ManCave - Responses

Re: Slow Buffalo LinkStation

Anonymous — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:14:33 GMT

Hi Linkstation Users. I have a 250Gb Linkstation running v2.30 firmware, with 9 shared folders. It is NOT used as a print server and there is nothing connected to the USB ports. It is however connected to a 3Com ADSL wireless 100Mbps network hub (4 port) and has worked fine for 12 months with good transfer speeds - until last week! Previous speed to copy 750Mb files was about 2-3 minutes (acceptable) - but last week, and for no apparent reason, my Outlook pst backup suddenly reported it would take 175 minutes! Obviously this is not right. I rebooted the Linkstation several times, performed a 'Maintenance Disk Scan' and changed the Belkin Cat5e unshielded cable for another Belkin Cat5e SHIELDED - all to no avail. I could find nothing on the Buffalo Knowledge Base relating to this 'slow transfer' problem other than an article about files greater than 2Gb and the need to ensure the latest firmware is loaded. I have the latest v2.30 firmware loaded already. Your posts on this site however refer to the printer cache and although I do not use the print server feature I decided to experiment and performed a 'Clear Printer Job Queue' from the Linkstation Configuration screen. I also changed the sheilded Cat5e for yet another one and 'Bingo' I have the expected transfer speed back. I have asked Buffalo to comment and I will return and psot their reply if I get one. I hope this also helps!

Re: Slow Buffalo LinkStation

Paul — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:50:44 GMT

I've had a 400G one of these for a while after being given it because 'it keeps locking up and needing reseting because it drops off the network' Well I have it working perfectly, and here's what I did:
- Upgrade the firmware to the latest version.
- Set a Static IP address - do not use DHCP
- Connect it to a Switch and NOT A HUB. (Hubs send all traffic to all ports, where a switch will direct it only to the required port, meaning a 100M switch has an effective throughput MANY times greater than a 100M Hub) - if your PC has gigabit, then use a gigabit (1000M) switch
- Use a good quality Cat5e patch cable. (I use Blackbox cables)
- Do NOT use the BUffalo software. It is unnecessary. Just either map a drive or use a UNC path.

Finally remember that the transfer speed is limited by several factors:
- The slowest part of the network - If you are using a wireless connection this will be the limiting factor, and it is highly unlikely you will get anywhere near rated wireless speed.
- The speed at which data can be read from the source drive (PC or linkstation)
- The speed at which data can be written to the destination drive (PC or Linkstation) which will always be slower than read speed.

Hope this helps.

Re: Slow Buffalo LinkStation

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:03:22 GMT

Hi, I've got a Linkstation Live 500GB with an attached USB Drivestation 500GB and I'm also seeing the same thing... the usbdisk1 folder in descending folders, in my case going down to 24 levels deep! Haven't been able to find out and details on the net so was wondering if you've had any luck?