Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:12 Post subject: USB vs LAN connection for NAS?
So I have a WD 6TB NAS attatched to my Netgear R7000 currently on a LAN Gigabit connection, I have FTP set up thru the router and everything is great. But, I'm wondering if this is the best option?
Is LAN faster than USB?
Also, since the NAS has it's own FTP software, what else should I consider before switching it to USB?
If your NAS is capable of 1gbps connectivity, the speed is much better than via USB 2.0. The bottleneck would then become the speed of your disk(s), what raid array you're using, the speed of the overall array, and whether the CPU of the NAS device can keep up.
USB 2.0= 480Mbps max or 60MB/sec
1GigE = 1000Mbps max or 125MB/sec
SATA 2 interface = 270MB/sec max
7200rpm drive = ~125MB/sec (varies by MFR, platter density, etc)
Hope this helps. I personally would never use USB NAS unless it's just for some static things that are not accessed/modified regularly (like a music or photo vault)
Joined: 14 Jan 2009 Posts: 406 Location: AB, Canada
Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:10 Post subject:
USB 2.0 is half-duplex. Max throughput is about 30 MB/s _________________
Nethear R6300 v2 - Latest Kong dd-wrt always
Linksys E3000 - Latest dd-wrt always
Asus RT-N56U - OpenWRT trunk
Hi seanvree, NAS usually will only work on Network. Do you know what is the use of the USB port on your NAS? Are you sure you can use it to connect to the router? I think the USB port on your WD NAS is expansion port for you to connect it to an external USB drives. Please double check the NAS manual. If my understanding is correct, you can only use LAN for your NAS and there is no need to consider USB in your case.
Hi seanvree, NAS usually will only work on Network. Do you know what is the use of the USB port on your NAS? Are you sure you can use it to connect to the router? I think the USB port on your WD NAS is expansion port for you to connect it to an external USB drives. Please double check the NAS manual. If my understanding is correct, you can only use LAN for your NAS and there is no need to consider USB in your case.
Food for thought: My buffalo NAS allows you to utilize either USB or RJ45 for connectivity. It has a separate USB port for external storage or printers, as well.
Hi seanvree, NAS usually will only work on Network. Do you know what is the use of the USB port on your NAS? Are you sure you can use it to connect to the router? I think the USB port on your WD NAS is expansion port for you to connect it to an external USB drives. Please double check the NAS manual. If my understanding is correct, you can only use LAN for your NAS and there is no need to consider USB in your case.
Food for thought: My buffalo NAS allows you to utilize either USB or RJ45 for connectivity. It has a separate USB port for external storage or printers, as well.
No doubt on your comment. However, the original poster is using WD NAS, I checked WD's web site and it seems that all of their NAS doesn't offer similar feature as your Buffalo NAS. It is possible that the OP is using an old model which may have such feature and that is why I asked the OP to confirm with the user manual.
BTW, after a second thought, I would like to ask. Have you ever tried connecting your Buffalo NAS to the router using USB instead of LAN and can you mount the drive on the NAS to the router? I.e. can the router see the NAS with USB?
That is precisely how I ran my Buffalo NAS when I was in Afghanistan for a rotation. I didn't have any serious networking gear, but did have a Cisco E4200 that had USB ability (I didn't have any free ethernet ports as I was sharing my network with my neighbors). Those same neighbors could stream videos from my NAS connected to USB once the NAS was configured to share folders on the drive.
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:16 Post subject: Re: USB vs LAN connection for NAS?
seanvree wrote:
So I have a WD 6TB NAS attatched to my Netgear R7000 currently on a LAN Gigabit connection, I have FTP set up thru the router and everything is great. But, I'm wondering if this is the best option?
Is LAN faster than USB?
Also, since the NAS has it's own FTP software, what else should I consider before switching it to USB?
Thanks,
for me, connecting a NAS or a hard disk via usb to R6300V2 router will max out at 15-17 MB/S read from NAS (bottleneck is router CPU).
connecting a NAS to R6300V2 via gigabit ethernet and it will max out at 103 MB/S (powerful NAS CPU can handle such speeds)
now the specs of NAS should be defined. to reach gigabit speeds over ethernet you need a nas with a good processor/ram/etc
That is precisely how I ran my Buffalo NAS when I was in Afghanistan for a rotation. I didn't have any serious networking gear, but did have a Cisco E4200 that had USB ability (I didn't have any free ethernet ports as I was sharing my network with my neighbors). Those same neighbors could stream videos from my NAS connected to USB once the NAS was configured to share folders on the drive.
Thanks you so much for the information. BTW which Buffalo model are you using? I suppose when you connect the NAS using USB to your router, it is function as an USB drive and all the native NAS functions are not available anymore. Am I right? In other words, you have to set up FTP or Samba on your router to share the files on the NAS to other clients.
My understanding of NAS (Newtwork Attached Storage) is that NAS is usually a host with build in server that use the network as communication interface with the clients whereas an USB drive is a client. Having both functions on a NAS is kind of weird although I read information from Internet that some supplier use a small partition on the drive and make it an USB drive but that is not common and probably not available any more in the market. Hence, I am very curious how this Buffalo works?
