Data transfer within the drive is extremely slow

Legacy Products My Cloud OS 3
1

I’m trying to move some files from one folder to other (public to private). They are probably considered as 2 different shares. However the data transfer is extremely slow… it took me 8 hours to move 50GB of data from public folder to other private folder on the drive.

Is this normal? Is there a better way to do this?

2

If you are doing it using a file manager on a computer, say File Explorer, then transfers have to go back and forth between MyCloud and computer. If you only have a 100Mb ethernet link, that will take a while.

Logging in to the MyCloud via SSH, and using the Linux mv command will be quicker; it may only need to update the disk file indexing.

1 Like
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Its strange it has to go back and forth from MyCloud to computer once the move instruction is given, especially when the destination is on same drive… I dont get the point.

Thanks for your reply anyway.

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It all depends on which device is doing the copying. The Windows computer using File Manager or accessing the My Cloud using SSH and issuing a copy command within the My Cloud. If using Windows the data may flow from the My Cloud through the computer’s network port and back to the My Cloud. If using SSH the data flow stays entirely within the My Cloud device. The My Cloud uses a different operating system (Linux) and uses Samba (SMB) to allow Windows/Mac clients access to files stored on the My Cloud.

Some have resorted to using the mobile WD app or WD Desktop program to copy data from one Share to another within the My Cloud because they found it faster than using their computer’s Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder.

to make things even potentially slower is if one is using WiFi on their computer rather than a Gigabit wired connection. In many instances WiFi ends up being slower than using a wired Gigabit network connection.

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A file manager works in a source/destination agnostic manner. You could be moving a file from one disk to another. The file manager operates identically, regardless of source/destination locations.

That’s a file manager issue, not a MyCloud issue. I’ve told you how to get around that problem; SSH directly into the Linux OS.

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Indeed. Even copying files with cp instead of moving them with mv, will be immensely faster.

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If you don’t want them in the Public share but want to move them to another share have you tried cut and paste or copy and paste?

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Same issue with file level protocols, like SMB or NFS. The computer has to read the whole file, issue a delete command to the host, then write the new file at the destination. That is using the wire both ways.

SSHing into the box and using mv, the actual linux box is smart enough to know that you just need to update the root inode of each file, and bob’s your uncle. Poking a few bits at each inode is much faster than reading while files, especially when the files are large.

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Is there any comparison or benchmarking that WD app is indeed faster than using File Explorer or FInder. Doesnt it depend on the underlying OS file manager capabilities?

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Thanks. I finally resorted to SSH.

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Here is a test I just did using My Cloud on an Android phone connected via WiFi (150MB - 5Ghz) to a local network containing a single bay v4.x My Cloud. In the app I chose the move option and moved an 8.5GB folder of video files to another Share within the same My Cloud. The app moved the files within two seconds. If I use a Windows 10 PC running an AC1200 connection (867MB - 5Ghz) to copy the same folder of video files to another Share, it takes upwards of 12 minutes.

My assumption is that the mobile app triggers the firmware of the My Cloud to issue the Linux copy or move command where as Windows 10 uses a different method (SMB I assume) and doesn’t get the My Cloud to issue the copy/move command internally. that is why it was suggested prior to use SSH to issue the copy or move command and bypass Windows File Explorer.

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You can also do this on windows from a cmd window.
plink.exe -ssh -l root -pw <root password> <ip of My Cloud> mv <full file name> <new directory name>

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A reminder for others who want to use such a command and are new to using Plink/Putty. You need to download Plink/Putty first and run the plink command from the same directory as plink, or have plink folder included in the Path line, assuming that line is used in later versions of Windows.

Putty and Plink can be downloaded from the following link:
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

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Thanks. I should have mentioned the link.

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Thanks to this knowledge base i have moved over 2TB of enertainment data over to the PUBLIC folder from personal folder. Using windows explorer was impossible as has been mentioned, the data travels thru the network and back down onto the partitioned hdd. (Surely windows fails in this department as moving with either the WD desktop app or the WD ipad app is almost instant? )
Anyways I’m a happy user now.
I was previously using Twonky server to point files to my LG Tv setup and every time the Wd 3TB Cloud would update or restart the Twonky share would be lost. and or in the middle of a rescan or rebuilding databse when I needed to use it.
Regards. SLP