using the My cloud desktop app but, it keeps crashing/stopping. 

Any ideas? 

I have done some research and found that I might need to forward some ports?


----------



## G25r8cer

FYI 

Router is Cisco e2500 

Both my desktop and NAS are wired connections 


Transfering a 4gb file from my desktop directly still only gets me 12mb/s or so


----------



## Cromewell

This has nothing to do with your internet speed. My Cloud is just a small NAS on your own network.

Is the other WD external you are transferring from a USB2 device? Also are you wireless?

Edit:
Sorry saw you said wired. And I looked up the e2500. It's a fast Ethernet switch, which means it's 100Mbit only. 12MB/s is it's max throughput. The slower performance from the external drive connected to your tower is likely the USB connection.


----------



## G25r8cer

So my router is def the bottleneck?

We are moving in a month or so ... and I will be purchasing a new router. This is what I am dealing with for now. 

What kind of router would you suggest? 

I am on a 60mb charter connection fyi! Would I benefit from a better router? If so ... how much so? 

I have my external now hooked up via esata to my desktop. Maxing out at 12mb/s now. 


And yes I just realized I am maxing out my connection. Task manager is showing 98+mb being used 


If I wouldn't get a significant gain from a better router then I am likely going to ditch the NAS and just upgrade my external.

Sorry I am a bit of a network/nas newb. Appreciate any help given

Note: I am still dealing with Sata 3.0gb/s drives for my desktop and 750gb external. I'm assuming the WD Cloud is 6.0gb as it has a usb 3.0 on the backside


----------



## Darren

Normal hard drives (platter drives, not an SSD) won't even use the capabilities of SATA 2 let alone SATA 3, so whether it's 3GB/s or 6GB/s is irrelevant. Typical HDD's won't have anything really above 200 MB/s read or write, and SATA 2 supports up to 300MB/s and SATA 3 is 600 MB/s 

As for the rest of what you're talking about, I don't have anything to add, just would drop in what I actually know.


----------



## G25r8cer

Ok great! I had no idea. 

I haven't been up to date on new tech for quite some time as my current desktop is way more than I need. And I built it a good 5yrs ago. 

Last time I tested my hdd's they were around 160mb/s or so. 

So sata 3 is really aimed towards ssd, correct?

And the idea of this nas was so eventually I could upgrade the desktop and laptops drives to ssd and not have a need for a large amount of storage. And keep the large files on the network.

Fyi: this is my first NAS purchase. The WD desktop app and mobile apps are def lacking. Desktop app freezes and stops after large transfers. Then I have to delete that transfer and start over. So I have just been transferring via network mapping. 

The mobile app (iPhone) won't upload all of my photos at once. I have to manually select a few photos to upload. Then repeat the process. That and it doesn't remember what photos have been loaded on the drive. So the possibility of duplicates is great. 


I know a nas like this is rare/doesn't exist. Just wish it did. 

Hopefully WD will get with the game and throw some major updates out soon. If not I will be ditching the nas idea.


----------



## salvage-this

G25r8cer said:


> What kind of router would you suggest?
> 
> I am on a 60mb charter connection fyi! Would I benefit from a better router? If so ... how much so?



If you are going to get a new router at the new place, at least get dual band wireless N 600 (300 + 300) or better.  It all depends on what wireless devices you have.  If all of your devices work with AC, it might be worth the upgrade.  

On the hardwired side just make sure that it has a few Gig lan ports on the back.  You will probably see them marked as 10/100/1000.  

If you want network storage without a dedicated storage server, some routers will have a USB port on the back that can handle a standard USB external drive.  It'll share it on the network, and you don't need to have any software to get it working. 



G25r8cer said:


> I have my external now hooked up via esata to my desktop. Maxing out at 12mb/s now.
> 
> And yes I just realized I am maxing out my connection. Task manager is showing 98+mb being used



eSATA should yield better transfer rates than your WiFi.  I would think that you would be closer to what you would see if the drive was hooked up to an internal SATA port.  

Can you test the drive with crystal disk benchmark on eSATA and on USB and show us the results?

Task manager shows +98mb of what being used?



G25r8cer said:


> And the idea of this nas was so eventually I could upgrade the desktop and laptops drives to ssd and not have a need for a large amount of storage. And keep the large files on the network.
> 
> Fyi: this is my first NAS purchase. The WD desktop app and mobile apps are def lacking. Desktop app freezes and stops after large transfers. Then I have to delete that transfer and start over. So I have just been transferring via network mapping.



I would only use it for storing things that don't require low access times to run properly. There is a big different between accessing files from your d:\ in your local system and E:\ over the network.  It would probably be best to have an SSD for your OS, HDD for mass storage, and a network HDD for things you want to share between systems on the network.



G25r8cer said:


> The mobile app (iPhone) won't upload all of my photos at once. I have to manually select a few photos to upload. Then repeat the process. That and it doesn't remember what photos have been loaded on the drive. So the possibility of duplicates is great.
> 
> I know a nas like this is rare/doesn't exist. Just wish it did.
> 
> Hopefully WD will get with the game and throw some major updates out soon. If not I will be ditching the nas idea.



