Picked up two EX2s to replace my LiveBookDuos. Three weeks in, the EX2s are incredibly slow and I feel like I’ve done everything you can do. Been a server admin for 25 years, this isn’t new stuff to me. Seriously considering a fresh set of LiveBookDuos which have been fast and flawless for years.
And just to flesh this out a little more: I only have about 500gb of files on the drive. If I use windows explorer to navigate to a folder with ordinary jpg images in it (average about 3-500 images, no thumbnails are shown and the EX2 CPU goes to 100% and stays there (I have left it for an entire day and it does not change). At that point the drive is basically useless and cannot be properly accessed until you close windows explorer and wait for about five minutes. Even then it remains incredibly slow in general. It will eventually create thumbnails but this takes about a minute+ each. Completely repeatable on both EX2s.
Similarly, if I transfer a large Thunderbird mailbox and try to use it - it takes a good ten minutes to even respond.
Also, it took an unreasonable two entire days to transfer 500gb, even using techniques suggested here from my previous post.
So there ya go, throw me a bone here somebody!
You’re not alone. Mine seems to be really slow as well. Copying about 100Gb over a 1Gbps network is averaging 3Mbps. It will start out around 25Mbps and degrade down to around 3Mbps in a matter of a few seconds.
Hmm…I almost decided to buy this drive today in Amazon, but after seeing the problems that you quoted, I’m worried and currently holding my plans until WD comes up with a resolution.
Guys, Pls let me know if this is an issue affecting everyone. I’m holding my purchase of EX2 just because of this…
No resolution at this point. Been working with this drive for a few weeks trying various configuration settings with no luck. Quite frustrating because I actually have two of these units I had planned to migrate to - they are both equally slow. At this point I could never recommend the EX2.
OK - While I have issues with the cpu utilization I am not seing anything like you describe. I have the 8gig ex2 running in a raid 1 config (Default configuration). I transferred a little more than 1 terrabyte of data from my old 3tb seagate unit and while I admit it took several hours it did not take two days by any stretch of the imagination. I did the transfer by mapping both drives to my wired desktop and copying then pasteing complete directories. (This adds the additional over head of having to come through my desktop before going to the NAS. I averaged 60Gig per second according to the windows 8.1 transfer status. My network is 100% Gigabit with all cat 6 cabling except for the WD Nas which came with Cat5E.
Having said that, have you looked at your network configuration? Are you certain that your network is completely gigabit? If any leg of your transfer is having to go across a wireless hop you will definitely take a performance hit, same if some lef of it is only 100 base.
Yup, 100gb the entire way. The connection between my PC and the EX2 is 100% copper. As I mentioned, we have had our LiveBookDuos (and servers before that) on this network for years and they run super smooth and as fast as I could ever ask. I’m willing to test or change things but I am at a loss with these EX2s. The LiveBookDuos are still up and running here alongside the EX2s, performing great.
Speaking to your file transfer comments, I tried all manner of technique including FTP to FTP between both drives on the same switch - and - importing the files via an external USB connected directly to the drive.
From RetardedTiming:
“You’re not alone. Mine seems to be really slow as well. Copying about 100Gb over a 1Gbps network is averaging 3Mbps. It will start out around 25Mbps and degrade down to around 3Mbps in a matter of a few seconds.”
Your description of the file transfer matches perfectly - real quick for a moment and then the slog begins.
Hmm…I am not seeing this slow copying issue either…and I am on a gigabit network. I am consistently getting about 60-62 MB/s sustained write speed and 42-44 MB/s read speed.
I copied multiple batches of files totaling between 50-100 gigs in each batch over the past two weeks and got these same speeds.
Few specifics of my setup. I am going from my laptop to a gigabit switch to the router, to which the EX2 is connected. I use CAT 6 cables all throughout except the CAT 5e for the NAS connection to the router. And I bought the diskless EX2 and put in a single WD Red (NAS) drive and am running it in JBOD config. I am copying them via Windows network.
I am unhappy about the EX2 for a different reason. I currently cannot use ftp from outsde my home to connect to the drive - unless I use a workaround I discovered - which is to go into the shell and edit something in the ftp configuration. That hack should not be the way to go about this - the web dashboard UI is meant for all configuration changes. This is really a bad sign of QA of this product. Since many people will want to use ftp but won’t be able to with the current firmware. And ideally I’d have liked sftp but having spent a lot of time examining how the software on this is working, I definitively concluded there is no way to use sftp unless I give out the admin user ssh’s key to my friends. I can’t setup sftp access for any user other than the user ssh. SFTP should have been supported on this.
That pretty much describes my network as well.
Asus RT-68U router
D-Link gigabit switch
CAT 6 cables throughout except for the cable that came with the EX2.
EX2 connected to the switch
Desktop connected to the router
Static IP on the EX2
Dynamic IP on the desktop
I am going to eliminate everything connected to the router including the switch and just connect the EX2 and desktop. See if that helps.
RetardedTiming wrote:
That pretty much describes my network as well.
