I decided to conduct a test and uploaded a 4GB file folder full of photographs to Dropbox and it took 49 seconds
Okay, let’s take a look at that test.
4GB is 4e9 bytes. Assuming a 10b8b encoding (where the 8 bits of the byte are represented by 10 bits for error correction purposes), that gives us 4e10 bits. So we can calculate the data transfer rate you are achieving to Dropbox:
rate = 4e10/49 = 816Mb/s upload rate.
Are you using a gigabit internet link? Because I’m lucky if my ISP gives me 800kb/s uplink rate. Admittedly, that’s a slow, cheap connection.
Thus, I suspect that Dropbox is doing something ‘clever’; had you already transferred these files to Dropbox?
Now let’s look at the tranfer rate to your MyCloud.
Again, we start with 4e9bytes/s, or 4e10bits/s, in 9’52". That gives us 68Mbp/s, or 6.8MB/s. Not brilliant, but, if you’re transferring lots of images, you won’t get the sustained data transfer rate, as there will be a lot of overhead with directory stuff, going to get the next file, etc.
As has been suggested, try transferring a single, multi-gigabyte file (e.g. a movie file), and see how long that takes.
The thread I linked to discusses the practical limitations of data transfer, over a gigabit network; it was intended to serve as a ‘reality check’ for those expecting to get 125MB/s over a gigabit link, using the naive approach that 1000/8 = 125. Ralphael also reported transfer speeds he’s achieving (62MB/s write speed, and 30MB/s copy speed for photos):
http://community.wd.com/t5/My-Cloud/Network-speeds-with-the-New-OS-3/td-p/908444
So it looks like, compared with his experience, you aren’t achieving the speeds he is.
The other issue with the MyCloud is the image thumbnail and indexing processes; as soon as you transfer media files to the device, the processor will go off and start working on generating indexing and thumbnails for the new files, which slows the response of the entire thing. If you don’t need thumbnail images (they’re for remote access apps), you can turn these processes off, by logging into the MyCloud’s Linux system using SSH. But I fear that might be rather technical.
We users have regularly complained that there ought to be a control on the Dashboard to disable these processes, rather than having to use Linux admin skills. Sadly, our requests fall on deaf ears.