Working with iPhones is kind of a pain.  You could move the photos to your desktop, then transfer them over to the network drive if you are concerned about duplicates.  


When you get into higher end storage systems you can eliminate duplications with a process called deduplication.  More info on what it does here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_deduplication

As I understand it, it only holds one copy of the data and makes a pointer in all of the other locations where the same file is uploaded.  think of it like a shortcut that knows where the real data is.  This process is pretty taxing on the hardware so you really only see it on freeNAS boxes that have been built for it, or other more professional systems.  

It won't prevent you from adding multiple copies to a NAS, but it will notice that it already has the data and makes a pointer to the original data rather than storing a second copy.


----------



## C4C

Not sure if anybody has said this, but a lot of routers can support external storage and for like $80 WD makes a 2TB USB-powered HDD. (externally powered doesn't work for most).


----------



## strollin

If you want faster transfer speeds to/from your NAS you need to make sure your router and the NIC in your computer have gigabit LAN ports.  In addition, make sure you have high quality network cables, CAT 5e or better.

I recently installed a WD MyCloud NAS on my network and was experiencing slow transfer speeds, similar to what you are seeing.  I replaced my old network cables with new CAT 6 cables and now my transfers are 10x faster.  I really think the bottleneck for me was because I had used a cheap coupler to join 2 shorter cables into a single longer cable.

BTW, I don't have any issues with the supplied WD software, not sure why you are experiencing freezing after large transfers and such.  I mostly use my NAS as a Media Server.


----------



## Geoff

Part of your problem is you have the external drive plugged into your NAS, and using your PC to copy the data.  Basically, your computer is acting as the middle man, pulling files from the external drive, through the NAS, through your computer, back to your NAS, so you are reading and writing at the same time which is causing a bottleneck.

Access the GUI from your NAS and copy them that way, or plug the external into your computer.


----------



## G25r8cer

Geoff said:


> Part of your problem is you have the external drive plugged into your NAS, and using your PC to copy the data.  Basically, your computer is acting as the middle man, pulling files from the external drive, through the NAS, through your computer, back to your NAS, so you are reading and writing at the same time which is causing a bottleneck.
> 
> Access the GUI from your NAS and copy them that way, or plug the external into your computer.



As stated I have the external plugged into my desktop now via esata 

I have come to the conclusion that my router is at fault for the slow transfers

Router is limited to 100mbs 

Will be purchasing a gigabit router when we move out. And one with a usb port to use my external with. MY 750gb will be used for hdd image backups of my desktop and my GF's laptop. 

My motherboards nic supports gigabit FYI 

Will be purchasing a good quality cable for my desktop as well. 


Now I have a new problem I discovered last night. 

It seems as though I cant fast forward or rewind any of the streamed videos to my samsung smart tv. I can using an external hdd so, I know the tv supports it. Def a problem with the my cloud. 

Any ideas?

Well I just did some more research and figured it out. 

Seems u can't use the actual ff/rwd buttons but rather have to use the arrow buttons. But it doesn't skip forward very fast. I miss having 1x,2x,3x options of skipping. Oh well it's not a deal breaker

Now another new issue 

Some of the videos I try to play say "unsupported resolution". 

These are videos that have been recorded with a screen capture device on my desktop

What is the preferred format type and resolution? 

My TV is a Samsung F5500 32"

Weird problem as some of the videos that play fine are really weird resolution like 640x272 for one 

The videos that wont play are 1400x850


----------



## Geoff

> As stated I have the external plugged into my desktop now via esata


I only read your first post, my apologies.



> Router is limited to 100mbs


That is definitely the reason, the max speed you can get out of a 100Mbps connection is 12.5MB/s.



> Will be purchasing a good quality cable for my desktop as well.


Anything Cat 5E or 6 will work fine, preferably Cat 6.



> Some of the videos I try to play say "unsupported resolution".
> 
> These are videos that have been recorded with a screen capture device on my desktop
> 
> What is the preferred format type and resolution?


How are you playing your videos?  Is it an app?  Do you connect to your NAS using WD software or just browsing to a network share?



> The videos that wont play are 1400x850


What an odd resolution...  When recording stick to the standards, such as 720p, 1080p.


----------



## Cromewell

Geoff said:


> Anything Cat 5E or 6 will work fine, preferably Cat 6.



At home particularly, cat5e is plenty. Unless the cat6 is cheaper. The additional shielding is generally overkill for the typical distances and equipment around.


----------



## Geoff

Cromewell said:


> At home particularly, cat5e is plenty. Unless the cat6 is cheaper. The additional shielding is generally overkill for the typical distances and equipment around.


That's true, but from what I found on Newegg/Amazon, the price is pretty much the same between the two, sometimes 5e is cheaper and other times 6 is cheaper.


----------



## G25r8cer

Videos are being played through just a network drive. As in changing the source on the tv. 

No app being used. 

Recording another one at a set resolution of 1280x720. We shall see if it works

Just crazy that some videos of small resolution play just fine.


