I have had an EX2 Ultra for a bit. . . . usually used it for internal network use (file storage and PLEX).
I have occasionally used it for streaming PLEX across the web to a media player at another house. . . . not overly successful. I generally experience issues with anything above 3000-4000kbps bit rate (even when forcing “direct play”). I generally have chalked that up to pathetic upload rates from my ISP. (I have no issues with 8000kbps when streaming within my network)
I rarely transfer files. . … security concerns and whatnot. Recently, however, I had occasion to transfer a large (several gb) file from my NAS to my laptop. I tried it two ways. . .
. . . using a VPN connection to my home network, then using windows file explorer drag&drop. . . . which yielded an awe-inspiring 500kps.
. . . .using the WD Cloud service (NOT on VPN); also yielded a transfer rate of an awe-inspiring 500kbps.
Now, when I am physically at home, with the same PC, I have seen transfer rates closer to 30mbs when transferring files like this.
Any thoughts on what I am doing wrong? Or is this just the way it is? 500kps sounds pretty lame; and I would not expect PLEX to work at all if I was truly limited to that upload bandwidth by the ISP.
Edit:
-I have reconfirmed that my ISP upload speed is on order of 3-4mps.
reconfirmed that when I am on my home network, the transfer speeds are closer to limits of local network connection capability (i.e. the slowest I saw was 6mbs on a 2.4ghz connection. Saw upwards of 90mbs on a wired connection)
My router has analytics that suggest the NAS was using the full 4mbs upload capability of my ISP.
I was then going to test the system using FTP for the file transfer, as opposed to the windows based WD cloud (through explorer) or simply File Explorer (using a VPN connection to the network).
DANG. . . .setting up a reasonable FTP was more daunting than I imagined. After trying four different ways from Tuesday, it is beginning to look like I need to simply hook the NAS to the cablemodem on one end; hook the pc to a cable modem on the other end and strip every shred of AV software I can find in between. Yikers . . I think I am stymied because to test the system, I am using a PC hooked to a cell phone hotspot. . . and I suspect FTP doesn’t like cell phone networks. Even if I get it all to work . . .this implies that if I use FTP remotely. . .I have to open up a series of ports on the remote network. . .which I don’t think is wise.
Trying to transfer a single, large (4gb) video file from a WD EX2 Ultra to a PC.
I have a nominal (per speedtest) 4mbs internet upload connection.
I can stream movies via plex from the EX2 ultra upto 3000-4000 mbs fine; higher bitrate movies NOT fine. (seems to make sense given the ISP internet limit)
I can upload files to Dropbox and OneDrive from the NAS with no real issue using a PC (I have not clocked it. . but it seems snappy enough.)
Transferring files within my network to/from the NAS is fine, and seems limited in ways you expect; speeds are in 6-90mbs range; as constrained by things you expect. (The NAS is wired to a gigabit router; PC’s wired to the router yield 90 mbs to internal HDD’s, 60mbs to USB3 external drives; transfers to wireless PC’s is slower)
transferring to a remote offsite location using files.mycloud.com yields an inspiring 500kbs.
transferring to a remote offsite location using a VPN connection from my PC to the home network yields an inspiring 500kps, using simple Windows File Explorer
transferring to PC using a CellPhone hotspot using SCP/SSH (using WinSCP) is slightly better. . .with maybe 600 kps. (username is “root”; REALLY?? “root”? Some crackerjack security here. . )
couldn’t get FTP to work (because cell phone hotspots can’t do port forwarding for the bilateral FTP communications)
SO - - - at the end of all this time wasting; anyone have ideas why file transfer is so slow to devices in a remote location?
Bonus points if it is a simple NAS setting. (This doesn’t smell like a NAS problem)
I was hopeful that SCP would have yielded better results. . . . is there a funky router setting somewhere to think about?
Thoughts?
I have turned off all the FTP/SSH stuff on the NAS and removed all the port forwarding off of the router for the time being. . .
SSH uses encryption, which costs cpu cycles. On low power devices this is often a bottleneck. You could try a weaker cipher. Btw, sshd is an alias for root login and you can tune the sshd config if you like.
Use top or htop to monitor it.
Traffic through mycloud.com may be bottlenecked by WD’s bandwidth.
