Bad USB-disk performance

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I experience bad read/write performance of my attached USB storage disk.
The read performance I get is 1 MB/s and the write performance 250 KB/s.

However, I would expect read/write performance to be around 10 MB/s.

I use a Windows XP computer (wired to the Vigor2130n router) and samba file 
sharing feature of the router to read and write large files to the USB disk.

I have connected a Western Digital USB hard disk to my Vigor2130n router. The 
capacity of the disk is 2TB, formatted as NTFS. The disk is connected 
successful.

Manufacturer : WD      
Model : Ext HDD 1021    
Size : 1864G
Status : In use
Free Capacity : 1.8T

Is 1MB/s (read) and 250KB/s (write) the best performance I can get?
Or might there something be wrong here?
Any support from you is very much appreciated.
Please tell me what to do.

By the way, I use firmware version v1.5.1_RC1, but had the same issue with 
version V1.5.0.1.

Kind regards,

Jeroen Dammers
j.c.j.dammers@gmail.com

Original issue reported on code.google.com by j.c.j.da...@gmail.com on 4 Apr 2011 at 2:19

[GoogleCodeExporter]

NTFS file system is less performance than FAT32
But FAT32 has 4G single file size limit.
You can try EXT2/3 filesystem.
http://code.google.com/p/vigor2130/issues/detail?id=2

Original comment by jht...@gmail.com on 4 Apr 2011 at 10:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Can you provide me a little bit more help/instruction on how to install ext2/3 
package?
Should I first format the disk to ext3 before I install the package, or not?
When I do the install (and still having ntfs disk) I get the following error:

root@Vigor2130:/# opkg install http://vigor2130.googlecode.com/files/kmod-fs-ext
3_2.6.23.17-vsc75xx-1_arm.ipk
Downloading http://vigor2130.googlecode.com/files/kmod-fs-ext3_2.6.23.17-vsc75xx
-1_arm.ipk
Connecting to vigor2130.googlecode.com (74.125.79.82:80)
kmod-fs-ext3_2.6.23. 100% |*******************************| 69736  --:--:-- ETA
Multiple packages (kmod-fs-ext3 and kmod-fs-ext3) providing same name marked HOL
D or PREFER.  Using latest.
Installing kmod-fs-ext3 (2.6.23.17-vsc75xx-1) to usb...
Configuring kmod-fs-ext3
sed: 30-fs-ext3: No such file or directory
root@Vigor2130:/#

Original comment by j.c.j.da...@gmail.com on 5 Apr 2011 at 7:08

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I also tried the following:
removed usb-disk
reboot router with default settings
telnet to router with username admin
then try to install ext2/3 package
but still getting message "sed: 30-fs-ext3: No such file or directory"
also when i enter insmod i get error message "insmod: Loading module failed: No 
such file or directory"

what am i doing wrong?
please help.

Original comment by j.c.j.da...@gmail.com on 5 Apr 2011 at 6:08

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The install path should be usb. Try the following steps:

root@Vigor2130:~# opkg install 
http://vigor2130.googlecode.com/files/kmod-fs-ext3_2.6.23.17-vsc75xx-1_arm.ipk
Downloading 
http://vigor2130.googlecode.com/files/kmod-fs-ext3_2.6.23.17-vsc75xx-1_arm.ipk
Connecting to vigor2130.googlecode.com (74.125.153.82:80)
kmod-fs-ext3_2.6.23. 100% 
|***********************************************************************| 69736 
 --:--:-- ET
Installing kmod-fs-ext3 (2.6.23.17-vsc75xx-1) to usb...
Configuring kmod-fs-ext3
sed: 30-fs-ext3: No such file or directory
root@Vigor2130:~# insmod jbd
insmod: Loading module failed: No such file or directory
root@Vigor2130:~# insmod ext3
insmod: Loading module failed: No such file or directory
root@Vigor2130:~#

root@Vigor2130:/mnt/usb_disk1/opkg-install/lib/modules/2.6.23.17# ls
ext3.ko  jbd.ko
root@Vigor2130:/mnt/usb_disk1/opkg-install/lib/modules/2.6.23.17# insmod 
./jbd.ko
root@Vigor2130:/mnt/usb_disk1/opkg-install/lib/modules/2.6.23.17# insmod 
./ext3.ko 

You can also try to modify the installation path in /etc/opkg.conf

Original comment by jht...@gmail.com on 7 Apr 2011 at 1:54

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I followed your instructions.
The jbd and ext3 modules are successfully loaded.
Also when I plugin the USB-disk it is successfully connected and in use.
But now when I use the Web console and press button to install samba server, it 
fails installing because file system is full.
I believe that it tries to install the samba server in flash memory somehow 
instead of install it on the disk.

I see two directories now under /mnt
root@Vigor2130:/mnt# ls
usb_disk1  usb_sda1

The usb_disk1 directory still refers to flash memory, and the usb_sda1 
directory is actually my USB-disk.

