Can a bad cable slow down network file transfers?

[Doomer]

Got a NAS that crawled to a slow, like less than 10MB/s. Moved it to another location and transfers increased to 70 MB/s. It looks like a cable issue because my entire network is gigabit, including the NAS.

 

[JackMDS]

"Can a bad cable slow down network file transfers?".

Sure it can.

However, the info in your post does not provide any solution oriented relevant info.

May be you should read this.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2345307

 

[alkemyst]

Definitely, but like Jack said we would need more info to know what moving your NAS really included.

I'd start at replacing the copper going to it if that is an easy thing to do.

Other things can affect throughput though based on the client/environment.

 

[spidey07]

Yes, in fact cabling is the #1 cause of performance problems at something like 90%.

It's layer 1. 1st rule of networking is "That shallt not fuck with the physical layer"

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would actually change that cable completely, moving it probably bent the cable in a way where the issue is not as bad. Even 70MB/sec is pretty slow for gigabit. There may be some slightly loose or untwisted strands inside the cable or something.

 

[Doomer]

Moved the NAS back to the first location and replaced the cable from it to the switch. Throughput is now 40 MB/s. I guess I can live with this but I'm not understanding what's going on. The NAS, a Thecus N2520 has gigabit NIC (Intel).

I also have a server on the same network and transfer rate to it is 120 to 130 MB/s. Could the CPU affect speeds so dramatically? The Thecus has an Intel Intel® Atom™ SoC CE5315 Dual Core(1.2GHz Dual Core ) and the server has a AMD A4-3300 2.5ghz plus 16gb or ram running Win 2012 Standard. I would think the server overhead would somewhat balance out the performance differences between the CPU's but that's just a guess on my part.

The server is in the basement and the path to it goes through a second switch that would seem to eliminate the HW and the most of the cabling. The fact that transfers to the Thecus did speed up after replacing the cable does point to a bad cable tho.

Enough of my rambling, thanks.

 

[alkemyst]

CPU and other factors can affect throughput speeds definitely.