Improving LAN txfer rate?

Im doing drive image backups over a 100baseT LAN using Norton Ghost from a
PC P4 w/XP to a network storage device.
Looks like the transfer rate over LAN is about 25 Megbit/s and LAN shows 25%
utilization and CPU aboutr 50%. Drive is only being accessed about 1/3 the
time so drive is not limiting the data transfer.

Is 25 Mbit/s about the best one can reasonably expect to get on a 100 baseT?
Even at that rate, a 44 Gig backup can take a few hours.

Are there ways to easily tweek the LAN to get significant transfer rate
performance improvements? Or is 25% utilization the best I should expect
on a 100mb/s LAN?

Any tips appreciated.

"jtsnow" wrote in message
newsZENd.83171$Tf5.76210@lakeread03...
Im doing drive image backups over a 100baseT LAN using Norton Ghost from a
PC P4 w/XP to a network storage device.
Looks like the transfer rate over LAN is about 25 Megbit/s and LAN shows
25% utilization and CPU aboutr 50%. Drive is only being accessed about
1/3 the time so drive is not limiting the data transfer.

Is 25 Mbit/s about the best one can reasonably expect to get on a 100
baseT? Even at that rate, a 44 Gig backup can take a few hours.

Are there ways to easily tweek the LAN to get significant transfer rate
performance improvements? Or is 25% utilization the best I should expect
on a 100mb/s LAN?

Any tips appreciated.

if you are using a managed switch, it could well be a duplexing issue. I
have seen time and time again when a NIC tries to AUTO negotiate a
connection with a switch that is is set for 100Full. The nic usually ends up
with 100HalfDuplex. And ther result is about 20% (not counting the protocol
overhead) of what you would normally expect.

If you have a 100BT Hub (specifically NOT a switch), give that a try and see
what it does for you.

- NuTs

"jtsnow" wrote:
Im doing drive image backups over a 100baseT LAN using Norton Ghost from a
PC P4 w/XP to a network storage device.

Yeah, Ghost isn't very fast. It doesn't use (AFAICT) any advanced ATA
modes, so you're stuck with ATA0, which is something like ATA/16. I
know you wouldn't want to do this full time, but try it without
compression...

Using Ghost 9 I just imaged my C: drive to the second hard drive. 3157 MB of
data in 94 seconds which is 34 MB/sec. Admittedly no compression was used
but it's a good speed. It's 11 times the speed quoted by jtsnow.


Brian



Yeah, Ghost isn't very fast. It doesn't use (AFAICT) any advanced ATA
modes, so you're stuck with ATA0, which is something like ATA/16. I
know you wouldn't want to do this full time, but try it without
compression...

Using 100baseT LAN I get around 60 mbps transferring an image and 12 mbps
over a wireless network.

Brian








"jtsnow" wrote in message
newsZENd.83171$Tf5.76210@lakeread03...
Im doing drive image backups over a 100baseT LAN using Norton Ghost from a
PC P4 w/XP to a network storage device.
Looks like the transfer rate over LAN is about 25 Megbit/s and LAN shows
25% utilization and CPU aboutr 50%. Drive is only being accessed about
1/3 the time so drive is not limiting the data transfer.

Is 25 Mbit/s about the best one can reasonably expect to get on a 100
baseT? Even at that rate, a 44 Gig backup can take a few hours.

Are there ways to easily tweek the LAN to get significant transfer rate
performance improvements? Or is 25% utilization the best I should expect
on a 100mb/s LAN?

Any tips appreciated.

[I wrote]
Yeah, Ghost isn't very fast.
"Brian K" iibntgyea4 top-posted:
Using Ghost 9 I just imaged my C: drive to the second hard drive. 3157 MB of
data in 94 seconds which is 34 MB/sec. Admittedly no compression was used
but it's a good speed. It's 11 times the speed quoted by jtsnow.

Yeah, but we still don't know if the OP was using Ghost Enterprise
with a server or Personal with cables or TCP master/slave. The TCP
stuff is _really_ slow!

"Brian K" iibntgyea4 wrote in message
...
Using 100baseT LAN I get around 60 mbps transferring an image and 12 mbps
over a wireless network.

Brian


12Mb/s over wireless? Which spec? B or G ?

I havent benchmarked G, but B is good for about 5.5Mb/s sustained, and can
occasionally burst to 6.6Mb/s.

"Brian K" iibntgyea4 wrote in message
...
Using Ghost 9 I just imaged my C: drive to the second hard drive. 3157 MB
of data in 94 seconds which is 34 MB/sec. Admittedly no compression was
used but it's a good speed. It's 11 times the speed quoted by jtsnow.


Brian

using 100TX, or 1000TX ?

Not LAN. HD to HD.


"NuTCrAcKeR" wrote in message
...

"Brian K" iibntgyea4 wrote in message
...
Using Ghost 9 I just imaged my C: drive to the second hard drive. 3157 MB
of data in 94 seconds which is 34 MB/sec. Admittedly no compression was
used but it's a good speed. It's 11 times the speed quoted by jtsnow.


Brian

using 100TX, or 1000TX ?

Super G. I'm not impressed with its speed. 12 to 14 mbps is the average
speed between computers in the same room. From the advertising I thought
I'd get something like 30 mbps, but no. Beaming to a computer downstairs,
through the edge of a concrete slab and two brick walls, I get 8 mbps which
seems OK for the conditions. Has anyone done testing on their Super G speed?


Brian




12Mb/s over wireless? Which spec? B or G ?

I havent benchmarked G, but B is good for about 5.5Mb/s sustained, and can
occasionally burst to 6.6Mb/s.