MyCloud Internet speed is capped at 23MB/s

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
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MyCloud 6TB Gen1, firmware 04.xx.xx. I think I never got network speed more than 23MB/s since purchased… I am thinking of getting another 8TB, but this type of speed is very tough. I am checking with WD users here, what could be the reason?

I am with 1Gbps ISP,
If MacBookPro is wired to Router’s GE port, I can get 960Mbps (120MB/s) download speed on speedtest.net.
If MacBookPro is connected on Wireless AC, I can get 500Mbps (62MB/s) download speed.

When MyCloud is direct wired to Router’s GE port.

  • I ssh to MyCloud, wget speedtest server’s test file, I only have 23MB/s
  • I copy single 5GB file from MacBookPro (Wireless AC) to MyCloud (Wire) via SFTP, I only have 10MB/s

I tried Cat5e and Cat7 cables, no difference.

So what could be the reason I am getting such poor speed? MyCloud (even it is Gen1 mode) comes with gigabit ethernet, I don’t think the speed I got makes any sense.

My worry is, if I get another MyCloud 8TB (Gen2), wired to Router too, and copy 3-4 TB files from existing to the new one, what speed will I get? It will take ages to complete if speed is capped at 23MB/s.

Thanks

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Couple of comments. First your broadband speed (1Gbps ISP) generally has nothing to do with your local network LAN speed. When you run a speed test at speedtest.net you are typically testing your broadband network speed NOT your local internal network speed.

What is the network configuration of your local LAN? Are you using a Gigabit capable network route/gateway/switch and is the My Cloud connected to that Gigabit router/gateway/switch? Is the wired computer using Gigabit? What is the wireless AC advertised speed?

In the end one typically does not get the product advertised network speeds. There are a number of factors that impact one’s local and broadband/internet speed including the speed of the hard drive(s), the WiFi speed with the typical overhead and security settings.

When it comes to broadband/internet speed one is limited to the upload speed of the broadband connection the My Cloud is connected to in addition to the download speed at the remote location. the lower of those two connection speeds will determine the overall max remote access speed. Then one has to factor in the fact that there may be other nodes on the internet that are impacting or slowing one’s broadband/internet speed.

WD has a knowledgebase article on some possible causes of slow speeds.

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=18626&s=

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Hi Bennor,

Thanks for the response. I think you missed out what I have mentioned, I am aware of Internet speed and local Lan speed, I specially use MacBook Pro as reference.

If MacBookPro is wired to Router’s GE port, I can get 960Mbps (120MB/s) download speed on speedtest.net.

vs

When MyCloud is direct wired to Router’s GE port.

  • I ssh to MyCloud, wget speedtest server’s test file, I only have 23MB/s

Since I am able to get 960Mbps Internet speed, my Router has no issue. I am not using Switch either.

Speedtest via MacBookPro’s browser is single thread, same as wget from console, but wget is 5 times slower, which is hard to explain by “one typically does not get the product advertised network speeds”

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BTW, I also disabled DLNA Media Server and iTunes Server, killed all Content Scan processes: wdphotodbmergerd, S85wdmcserverd, S86wdphotodbmergerd, wdmcserverd… NAS server load is quite low.

Has anyone tested, if both MyCloud connect to Gigabit Router, scp files from one to another, what is the average speed?

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Not missing out on what you are mentioning just pointing out that when comparing internet speed to lan speed one is comparing apples to oranges. On your local lan one has to content with various issues that may affect transfer speed including the speed of the hard drives or storage devices at both ends. Since the My cloud generally uses an SATA hard drive there may be some bottleneck either with the drive itself or with the backplane the drive is connected too. There is also the issue of the networking port the computer is using to connect to a gigabit router. That networking port should be gigabit capable. There are various settings for that network port that can affect transfer speed.

One can use the forum search feature, magnifying glass icon upper right, to find past discussions where people have posted copy speeds to/from a My Cloud device on their local network using programs like Crystal Disk Mark .

https://community.wd.com/search?q=crystal%20disk%20mark%20category%3A105

Here is one example of copy speed from one of my PC’s to the My Cloud over a gigabit connection.

Asus P5W DH CrystalDiskMark 1gb to My Cloud post sleep fix

If possible use various computers to test copy speeds, it is possible there may be an issue with the one computer or with the cabling between that one computer and the router the computer/My Cloud are connected too.

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Maybe I didn’t describe clearly…

I didn’t compare Internet speed and Lan speed. Both tests are referring to Internet speed.

If MacBookPro is wired to Router’s GE port, I can get 960Mbps (120MB/s) download speed on speedtest.net.

and

When MyCloud is direct wired to Router’s GE port.

  • I ssh to MyCloud, wget speedtest server’s test file, I only have 23MB/s

The wget test is to download file from speedtest server, thru Internet.

Actually I have 2 questions in my original post

1, Internet speed. Same Router same cable same port same destination URL, why Internet speed from MacBookPro can reach 120MB/s, but only 23MB/s from MyCloud.

