How can I increase the bandwidth for the NAS?

[blake444]

Hi, I need your help improving my home network. I'm not sure what information you need, so please help me understand. I'd like to increase the bandwidth that my NAS needs to provide.

The router and NAS are in the same room but far away. The router only provides the internet connection (I'd like to remove it, but I can't at the moment due to VoIP and the SFP module installed by my provider). The internet is currently routed through two Asus Lyra Trio mesh access points, one connected by cable and the second via Wi-Fi (I know it's not optimal). From the first module, the one connected by cable, another cable runs to an Ethernet hub, from which other cables run to the NAS, printer, Raspberry Pi, or PC. All my devices are connected via Wi-Fi—laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.

Since I can't place it near my main router, I'd like to replace the network hub with a device that provides either link aggregation or 10 Gbps. My idea was to double the bandwidth only between the hub and the NAS, hoping for increased transfer speeds. Do you think this would be a good idea?

 

[ColinTaylor]

And by "ethernet hub" I'm assuming you really mean "ethernet switch"? Hubs haven't been used for probably twenty years or more.

My idea was to double the bandwidth only between the hub and the NAS, hoping for increased transfer speeds. Do you think this would be a good idea?

IMHO I doubt you'll see any difference. All Wi-Fi devices will still be restricted by the Lyra's hardware. It sounds like the only ethernet connected device you have capable of high throughput is your PC. I guess it depends on how often you saturate the connection from your PC to the NAS and whether that impacts any of your other clients.

 

[blake444]

And by "ethernet hub" I'm assuming your really mean "ethernet switch"? Hubs haven't been used for probably twenty years or more.

you're right, I'm confusing USB hubs with switches.

IMHO I doubt you'll see any difference. All Wi-Fi devices will still be restricted by the Lyra's hardware. It sounds like the only ethernet connected device you have capable of high throughput is your PC.

so with wifi as the bottleneck and the performance of the two lyra devices I won't see any difference.

So how do I increase the speed? I don't usually use a lot of bandwidth given my current use for saving documents. It happens, even if not very often, that I have to move gigabytes and gigabytes of data and I would like the transfer to happen in less than 20 minutes. I would also like to use it as a multimedia server and storage for games and usually they are quite large files.

 

[ColinTaylor]

So how do I increase the speed? I don't usually use a lot of bandwidth given my current use for saving documents. It happens, even if not very often, that I have to move gigabytes and gigabytes of data and I would like the transfer to happen in less than 20 minutes. I would also like to use it as a multimedia server and storage for games and usually they are quite large files.

To speed up the transfer of data between your PC and the NAS you'd really need to have a 2.5GbE switch (or faster) and the corresponding network interfaces on both the NAS and your PC. A five port 2.5GbE switch can be bought for very little money.

Multimedia streaming doesn't usually require much bandwidth so that's unlikely to be a problem.

 

[degrub]

A USB 3 drive ( if NAS supports) using NVME, SSD, or spinning rust, will be the easiest, fastest, most economical approach. Plus, it can serve as a backup for the NAS ( which a NAS is not backup !!! , it is convenience for multiple users.) Spinning rust will be the most economical. Get 2, they're cheap.

 

[blake444]

A USB 3 drive ( if NAS supports) using NVME, SSD, or spinning rust, will be the easiest, fastest, most economical approach. Plus, it can serve as a backup for the NAS ( which a NAS is not backup !!! , it is convenience for multiple users.) Spinning rust will be the most economical. Get 2, they're cheap.

I don't understand what you mean. Can you try to explain better?

"To speed up the transfer of data between your PC and the NAS you'd really need to have a 2.5GbE switch (or faster) and the corresponding network interfaces on both the NAS and your PC. A five port 2.5GbE switch can be bought for very little money."

I also remembered the most important reason why I need higher bandwidth: I set the NAS as a backup server for PC devices for PC backups. I usually do them via Wi-Fi, but I can connect it via cable. A day isn't enough to finish it. If I find a device that supports 2.5 GB, you'd think I'd solve my problem.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I also remembered the most important reason why I need higher bandwidth: I set the NAS as a backup server for PC devices for PC backups. I usually do them via Wi-Fi, but I can connect it via cable. A day isn't enough to finish it. If I find a device that supports 2.5 GB, you'd think I'd solve my problem.

Everything going via Wi-Fi is going to be restricted by the Lyra's 1GbE port that's connected to the switch. In fact total wireless throughput is likely to be less than this because of the Lyra's Wi-Fi limitations.

If you connect a device by 1GbE ethernet cable your maximum throughput is going to be ~113 MB/s (that's over 6.5 GB per minute). How big is each backup?

What backup speeds are you getting currently from your PC? What speed is the network adapter in your PC?

 

[Tech9]

I set the NAS as a backup server for PC devices for PC backups. I usually do them via Wi-Fi, but I can connect it via cable. A day isn't enough to finish it.

You just need to find a smarter backup software or to adjust the settings on the one you are currently using. I have about 200GB backups from 4x PCs, they are refreshed every 1h. It takes seconds most of the time even on wireless. The backup software updates only the differences. No need to copy the same data over and over again. I personally use this one:

Bvckup 2 | Simple fast backup

Simple fast backup for Windows

bvckup2.com