pogoplug v4 usb 3.0 performance

[zhuqicn]

Just got my pogoplug v4, and installed archlinux.
usb 3.0 performance is bad. My usb 3.0 external hdd can reach 60M/s in my windows workstation. However, within the usb 3.0 port on pogoplug v4, I got 15MB/s read, 5.4MB/s write, tested using dd.

Am I missing something here?

[moonman]

What filesystem? I think dd is filesystem dependent. If it's NTFS then there's your answer. Convert to ext2,3,4 and you will see better speeds, but you will probably never reach 60mB/s as you will still be capped by a slow CPU. ext2 would be the fastest and LEAST reliable.

[KennethC]

I have the same problem!
I can only get max write speed of 4.5mb/s transferring files using Ethernet cable, wireless will drop it to 3.5mb/s
(Windows 7 -> Belkin N600 -> Pogoplug V4-A3 (ArchLinux, Samba) -> USB 3.0 -> WD My_Passport 1TB NTFS)
On the other hand, I also have a WD 750GB EXT3 hard drive plug into the top SATA port. That one can write @ max of 10mb/s.

It should write faster than 4.5mb/s isn't it even if it is NTFS, so is the SATA port? I read that people are talking about 30mb/s using a USB 2.0, and USB 3.0 should give a write speed close to 45mb/s. What did I do wrong?

[WarheadsSE]

I can hit ~15MB/s over samba to my PPV4 w/ USB3.0 3TB WD drive attached, formatted Ext4. There come a point where you hit a memory wall.

[zhuqicn]

I just reverted to the stock firmware, and installed ipkg/samba from there.
Now, I got around 45MB/s write speed tested with dd, and 25MB/s write speed from samba service (my win7 ->ethernet->giganet router->ethernet->ppv4->my same usb 3.0 segate drive with NTFS.

So I think there is something to do with ArchLinux. I am pretty satisfied now. Sorry to give up on ArchLinux.

FYI, I install ipkg/samba following http://aaronrandall.com/blog/customising-your-pogoplug/

[moonman]

pogoplug may have a paid version of ntfs driver which is heavily optimized and the the company that made it claims it is even faster than ext3. Also with optware you install samba2 and not samba3 which is installed with archlinuxarm. Samba2 maybe faster because it has a smaller memory footprint, but it lacks many features, most notably Unicode support. It's a matter of preference though. Archlinux offers much more in comparison with optware

[zhuqicn]

Actually smaba2 does not work for me, so I installed samba 3 instead.
Haven't tested ArchLinux with ext3 performance. Maybe I should try that.

[moonman]

Well I do get 30-35 MB/s to and from my GoFlex home sata drive over samba. GoFlex is a little more powerful that pp V4 though. With PP Pink I get 25-28MB/s up and down. This one does not have any sata ports. All my drives are ext4.

Measured by copying 7.5GB file over samba with Windows 7 and just observing what windows 7 says for the speed.

[KennethC]

I also have PP Pink V3, and I even connected the SATA to my WD 750GB ext3. Getting max at 10mb/s copying a very large files over SAMBA. Thinking a PP V4 will give me faster speed, but it ended up slower. Um!

[moonman]

Just tested NTFS reads/writes for fun. I get stable 16MB/s from PP and 6-7 MB/s to PP. Watching top mount.ntfs process eats most of the CPU time.