  1. Lan speed. I didn’t compare here, I just mentioned the Lan speed (upload to MyCloud) is very poor, only 10MB/s.
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What type of drive is in your mac book pro? An SSD drive? The My Cloud hard drive is generally a WD Red drive as such there may be a difference in speed simply on that basis alone. There is also the issue of different OS, different hardware, and different network stacks/OS services that could potentially affect the speed difference. The single bay My Cloud units use lower speed/power hardware that may potentially affect speed across the internal device. For a true apples to apples test one should also use SSH then WGET on the Mac as well if you haven’t done so already to see if there is a difference in speed.

Try running a speed test using speed testing software/app from your computer to the My Cloud (if you haven’t done so already) to see if there is any difference between that speed and the WGET speed you are seeing over the internet versus local network transfer speed.

It is also worth noting that there is a hardware difference between the first gen v4.x single bay My Cloud units and the second gen v2.x single bay My Cloud units. As such there may potentially be a difference in network copy speed between the two different units.

Also if one has a USB hard drive attached to the My Cloud, ensure one isn’t testing the copy speed to that USB drive when comparing the My Cloud speed to another computer. The USB port on the My Cloud has a known slow copy speed issue that many of us have complained about.

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MacBookPro has SSD drive.

Disk Write Speed indeed makes difference, but not as that much as I thought. I have seen many posts in this forum or YouTube, they claimed/showed they can achieve 60-70MB/s when copying files from/to MyCloud over gigabit ethernet, while I only have 10-23 MB/s…

I don’t have Windows PC to compare, I can’t test if SMB on Windows will perform better than SMB on MacOS.

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I have managed those sort of speeds over GBE, using Crystal Disk Mark, in my local network.

But I don’t recall anyone reporting speeds over the internet; I’m not lucky enough to have GB internet.

If you post the exact wget command you are issuing, maybe another user with GB internet access can reproduce it. Or identify the file you are using, and we can download it and try a local wget.

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Just using $wget http://www.speedtest.com.sg/test_random_500mb.zip with default options.

I am in Singapore so I choose Singapore based speedtest host, you should try with your local speedtest host to get most accurate result.

Instead of wget, I also tried speedtest client from GitHub - sivel/speedtest-cli: Command line interface for testing internet bandwidth using speedtest.net
get the list of hosts, tested those Singapore based hosts one by one, results are slightly better than wget.

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Just an update…

As my Gen1 6TB NAS ran out of space, I got Gen 2 8TB last week, similar product but different OS (that’s another story)…

I tried to copy some data from Gen 1 to Gen 2. Tested a couple of times, this is what I noticed:

Gen 1 6TB → Wired to Router GE port
Gen 2 8TB → Wired to Router GE port

MacBookPro → Wireless AC to Router

  1. scp or SFTP files from laptop to 8TB, 10MB/s
  2. Login to NAS, wget or speedtest from there, same result as I had: 23MB/s
  3. Login to NAS, scp or rsync from 6TB to 8TB, ~16 MB/s
  4. In Mac, connect to both 6TB and 8TB from Finder, smb://192.168.0.x, drag and drop files directly from 6TB to 8TB. 16MB/s (can reach 30-40MB/s for a short while)

Then I changed laptop to connect to Router’s GE port by Lan cable.
1,2,3. Almost same result
4. I am able to get 80-90 MB/s from beginning to end.

So it looks like:

When copying files between two NAS over Samba, which I believe it is the method that most of benchmarks do, what Windows/MacOS actually does is, download to laptop from NAS1, then upload the same file to NAS2, this explains why transfer rate was low when laptop is on Wireless. I always thought files are directly sent to NAS2, I was wrong, don’t blame me if this is the common sense, I just knew it :blush:

Those transfer methods over ssh (scp, sftp, rsync) couldn’t get higher, maybe the limitation of protocol?

I have no idea why directly download from Internet on NAS is capped at 23MB/s.

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The older Samba protocol used on the My Cloud may very well be one potential cause of the slow down. One could try using NFS or AFP protocol for computer to My Cloud transfer to see if that has any improvement or impact on speed.

One should also keep in mind there are a number of factors that impact the copying speed to/from a My Cloud. From; the equipment used on the local network (router, switch, cables), to the number of files being copied and their size, to WiFi speed limitations, to network port adapter limitations, to hard drive hardware limitations, to computer bus speed limitations, to the computer OS limitations, and finally the limitations of the My Cloud hardware (processor, RAM, network port) and the borked mess of the My Cloud firmware.

It should be noted that one’s internet broadband speed should not have any impact on one’s local network speed so long as one is copying from one local network device to another. Only when one is attempting to connect to a remote My Cloud does internet broadband speed typically come into play. In that instance both the upload speed of the broadband internet connection the My Cloud is using and the download speed at the remote location can impact the overall speed as will any routing issues between the two remote points.

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Interesting discussion. I presume the basic My Cloud is the slowest NAS in the WD stable. A faster NAS would do better. I have a DL2100 My Cloud and from what I can tell, mine transfers data within my wired 100% gigabit network and all the associated devices at specs. The transfer speed of data as published by WD is 115 MB/sec and I consistently get 113 MB/sec from drive connected to my laptop which is connected (along with the NAS) to the same gigabit switch when I copy a large movie file. No complaints about this speed.

