QNAP TS-251 with Mac OSX File Transfer Performance Report

We have seen QTS 4.2.1 Build 0217 for TS-119PII but QTS 4.1.3 Build 20150313 for QNAP TS-251 is different. The later support smb 3.0 in [Control Panel] → [Network Services] → [Win/Mac/NFS] → [Microsoft Networking] Tab → [Advanced Options] dialog] → [Highest SMB version]. Let’s see if it is compatible with OSX and faster.

QNAP TS-251 with QTS 4.1.3

TS-251 uses an Intel Celeron J1800 which is a 2.41GHz and up to 2.58GHz dual-core processor. It has 1MB L2 cache, Intel 64 Architecture, and supports up to 8GB DDR3.

The test machine comes with 1GB of DDR3 RAM and is upgradable. In this post, I test with 1GB and 8GB RAM to see the difference.

I install two Seagate Barracuda Desktop HDD as RAID 1 in it.

QTS 4.1.3 Build 20150313 for TS-251 is a 64-bit Linux used in this test. Unlike QTS for TS-119PII, it has many extra features like smb 3.0, Storage Manager, and etc.

Mac Mini Late 2012

I have upgrade my Mac mini to 16GB RAM and use a Seagate Laptop SSHD 1 TB which spins at 5400rpm and comes with 8GB MLC cache build-in to replace the slow hard drive.

Test Method

It is detail explained in Prepare Your NAS File Transfer Performance Test with Mac OSX Client. I test both Samba and NFS.

I also add test results from QNAP TS-119PII, Thecus N2520, and Thecus w5000 with OSX.

1. QNAP TS-119PII with Mac OSX File Transfer Performance Report
2. Thecus N2520 with Mac OSX File Transfer Performance Report
3. Thecus W5000 with Mac OSX File Transfer Performance Report

Performance

File transfer performance on QNAP TS-251 with Mac OSX via Samba.

File transfer performance on QNAP TS-251 with Mac OSX via NFS.

File transfer performance on QNAP TS-251 with Mac OSX via Samba with different smb.

* Numbers in green means informal test.

Analyze

TS-251 is fastest on all Samba tests. I see no big different to enable or disable Asynchronous I/O. It is recommend to disable if you don’t have an UPS connected to your NAS for data safety.

On NFS tests, TS-119PII is as fast as TS-251 on reading but much slower on writing.

For informal tests, smb 3.0/2.1/2.0 are similar but considerable faster than 1.0. Reading on TS-119PII is closer to TS-251 with smb but writing is still fall behind.

More Thoughts

For your information, I also test copy on the same Mac mini with Seagate Laptop SSHD 1TB. Reading and writing on the same drive is 34MB/s. Maybe Seagate Laptop SSHD becomes the bottleneck now.

You might also want to read QNAP TS-251 with Firmware 0612 and 8GB RAM File Transfer Performance Report to see its performance with Linux. It’s getting closer.

Reference

1. Apple: Mac mini (Late 2012) – Technical Specifications
2. Apple: OS X
3. Intel: Intel 64 Architecture
4. Intel: Intel Celeron Processor J1800 (1M Cache, up to 2.58 GHz)
5. Linux.org
6. Prepare Your NAS File Transfer Performance Test with Mac OSX Client
7. QNAP TS-119PII
8. QNAP TS-119PII with Mac OSX File Transfer Performance Report
9. QNAP TS-251
10. QNAP TS-251 with Firmware 0612 and 8GB RAM File Transfer Performance Report
11. QNAP: QTS
12. QNAP: QNAP Turbo NAS User Manual: Storage Manager
13. QNAP: QNAP Turbo NAS User Manual: Win/Mac/NFS
14. Samba
15. Seagate Barracuda Desktop Datasheet
16. Seagate Laptop SSHD Datasheet
17. Thecus N2520
18. Thecus N2520 with Mac OSX File Transfer Performance Report
19. Thecus W5000
20. Thecus W5000 with Mac OSX File Transfer Performance Report
21. Wiki: Multi-level cell
22. Wiki: Network File System
23. Wiki: Server Message Block
24. Wiki: Standard RAID levels: 2 RAID 1
25. Wiki: Uninterruptible power supply