RT N66U - 6MB/s transfer to USB storage over CAT5.

[Mtrap13]

I'm wondering if anyone here has suggestions for troubleshooting slow network speeds I've been experiencing when transferring files from my laptop (100mb/s Full Duplex) using CAT5 to an attached USB 2.0 HDD on my ASUS RT N66U. I should be getting more than 6MB/s one would think, considering the router is supposed to have a gigabit switch, correct?

I've read that sometimes routers have duplex or 10/100 settings and that changing them from automatic to 100 or Full Duplex can help. However the only Duplex or 10/100 settings I have found are only on my laptop. There doesn't seem to be any settings option on the router.

The HDD itself gets much better speed when connected directly to the laptop over USB but I don't want to have to disconnect the HDD every time I want to transfer a large file.

Any suggestions?

 

[netwrks]

The switch supports up to 1000 Mbps on LAN / WAN ports. Does your laptop NIC only support up to 100Mbps? Are you really using CAT5, or CAT5e?

 

[abailey]

You have a couple of problems going on here. First, if you laptop is 100Mbit then that is the max you will be able to get even if the router is Gigabit. So 100Mbit is 12.5MB/s. Now, the second thing is that hard drives attached to routers via USB are notoriously slow. You may be able to tweak things and get a little better than 6 MB/s but to get much better speeds you really need Gigabit from end to end and a NAS attached to the network.

 

[Mtrap13]

The switch supports up to 1000 Mbps on LAN / WAN ports. Does your laptop NIC only support up to 100Mbps? Are you really using CAT5, or CAT5e?

I appear to be using a CAT5 cable, there is no "e". My laptop has Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller which appears to only support 10 or 100Mbs. My understanding is this equates to 12.5 MB/s. Combined with the USB 2.0 60MB/s shouldn't I be getting at least 10 MB/s? Or is there really 5+ MB/s of overhead?

 

[netwrks]

I appear to be using a CAT5 cable, there is no "e". My laptop has Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller which appears to only support 10 or 100Mbs. My understanding is this equates to 12.5 MB/s. Combined with the USB 2.0 60MB/s shouldn't I be getting at least 10 MB/s? Or is there really 5+ MB/s of overhead?

abailey sums it up for you.

 

[L&LD]

I appear to be using a CAT5 cable, there is no "e". My laptop has Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller which appears to only support 10 or 100Mbs. My understanding is this equates to 12.5 MB/s. Combined with the USB 2.0 60MB/s shouldn't I be getting at least 10 MB/s? Or is there really 5+ MB/s of overhead?

In your case, it does look like you have that high of overhead. USB (any version) is a poor protocol for storage devices compared to their native protocols (usually SATA 3).

 

[joegreat]

I appear to be using a CAT5 cable, there is no "e". My laptop has Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller which appears to only support 10 or 100Mbs. My understanding is this equates to 12.5 MB/s. Combined with the USB 2.0 60MB/s shouldn't I be getting at least 10 MB/s? Or is there really 5+ MB/s of overhead?

I recall that the N66U has some issues with cables below CAT5e - I have now a full CAT6 cabling in my flat and cannot test anymore the issue as I eliminated all old cables.