Hi Unraid folks,

 

I have recently given up on my Drobo Pro.  It had too many problems that couldn't be fixed.  So I decided to try Unraid.  I'm impressed with the simplicity of it but have an annoying problem...

 

Using the same network cable, a MacOS X client can write to a single drive in an array with no parity at 40 or so megabytes a second:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1146700/Unraid_With_Mac_Client_Works_OK.png

Notice the graph dips occasionally, but never goes below about 30mbit/sec.

 

But a Windows 7 machine doing the same transfer will fluctuate between 0 and 75mbit/sec:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1146700/Odd_Unraid_Transfer_Speeds.png

 

Despite having a lower maximum speed, the Mac easily finishes first.  Does anyone have any idea what might be going on please?

 

offdigital

 

Setup:

 

Unraid:

2x2tb WD green (EARS)

Asus P5Q Pro

Using onboard SATA and LAN

Unraid Basic 4.6

 

Windows 7:

Dell Precision T3400

Onboard LAN

 

Mac:

Macbook Pro 2010

Onboard LAN

 

 

 

Some other program on the Dell is accessing the hard drive. This will cause it to start seeking and running much slower than if it was free to access the file being copied only.

Thanks lionelhutz - that's good advice.

 

It turns out the drive in the Dell is faulty.  A different disk has a much smoother transfer rate:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1146700/Much_Better_Unraid_Performance_From_Another_Disk.png

(It still isn't perfect, but I imagine it's normal.)

 

I'm off to find some WD diagnostics software to test the erratic drive.

 

you can use seagate seatools to diagnose common errors