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Data transfer speeds to Time Capsule are terrible!

VirtualRain

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
I did some experimenting this evening to assess data transfer rates to various storage items in my home network which uses a new Time Capsule as the router/hub.

Connected to the Time Capsule are the following:
- Mac Pro (GigE)
- Vista Machine (GigE)
- MBA (Wifi)
- Raptor Drive (USB 2)
- Time Capsule Drive (Internal)

Transferring a 650MB file between devices yielded the following results:

MP > Vista (GigE) = 288 Mbps
MP > MBA (5GHz) = 52 Mbps
MP > MBA (2.4GHz) = 43 Mbps
MP > Raptor (TC USB) = 38 Mbps
MP > TC Drive (Internal) = 38 Mbps
MBA (5GHz) > TC Drive (Internal) = 22 Mbps

It seems that transferring files to a USB drive or the internal drive on the Time Capsule is painfully slow. It took 2:20 to transfer the 650MB file to the Time Capsule over GigE vs. 0:20 seconds to another machine.

What's worse, is that the data transfer speeds to the TC are a function of link speed... the slower your connection, the slower your transfer rates... it's not simply limited by some bottle-neck in the TC. It took 3:45 to transfer the same file to the TC from the MacBook Air over the 5GHz Wifi connection.

When I complained about this the other day at the Apple store, the "Genius" said that it's due to QOS built into the router to ensure it doesn't kill my web browsing. YIKES! Who needs this kind of QOS?

I wish Apple would expose the settings to the user allowing us to decide where we need our bandwidth allocated! :mad:

In the mean-time, if you have aspirations that the TC can offer you NAS level performance... forget about it! :mad:
 
After thought...

It would be nice if someone could test the transfer rates to a USB drive attached to a 2009 Airport Extreme to see if this QOS crap is unique to the Time Capsule or affects both products.

If it's unique to the TC, and a USB drive connected to the AE works better than this, I may return it and get an AE instead.
 
For comparison, I just copied a 650 MB file from a 2008 iMac to a 2009 TC's internal HD. It took 48 seconds over ethernet.

It should be said, my ethernet here is an old (and loooong) cat 5 cable which I 'installed' myself some years ago. So it's likely not the best environment to test in :eek: (I didn't know the first thing about installing cable back then - but I'm reluctant to redo it since it involves running cable up and down a 2-story house via an attic full of glass fiber insulation!)

I'll maybe give it a go with a short, direct Cat 6 cable later and see if that improves the speed. I'm sort-of curious about this myself.
 
i transferred a 700mb file from my mbp to my timecapsule wirelessly around 1min30seconds.

ive actually noticed quite an opposite to what your experiencing.
when i first transferred my itunes library to the time capsule I was pretty shocked how fast it transferred and was quickly accessible.

transferring that to my AEBSn+External disk was I'd roughly twice as slow.
700mb file to the AEBSn was about 4minutes over wifi then you have to through USB transfer speed
 
Wow this is interesting... perhaps I have a bad TC HD.

It takes about 2:20 to transfer the 650MB file from my Mac Pro to the TC over GigE!
 
Arran said:
...I'll maybe give it a go with a short, direct Cat 6 cable later and see if that improves the speed. I'm sort-of curious about this myself.
Click to expand...

Just did with a perfect 50' length of unshielded Cat 6 between the iMac and the 2009 TC. Same as before: 48 seconds.

Guess my old wiring (cat 5e) isn't as bad as I thought. Phew!
 
VirtualRain said:
Wow this is interesting... perhaps I have a bad TC HD.

It takes about 2:20 to transfer the 650MB file from my Mac Pro to the TC over GigE!
Click to expand...

Yep, something sounds off.

Just for fun, I copied the 650MB file wirelessly (N, 5ghz, wide channels). Time was 2:29 - similar to your wired time. I kept an eye on Airport Utility during the xfer and it held a steady rate of 130. (For comparison, 802.11g is around 56)
 
I feel like the capsule is great for wireless back-up, but that is about it. It is much quicker to attach an external drive via fw or usb.
 
Arran said:
Yep, something sounds off.

Just for fun, I copied the 650MB file wirelessly (N, 5ghz, wide channels). Time was 2:29 - similar to your wired time. I kept an eye on Airport Utility during the xfer and it held a steady rate of 130. (For comparison, 802.11g is around 56)
Click to expand...

Hmmm... my wireless time was 3:45. I'm going to take it into the Apple store and see what they say.
 
J&JPolangin said:
...do any of your friends have a wireless router they could lend you?

Its probably just interference from something around your house...
Click to expand...

It's not the router part of it... I can transfer files through the TC from computer to computer pretty fast... It's when I actually try to copy something to the TC's hard drive where it slows down to a snails pace.
 
On your Mac Pro under network, try forcing the MTU speeds to 9000. This sometimes can help.

Worth a shot.
 
Yeah, good suggestion... I tried that and strangely the setting would not stick. Not sure if it's that the setting was not applying or the UI was not representative of the actual MTU. At any rate, the MTU setting didn't affect any of my data transfers. Further research seems to confirm that the Apple router products do not support jumbo frames.

Sadly, one of the reasons I switched over to the Mac was for the "just works" aspect and I'm not experiencing that.
 
I'm back to being frustrated by this...

Is my TC a dud or is this common...

Here's an Xbench of my TC drive from my Mac Pro over GigE... PATHETIC!!!
 

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VirtualRain said:
Is my TC a dud or is this common...

Here's an Xbench of my TC drive from my Mac Pro over GigE... PATHETIC!!!
Click to expand...

Mine (1TB TC via GigE):

Results 16.48
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.7 (9J61)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBook5,1
Disk Test 16.48
Sequential 11.56
Uncached Write 5.37 3.29 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 16.65 9.42 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 13.79 4.04 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 36.89 18.54 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 28.67
Uncached Write 12.70 1.34 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 29.08 9.31 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 66.99 0.47 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 86.87 16.12 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Not terribly fast, either, though in practice its reasonably fast. Even copying 1GB worth of data never takes more than two minutes or so (yeah, I know, not too scientific). A 167MB file took ~10 sec. via gigabit ethernet.
 
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