----------



## Geoff

G25r8cer said:


> Weird problem as some of the videos that play fine are really weird resolution like 640x272 for one
> 
> The videos that wont play are 1400x850





G25r8cer said:


> Recording another one at a set resolution of 1280x720. We shall see if it works
> 
> Just crazy that some videos of small resolution play just fine.


1920x1080 and 1280x720 are a 16:9 aspect ratio, so my guess is 1400x850 uses an obscure aspect ratio that your TV isn't capable of natively playing.


----------



## G25r8cer

Ya that's my guess too

Well thanks for the help guys

I'll keep you posted


----------



## G25r8cer

Well I got them playing just fine with a resolution of 1280x720 now. 

I am using audials one software. Anyone know of something similar or better?


----------



## Geoff

G25r8cer said:


> Well I got them playing just fine with a resolution of 1280x720 now.
> 
> I am using audials one software. Anyone know of something similar or better?


Similar to do what exactly?  Record the videos or change the resolution of existing ones?


----------



## G25r8cer

Recording the videos


----------



## G25r8cer

Any other suggestions to recording?

Also it is my understanding that as long as I have a router I would be able to access this local network drive? 

Meaning the nas is wired and my tv is wifi. I can still access the drive correct? 


Can anyone recommend a fast (gigabit) router with a USB port? Looking to spend no more than $60 

Also my external drive is NOT usb powered. It has its own power supply. And I would like the option of plugging it into a router if need be. 

Can multiple usb devices be plugged into a usb router using a hub? Or just one single device?

If not are there routers with multiple or dual USB ports? 


So if I got a gigabit router I should see 10x the transfer speeds compared to now with my 100mbps connection correct?


----------



## beers

G25r8cer said:


> So if I got a gigabit router I should see 10x the transfer speeds compared to now with my 100mbps connection correct?



Assuming you don't have any storage speed types of bottlenecks.  After protocol overhead you can usually expect around ~110-115 MB/sec.


----------



## G25r8cer

Looking at this router 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008RV51EE...colid=P3YBD224BU2&coliid=I1K3F0GU8DG23F&psc=1

And a couple of these cables

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007NZGPAY...g=UTF8&colid=P3YBD224BU2&coliid=ILFZ0Y2VOT27I


----------



## beers

Sounds good mang


----------



## G25r8cer

Sweet! Thanks everyone for the help.

And last time I checked my main drive does at least 100mb/s read so, that shouldn't be a problem. And my older external (Samsung 750gb 7200rpm) does close to it. 

So I should be correct in assuming I will see at least 100mb/s transfers to the nas?

And about my previous question: since its a local area device I can see/stream from it to my lan without an Internet connection. And just a router is required? 

Would I be able to connect to the nas via wifi (smart tv) through the lan without an Internet connection? I would assume this is possible.

However my network experience is very little. Sorry for the newbie questions


----------



## Cromewell

You should see around 100MB/s.

Yes, you can stream to devices on your LAN without an internet connection. Assuming said devices understand how to read/play the videos on the NAS.


----------



## G25r8cer

Awesome! Thanks a bunch


----------



## G25r8cer

New problem with the NAS. Windows 8.1 keeps dropping the mapped share. I constantly have to remap it to see it in "My computer". Then sometimes it won't reconnect or I get this 

What is the best way to map the drive? 


Did some research and changed the group policy ... still same prob





When the above happens it still wont map and I must restart the computer or log off then on to try again


----------



## Cromewell

I assume you have the reconnect option enabled (edit: it is, sorry just saw it in the screenshot)? And the share is available at the times when you're losing it?


----------



## strollin

Is the firmware up to date on your NAS?  I have a WDMyCloud NAS and have no problem keeping the share mapped on my Win 7 or Win 8 computers.


----------



## G25r8cer

When the mapping problem happens I can still access it through the network tab and right clicking the "mywdcloud". 

Yes firmware is up to date and I have rebooted the nas a few times.


----------



## G25r8cer

I am def not the only one with this problem

Just tried this fix to turn off "autodisconnect" 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297684

Also: Checked NAS firmware a few days ago and it was up to date. Just checked it now and there was an update however it was related to "apple time machine" which, I obviously don't have. 

Did the update and the above registry tweak. Shall see if anything improves. This problem is more of a nuisance than anything. I access the NAS on a regular basis from my desktop and would love to be able to see the drive in "My Computer" as if it where a local drive.  

Note: Have had this issue since shortly after getting the drive. Thought maybe it was an error by me but, I have tried numerous things. 


This is def a Windows problem and not the NAS. As every other device (Mobile, TV, Win 7 laptop, etc) doesn't have this problem. 

I have done plenty of research and attempted fixes for this. I have researched plenty of the same problem. 


*Strollin*

Maybe I am just missing something stupid simple for some reason. Can you go over your setup/setting with me? Meaning the MYcloud UI and Twonky setup

Also do you stream anything to a mobile device (ios) from the drive? The my cloud app sure is lacking streaming support. I am trying to find a good/fast app for mobile streaming to my iphone. 

Found one that looks promising but the free version doesn't allow video streaming (Remote file manager and Infuse)


----------

