I'm having a strange problem that seems to only affect my Windows 10 PC when copying files to my Unraid 7.0.1 server.  I've set up a share that only exists on the cache pool which consists of 2 x 2TB NVMe drives.  When copying files to this share from my Windows 10 PC, it bounces between 500-700 megabit, sometimes bouncing as low as 400 megabit at times.  When I copy files from this share to my Windows 10 PC, it immediately maxes out the 1 gigabit connection.  I also made a share going to my pool of 3 x 12TB HDs and had the same behavior and got the same slower speeds.

 

For reference, I've tried two other PCs in the house (both Windows 11) and they do not have this problem and get the full gigabit when copying to the share.  I even plugged my laptop into the same network cable my PC uses and confirmed I get the full 1 gigabit connection when copying to that share so it isn't a cable problem. 

 

What makes this even more more confusing is I'll get full gigabit on this Windows 10 PC when copying files to my Synology NAS (that uses 3 x 4TB hard drives in a RAID-5).  That proved it's not the cable and it's not duplex mismatch or something on the NIC (which was my initial guess).

 

I'm at a total loss here.  It's clearly a problem on the Windows 10 PC and not the Unraid server but I'm out of ideas.  Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

Run a single stream iperf test with that PC and the server in both directions.

First thing.  I remember going through this sort of issue with Windows a number of years ago.  I spent a lot of time troubleshooting.  What finally resolved the issue was upgrade to the  WIN10 NIC driver!  (Think it was a Raaltek NIC but not sure at this point.)

 

Another thing.  Is this a PC or a laptop?  If a laptop, HD or an SSD.  How old is this Win10 computer?  Are you transferring a small number of large files (>3GB) or hundreds of small files  (<100KB)?

9 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Run a single stream iperf test with that PC and the server in both directions.

Thank you both for trying to help!

 

I did this and the results are essentially the same as when I do a file copy.  Here is what it looks like from my Win10 PC to the Unraid server:

 

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  97.8 MBytes   820 Mbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  96.8 MBytes   812 Mbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  68.0 MBytes   570 Mbits/sec
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  68.1 MBytes   571 Mbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  68.5 MBytes   574 Mbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  66.6 MBytes   559 Mbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  96.5 MBytes   810 Mbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  97.5 MBytes   818 Mbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  67.1 MBytes   562 Mbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  67.8 MBytes   569 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   795 MBytes   667 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   795 MBytes   667 Mbits/sec                  receiver

 

Now here it is going from Unraid to the PC:

 

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   102 MBytes   854 Mbits/sec
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   106 MBytes   886 Mbits/sec
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   106 MBytes   885 Mbits/sec
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   106 MBytes   887 Mbits/sec
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   105 MBytes   885 Mbits/sec
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   106 MBytes   892 Mbits/sec
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   106 MBytes   892 Mbits/sec
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   106 MBytes   885 Mbits/sec
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   106 MBytes   886 Mbits/sec
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   106 MBytes   887 Mbits/sec
[  5]  10.00-10.03  sec  3.41 MBytes   885 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-10.03  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.03  sec  1.03 GBytes   884 Mbits/sec                  receiver

 

5 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

First thing.  I remember going through this sort of issue with Windows a number of years ago.  I spent a lot of time troubleshooting.  What finally resolved the issue was upgrade to the  WIN10 NIC driver!  (Think it was a Raaltek NIC but not sure at this point.)

 

Another thing.  Is this a PC or a laptop?  If a laptop, HD or an SSD.  How old is this Win10 computer?  Are you transferring a small number of large files (>3GB) or hundreds of small files  (<100KB)?

 

This is going from my Win10 PC which I built in 2023 with an AMD Ryzen 7 7900X and NVMe storage.  It uses the Intel I225-V 2.5GbE NIC but it's connected at 1GbE.  I'll look for an updated driver but what's bizarre is that this same PC can copy files to my Synology NAS at the full gigabit speeds.  Every file a copy is a single file at least 1GB in size since I know lots of little files can make file transfers take a long time.

