NAS - LAN traffic and performance

Information on what could be affecting NAS performance in a Local Area Network.

Network performance is directly impacted by the computers, devices and other hardware involved.

A Local Area Network will only transfer as fast as the slowest device on the network. This means that if you have two Gigabit Ethernet devices connected to a 10 Mbit/s switch, the entire network will transfer at 10 Mbit/s. Check your device's connection speeds in its manual or on its support site to ensure compatibility.

Most networks will transfer (on average) at the following speeds:

10 Mbit/s Ethernet Networks - 1 or 2 megabytes a second
100 Mbit/s Ethernet Networks - 5 to 15 megabytes a second
1 Gbit/s (Gigabit) Ethernet Networks - 20+ megabytes a second

Typically, wireless devices will not be able to reach the same speeds as when using a wired connection.

A few other aspects to keep in mind:

Any hubs (not switches) on the network could be reducing traffic since they split bandwidth instead of amplify it.
If the data source or target is sending multiple streams at once, each stream is dividing the bandwidth
If the data source or target is processing heavily, network traffic will be affected as less CPU power can be dedicated to transmitting.
Malware and viruses often take bandwidth or reduce it, ensure that you have an active anti-virus program running and that it is up to date.

Please contact LaCie Technical Support for further assistance.