I have internet from Comcast rated at 200 mbps d/l and consistently get over 230 mbps from speedtest on laptop test. No complaints here either.

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Could be due to MyCloud’s CPU… it just can’t handle higher throughput from Internet…

Is DL2100 or PR4100 quiet when there are data transfer in/out on NAS?

The purpose of my NAS is just to store videos, I am using Infuse on Apple TV 4K as well as iPhone iPad, it decodes videos at client side so I don’t need Media Server such as Plex to decode/stream video from NAS, which may cause high CPU usage and fan noise.

I just need huge storage with network share protocols support like SMB, NFS, SSH.

I thought about WD PRO Series, it has lots of features like Plex, one-touch backup, multiple backup options, to many people they are addon values, to me they are just useless and I don’t really want to pay for the features that I never use.

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Here is a few examples of my speed using different hardware to a single bay v4.x My Cloud on my local network. It shows (at least in my case) how different network hardware (router) can affect network speed between one computer and the My Cloud.

Through my ISP router (Arris NVG589) from a desktop PC with a 1GB wired connection.

Asus P5W DH to WD My Cloud 8TB CrystalDiskMark

Through a Asus RT-AC86U router from that same desktop PC with 1GB wired connection.

Asus 1GB to My Cloud 8TB CrystalDiskMark

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@sh2sg

The DL2100/4100 series was the top end WD NAS when released in 2014 and a year and a half later the top end PR series was released.

I added a RAM card to the memory so I could install Plex, but I was not impressed with Plex, because it appeared to be bloat ware and redundant; I could play anything already on my WDTV, iPhone and iPads via SMB, so hardly used it and kept it turned off.

Just recently, I discovered, and set up, a new use for Plex. So now I turn it on when I need it, and off most of the time, because it makes an otherwise very quiet NAS noisy. When Plex runs it puts strain on the NAS drives as every second it makes the drive heads chatter.

BTW, the new use I found for Plex is that it can team up with the Amazon Alexa voice feature so that I can say things to Alexa like, “Alexa, ask Plex to play the Beatles” and the Alexa Dot connected to my stereo via audio cable will play a selection of Beatles songs on my NAS through my stereo. A cool feature using voice control to play music (and movies) from my NAS.

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Sorry but I think I missed it in the thread… was this fixed?

I was getting up around 60MB/s, until I upgraded my PC and Router, which although faster, my MyCloud speed is now capped around 23MB/s as well…

Using Win11 now, all ethernet connected not WiFi, just can’t get the speed back to 60MB/s.

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What My Cloud device do you have and what firmware is it running?
What router are you using?
Does the Windows 11 PC indicate a Gigabit connection or a 10/100 connection for the Ethernet port?
Is the Windows PC Ethernet port configured for Private or Public network?
Do you have another computer you can test with to see if it too exhibits the slow speed?
Have you tried temporarily disabling any security or anti virus software on the computer and performing a test?
What are you using to determine the speed? Just copying files using Windows File Explorer? Or are you using a dedicated speed test program to test the speed to a My Cloud Share?
Is the computer and My Cloud both connected directly to the router? Or are they running through a switch or extender?
Have you tired rebooting all the devices (router, My Cloud and computer)?

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I have the MyCloud EX2 Ultra, 2-bay drive with firmware 5.29.102 (checked and no newer updates).

Settings haven’t changed in about 5yrs.

Win11, and the PC are new this week.

Motherboard is an MSI B650 Tomahawf with a 2.5GB ethernet port. Shows Aggregated link speed (Receive/Transmit):|1000/1000 (Mbps) Realtek Gaming 2.5GbE Family Controller.

I have tried different ethernet cables and ports on the TPLink AX3000 router, which has 1GB ports. PC and NAS are both plugged in with ethernet to the same router, and the router is an Access Point, with a Cat6 ethernet connection to the ISP router. NAS is set to static not DHCP.

I have disabled IPv6, I have set the speed from auto to 1GB full duplex and tried 2.5GB full duplex without any change, as well tried Public and Private network. Jumbo Frames is also disabled by default. Also tried the Windows Security disabled.

I tried a network reset, and I have uninstalled my ethernet card, rebooted and installed the driver from the manufacturer site (realtek).

NAS was never touched, same settings as before the upgrades and again, was up closer to 60MB/s… now down to 24MB/s.

Numbers I get when transferring media files between PC->NAS and just looking at the transfer window. Maybe not the most accurate, though doesn’t have to be to noticed the 1/3 difference in speed.

As far as I can tell, everything is setup the same as my old system/router except everything is newer and faster.

I have checked with Ookla SpeedTest and internet is running the full/same speed as before the change in hardware, PING=2ms, download and upload both around 105Mbps.

No other PC to test with anymore. Old one was parted out.

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There appears to be an SMB/Samba issue with Windows 11 24H2. See the following post with some suggestions on ways to fix either the inability to access a SMB Share or with slow speed when accessing a SMB share.

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