I just backed up 48 GBs from my laptop to a WD MyCloud NAS for the first time and it took 5 hours. The network is over a wireless router that is 802.11b/g/n and 2.4 Ghz. The NovaBackup software showed a transfer rate of 3 MB/second while it was running. I’d like to speed this up substantially.
What would be the easiest and most cost effective way to do this? Buy a new gigabyte wireless router that is 802.11ac and 5 Ghz? Go to gigabyte powerline adapters? Install CAT 5e/6 cable through my walls (ugh!)?
It’s also important to keep in mind one almost never gets the advertised speed companies advertise for their networking (wired/wireless) equipment. Its important to connect the My Cloud to a Gigabit port on a router/switch to get the best possible speed in copying data to the My Cloud.
And depending on the backup software/program and it’s configuration, the initial backup may take a very long time as the backup software checks and compares the backed up files. Subsequent backups may be much quicker as the backup software may only backup changed/new files.
As Bennor says, wired Ethernet is the way to go. WiFi transfer rate is dependent on the local wireless environment, and distance/attenuation between PC and router. (A certain Eb/No is required to reliably recover each bit, so in low SNR environments, the bit duration has to be increased to increase the signal energy (against noise that can be averaged out). Longer bit duration = lower data transfer rate).
The nature of files transferred will affect the backup speed; lots of very small files will be significantly slower than a smaller number of large media files, due to the need for directory manipulation. This can be demonstrated by the different modes of a disk transfer speed analyser tool, such as Crystal Disk Mark.
If you’re using a laptop, it can easily be moved close enough to the router to allow connection using a short Cat6 cable. It would be a lot more painful to have to do this with a desktop PC. Even if you still only use WiFi to connect to the router, reducing the distance between PC and router should improve the transfer rate, since the WiFi signal will be stronger, allowing a higher data rate. Also use a WiFi analyser, and look for a ‘quiet’ channel, and tell your WiFi router to use this channel (if is hasn’t chosen it already).
Giga_bit_ powerline adaptors should be the more robust solution, I think, since they are essentially a wired connection, and not as subject to attenuation like a wireless signal (distance, walls, etc). You may have to think about how your house wiring is arranged, though. I’m not familiar with powerline adaptors, or how sensitive they are you house wiring topologies. I’m sure google would be able to help.