But when I use "USB Application -> File Explorer" in the Web console it is 
browsing the usb_disk1 directory-tree (which is the flash mem) and not the 
usb_sda1 directory.
Also samba installation is using usb_disk1 directory and not usb_sda1.

What to do now?

root@Vigor2130:/mnt# df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs                    5760      5760         0 100% /
/dev/root                 5760      5760         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                    31396       224     31172   1% /tmp
tmpfs                      512         0       512   0% /dev
/dev/mtdblock5             960       340       620  35% /jffs
mini_fo:/jffs             5760      5760         0 100% /
/dev/sda1            1915831584      4156 1818151860   0% /mnt/usb_sda1

Original comment by j.c.j.da...@gmail.com on 7 Apr 2011 at 7:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

maybe you need to do a symbolic link manually
ln -s /mnt/usb_sda1 /mnt/usb_disk1

Original comment by jht...@gmail.com on 7 Apr 2011 at 11:44

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ok,it works now. Many thanks for the instructions.

Performance improved to 2MB/s, but this is in my opinion still too slow.

Will the USB storage performace be improved in the next firmware version?

Original comment by j.c.j.da...@gmail.com on 10 Apr 2011 at 6:33

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I think maybe it is the cpu limit.  
We can compare it with other embedded router to see the potential of 
improvement.

Original comment by jht...@gmail.com on 13 Apr 2011 at 3:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Or maybe it is memory limit?
When I look at system status (in the web console) then I always see a high 
memory usage (95-97 %), for example
Memory Usage : 59980K / 62796K (95.52%) 

Original comment by j.c.j.da...@gmail.com on 13 Apr 2011 at 7:58

[GoogleCodeExporter]

some memory is for cache and buffer.
You can check with top

Mem: 59728K used, 3068K free, 0K shrd, 14272K buff, 14804K cached
CPU:  41% usr  58% sys   0% nice   0% idle   0% io   0% irq   0% softirq
Load average: 3.51 3.22 2.69

Original comment by jht...@gmail.com on 14 Apr 2011 at 1:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I agree with above comments.
I also have issue with USB speed. Tested it with some HDDs and pendrives, 
performance is poor regardless of filesystem (FAT32/NTFS).
This is very disappointing, because current version of specs @ 
http://www.draytek.com/user/PdInfoDetail.php?Id=98#PdSk
doesn't say any word about USB speed limit.

This issue NEEDS focus in following firmware/hardware versions, or Draytek 
doesn't want to be competitive to even cheap NAS devices.

Original comment by Motejowi@gmail.com on 12 May 2011 at 2:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hi Guys, 

Concerning the USB disk, I was also experiencing the same issue with a USB 
disk. I had contact with the draytek support, about this issue. This is what 
the replied to me:

Dear Sir,

 Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, the USB port on the DrayTek
 currently is limited to a maximum throughput of 6 Mbps. The
 manufacturer has already indicated that they are involved in developing
 a new firmware, this will also raise the USB throughput.
 We can already state that the indicated speed in your e-mail
 will not be achieved.

 Furthermore, the manufacturer indicates that when you use FAT32 you will get a 
 higher throughput

 If you have any questions let us know by e-mail.

 Sincerely,

 DrayTek Support

Original comment by kvkhoes...@gmail.com on 16 May 2011 at 9:08

[GoogleCodeExporter]

If we take 2130 as media server, play the audio and video direct from 2130. the 
throughput should be ok. If you take 2130 as NAS or file server, the throughput 
is really bad. 

Original comment by jht...@gmail.com on 16 May 2011 at 10:35

[GoogleCodeExporter]

USB Performance is still soooooo poor..
I'm uploading flac files on usb hdd and I get 150-250KB/s (NTFS parition - 
250GB)... DLNA plays music BUT... If I want to browse files I have to STOP 
playing the music!!! If I don't... yamaha rx-v771 is searching for content and 
shows "no content" or "access denied"...
:((

Original comment by bartosz....@gmail.com on 30 Nov 2011 at 10:56

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Same problem for me. Installed 1.5.2_RC1 to get ext3 functionality (received 
the hint that this could improve write performance) but still very low speed - 
regardless if using Mac OSX or Win 7 to write on the share.

Original comment by g.hes...@googlemail.com on 26 Feb 2012 at 10:01

[GoogleCodeExporter]

vigor 2130 is USB 2.0 Full Speed = USB 1.1

USB 1.1 MAX speed is 12Mbps = 1.5MByte

Original comment by derek0...@gmail.com on 21 Sep 2012 at 1:42

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I have a 2130 and a 2130n, but the poor USB performance, a bad 3G modem support 
(not compatible with iPhone) and a defected DLNA ... I think Draytek is not a 
good router. I wait for the next firmware, and if nothing will happen i will 
choose ASUS in the future. http://event.asus.com/2012/nw/rt-n65u/

Original comment by hund...@gmail.com on 10 May 2013 at 6:23