 

I'm open to other suggestions!

3 hours ago, mattyg30 said:

It uses the Intel I225-V 2.5GbE NIC

What is the MTU set at?  As I recall, 1500 is standard...

14 hours ago, mattyg30 said:

I did this and the results are essentially the same as when I do a file copy.

Basically confirms something on the network is the problem, NIC, driver (or its settings), cables, etc.

14 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

What is the MTU set at?  As I recall, 1500 is standard...

That's right, it's still the default of 1500 MTU.  Didn't change it.  And based on the behavior I thought it might be duplex mismatch but nothing changed even after setting it to 1Gb/Full.

 

4 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Basically confirms something on the network is the problem, NIC, driver (or its settings), cables, etc.

I would normally agree with you but the following is also true:

 

1) I tried using the same cable plugged into the same switch port on my laptop and it reached full gigabit speeds without an issue.  I just unplugged the Ethernet cable from my Win10 PC and plugged it into my laptop and had no issue copying to Unraid at full gigabit.

 

2) This same computer can copy at full gigabit speeds to my Synology.  That Synology is an ancient DS1812+ copying to 3 x Seagate Ironwolf 5900RPM drives and plugged into the same switch as the Unraid server.

 

I believe the problem is on this Windows 10 PC but I really have no idea why it only has an issue copying to the Unraid server.  I confirmed I'm using the latest NIC driver from ASUS's website for my specific motherboard.

 

I'm totally lost here.  It isn't the end of the world but it's certainly bugging me!  Thank you both for your help so far.

Just bumping this in case anyone has any other ideas.  I've tried accessing the share via IP address, DNS name, mapping a drive, etc., just in case something wacky was going on there.  I just don't get why every other PC can copy to the Unraid server at full speed but my PC.  But my PC can copy full speed to my Synology which is plugged into the same switch as the Unraid server.

 

If anyone has any ideas I'm open to trying them.  Thanks!

Sorry for the spam.

 

As if to make this even more confusing.  I created a Windows VM on the Unraid server and I can copy to a share on that VM at full gigabit speeds.

 

I don't know if this information helps or hurts but there it is..

I know that no one is still reading this and/or has no ideas. Just wanted to add that I booted from an Ubuntu live CD and tried copying to the same share and got basically full gigabit the entire time. This is clearly some Windows 10 setting but I can't find it.

I've updated all drivers (NIC, chipset, other unrelated), etc., and it's no different. I can still copy at full speed (111MB/sec) to my Synology to either a pool of 4TB 5900RPM drives or a pool of 2TB 5400RPM drives. But I can't copy to my Unraid server at full speed despite every other PC in the house having no issue.

Anyone have any bright ideas on what Windows 10 setting might be causing this?

You could try reinstalling Windows.

15 hours ago, JorgeB said:

You could try reinstalling Windows.

I know I could do that but was hoping to avoid it.

I just booted into a Windows PE image (from USB) and confirmed what anyone reading this thread probably already knows. That works and goes to full gigabit speed. Clearly something is borked on this Windows install and I'm hoping to avoid reinstalling Windows to find and fix it. It's just odd that it only seems to happen when copying to the Unraid shares. My Synology is a DS1812+ so it's super old and the drives are over 10 years old and it has no problem whatsoever.

As ridiculous as this sounds, I have found the cause of the slow file transfers just from my Windows 10 PC but Unraid but I don't yet understand why. If I stop the container that runs Frigate, file transfers operate at full speed. When the container is running I get the inconsistent and slower speed just on this PC (other PCs are unaffected). That container uses Host networking and is not on a separate VLAN, though it does communicate with cameras that are on that separate VLAN.

I cannot understand how these two are related. But I tried it with every container and VM running but Frigate and it was fine. As soon as the Frigate container starts up, my transfers become slow. Again just from this PC. I just again tried copying from my Synology to Unraid with Frigate running and it was full gigabit.