One possible solution to slow network backups
 

Hi guys,

I'm new to the Mac, and thusly new to SuperDuper!. Since installing the backup software, I've noticed extremely slow backup speed to my networked file server (i.e. 0.5 MB/s over 802.11g and 2.0 MB/s via gigabit ethernet).

For reference:
Notebook: 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro
OS: OS X 10.4.8
Networked File Server: Thecus N5200 RAID5 with three 400GB SATA drives
Network: Wired gigabit + Linksys 802.11b/g router. (Wired gigabit network directly to file server.)

I've been using SMB protocol for my network shared drives, and I think this is why I've been having some throughput slowdowns. The moment I activated the AFP protocol on the RAID server and connected via AFP, my wireless throughput jumped 4-5x. I haven't yet tried the wired connection, but I expect that I'll see some performance increase there, too.

If you've been having agonizingly slow backup speeds and you have the ability to use AFP instead of/in addition to SMB, you may have better luck.

I will post my wired throughput after I've had had a chance to give it a try.

Different servers definitely have varied speeds depending on the protocol. Some are faster with AFP, some with SMB. The first backup is definitely going to be significantly slower than subsequent Smart Updates, though.

(Note that on Gig-E with an Infrant ReadyNAS, I get about 4-6MB/s to an initial image.)

Now that I've had more of a chance to play with it, using Gig-E to my RAID server via AFP results in 5-6MB/s for an initial image.

For my server, AFP results in nearly an order of magnitude increase in speed when making an initial image. (Of course, all future updates to that image will appear much faster.)

So if anyone is running into slow(er) than expected network backups, try changing protocols (AFP vs. SMB). Worked for me!

How do you change the protocols?

By default, you'd get AFP (when you connect). To use SMB, you'd precede with smb://the-machine-name.

Also, you may have to set up Samba (SMB) on your RAID server. My server has the option to enable/disable Samba. If it is enabled, then as Dave mentioned, you would just precede the server name with smb:// rather than afp://

I have a a 24" iMac on wired network that has Cat 5e cable and gigabit switches that has a 500 GB gigabit ethernet drive connected to the network.

AFP yields ~ 3.57 MB/s

SMB yields ~ 3.57 MB/s

Funny how they are the same on my machine.

I wish I could get 5 - 6 MB/s, that would speed things up a bit more for that first backup.

What drive is it?

I restarted the computer and evidently I had a hang up. I am getting 10.7 - 11.5 MB/s transfer speeds on my first backup.

It is a Buffalo LinkStation Pro 500 GB gigabit ethernet SATA drive.


It is rockn' now!!

Make sure you use SMB with the Buffalo: it doesn't support large files with its old AFP...

I originally mounted it by just going through the finder and logging into the drive.

I just mount it automatically on login now. How can I mount it using SMB since AFP is the default and make sure that happens automatically on login too?

When you say it doesn't support it, will it copy everything and then not restore?

You'd need to mount with smb now, and then drag the volume into your startup/login items.

It'll likely slow down and either crash or fail once it gets to the 2GB mark (unless they fixed it in these more recent Linkstations).

Dave, I got back in and it made it. I even have an 8 + GB Parallels image on my drive. :)

All is good it seems.

Great! Glad you're all set.