Asus RT-68U router
D-Link gigabit switch
CAT 6 cables throughout except for the cable that came with the EX2.
EX2 connected to the switch
Desktop connected to the router
Static IP on the EX2
Dynamic IP on the desktop
I am going to eliminate everything connected to the router including the switch and just connect the EX2 and desktop. See if that helps.
Mine is nearly identical except for the router and switch brand (both Netgear) and I have static IP on both the laptop and on EX2.
“I am going to eliminate everything connected to the router including the switch and just connect the EX2 and desktop. See if that helps.”
Sounds a lot like my next move too. Just got a PM from WD tech support offering to call. I’ll report back.
FYI to anyone interested, I’m out. I’ve got 25+ hours into this situation and it isn’t worth it. Did recieve a nice call from WD but wasn’t about to let a tech remote into my network and suggest changes to a setup that already supports the LiveBookDuos and the rest of my infrastructure as-is.
Sorry to see you go.
Their tech remoted into my network…but it was not to suggest changes but to see the problem I was having in settng up ftp. And I was cool with that - because I knew to get something from WD, I needed to show them the issue. And in that remote session, I definitively proved to the tech how the ftp was broken on EX2.
But the sad reality is they closed that trouble ticket after 3-4 days and when I found out a couple days later and requested to speak to the tech I dealt with earlier, he offered to send the data (screenshots, etc.) he collected to their QA team (which he should have already done by then…instead nothing was done until I called proactively after the trouble ticket was closed out without a resoluton and without notifying me)…and then late last week I got an email from him saying that it’s been sent to their QA team. But nothing else - not even an acknolwedgement that it is broken and will be fixed soon…nothing.
So I am unhappy to see echoes of my feeling in other customers too. I still have about a week to return this product -and am also considering returning it. Over the years I have bought lots of WD drives (internal and external) and have been always satisfied by their quality…but must say this is the first time I am feeling disappointed in one of their products and finding the level of support for the product lacking.
So I tried eliminating everything but the router, my desktop, and EX2. I even changed the cable that came with the NAS to a CAT6.
No change, it’s still degrading down to 3MBps transfer speed after a few seconds of copying files. Bummer.
I will say the CPU is at 100% utilization even after stopping the file transfer. Twonkyserver being the process taking all the resources.
The only difference I have with your situation is I don’t have media sharing on - so there is no indexing job running and hence my CPU most of the time stays under 25%. Usually between 3-10%.
I know that is a major requirement for some users (to get media streaming) but can you disable that and then see how copying works after a reboot. If that resolves it, then obviously it’ll be clear what I kinda suspected all along - that with the puny processor and 1/2 gig RAM it’d really be stretching this box to it’s limits if one tried to stream media, etc. At least you can narrow down the culprit if the CPU utilization goes does down and then file transfer speed goes up. And then you can decide if the product fits your needs or not ifthe media sharing feature is disabled (if that turns out to be the culprit).
Did not resolve the issue, but the transfer speed is up to 7Mbps.
I hope this is fixable before my 30-day return policy is up.
RetardedTiming wrote:
I hope this is fixable before my 30-day return policy is up.
Slim chance based on my experience with reporting to WD support that ftp is currently not working on EX2…no idea when there will be a fix, if at all. The 30-day return period is my concern too.
To RetardedTiming and Allerian - I think it just hit me what might be happening to cause these slow downloads.
Are you using laptops/desktops that have wifi network cards built-in where you are seeing the problem? Itf so, i is probably using wifi despite you wiring up the computer with a CAT 5/5e/6 cable - and that is not a WD NAS issue but a Windows issue.
I fixed it a year ago and forgot all about it but it just hit me when I tried to download a 50 gig file from my NAS server and it was downloading at an unacceptable 5MB/s - because I forgot to plug in the cable. That’s when it hit me (and I recalled this issue) that EVEN WITH ETHERNET CABLE PLUGGED IN the wired connection would only activate if it’s in higher order compared to the wifi connection…and for some reason Windows by default doesn’t set the ethernet connection with higher order of precedence…I had to manually do it.
Here’s how to check and correct it if needed (I am giving steps for Windows 7 - other Windows versions may have similar but not exactly identical screens/steps - Google for your version of Windows if it’s not Win7):
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From Control Panel go to Network and Sharing Center.
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From left hand pane go to Change Adapter Settings
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From menu click Advanced → Advanced Settings
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In the first tab (Adapters and Bindings), look for the first set of info under Connections
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If your Wireless Network Connection is listed above Local Area Connection (i.e. ethernet connection) then use the green up and down arrows on the right to push the Local Area Connection to the top of the list so that Windows now uses it, if available, before trying other methods of connection.
I am not sure if the effect is immediate or if it needs a reboot - reboot anyway. Now, your wired connection will always be used.
If this doesn’t turn out to be the issue, then I am not sure what is. But if it is the issue then keep in mind tha all the time you’ve been using the computer, you’ve actually been using wifi connection and not the wired connection, thanks to Microsoft 
