Every option we tried failed, system restore, etc etc.

The customer was really interested in their data, 26Gb of music, and they were off on holiday and wanted to listen to some it without buying it all again!  Of course, there was no backup!

Using a special recovery CD, that has tools to let you boot it up, I was able to access the D: drive.  I connected the backup drive they supplied and copied all that music over.

Of course, this is not always possible, so it is best to backup the data first…but if stuck, it can be done.  If the data is really important, it has to go off to a special site that can take the hard drive apart and recover files without destroying the drive.

There always a risk of “dragging” the dust and damage around the sectors of the drive, so if the data is worth more than £1000, it might be worth sending it off.

Data Recovery, Bristol Computer Support 01179 424433

Recently we were called into a large house, with WiFi and networking issues.  4 or 5 other companies had been in prior and the results were still poor.

The office was centrally located upstairs.  The ADSL socket was located next door.  It was a fantastic house, and it made sense to avoid drilling holes and laying cables as much possible.  Houses don’t have suspended floors, or ceilings, or hollow skirting!!

(1)  We moved the router back into the room with the ADSL socket.  The WiFi supplied by the router could now feed the kitchen, lounge and games room.

(2)  We plugged a powerline device into the socket and fed the network along to the office using the “power cables” as our connection.

(3)  In the office, we connected the desktop, printer and a WiFi access point to a network switch, and connected the switch to the powerline device.

The Access Point supplied WiFi to the Net TV in the bedroom and supplied a strong signal to the office.

2.5 hours work, a bit of hardware that we carried in stock and the network was running smoothly and efficiently.

01179 424433 or support@bristol-computer-support.co.uk

…it does various things, but the main item I want to pick on here is the way you can set it to be a “repeater” .

You may have a typical WiFi zone, called “HOUSE” and it reaches almost everywhere you want it to go, but not quite.  Place the TP-Link Access Point within the WiFi, but near your “weak area”, and if set in repeater mode – it will boost the network into that area of your house of office.  ”HOUSE” will be boosted and will accessible from that deep corner!

Tested it, it works.  All it needs is a power socket – and it even comes with it’s own Power Other Ethernet converter.  Make up a long network from the power socket and you can place the TP-Link anywhere you like.

….if you struggle to set this up, or if you want a professional to do it for you…

CALL 0117 942 44 33 or email support@bristol-computer-support.co.uk

Make sure the spooler service is stopped.  Then go to
C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS
and delete any files left there and then restart your print spooler.

I’ve found the answer. At Least for Sony VAIO under Windows 7. In order to get the TCP/IP V4 settings to stay either at obtain DNS Server automatically or at fixed IP addresses you need to edit the profile. To do this you need to do the following:
1) Start Vaio Control Centre from the all programs menu.
2) Select Network Connections
3) Select Vaio Smart Network.
4) Click on advanced
5) Click on Settings (quickly before the Window disappears)
6) Click on Profile Settings
7) Select the profile you are using
Click Edit
9) Select IP and DNS
10) Select Obtain DNS Server Automatically or specify OpenDNS addresses.
11) Click Finsh
and thats it.

They had a 2003 Small Business Server running Exchange.  There were several POP3 connectors setup, one for each user.  None of them worked!  The passwords had long since changed and the POP3 connectors were just failing at logging in.  Someone had setup each PC with a POP3 account, and so each machine was downloading email, and then filling up the Exchange mailbox.

So what happened?  Well the hosting company email server placed them on the blacklist!  Of course it did, it had about 8 accounts unable to login properly!!

So I removed all the POP3 accounts from the Outlook clients, got the correct passwords from the hosting company and got the Exchange 2003 connectors working.  I also uploaded some of the users “personal folders” into the Exchange Server as they were using those instead of Exchange.  It was as if the person who installed the SBS server did not know what they were doing.

I opened up the required ports on the firewall, allowing Outlook Web Access, VPN tunnels and iPhone/iPad access.  Just need to get static IP address now, and then allocate a subdomain and we can get them using their iPhones.

Matt Clark, owner Bristol Computer Support.  0117 9424433 support@bristol-computer-support.co.uk

The main office can have the more expensive Vigor 2830.  Setup the unit to receive a PPTP connection from the remote site.  You need to setup a profile for the romote site and allow a user to “login” into the router.  This is the “Dial In” aspect of the profile.

On the remote office, create a profile to Dial Out to the main office.  Here you enter the IP address of the main office.  So it does not matter if your remote office changes it’s external IP address, as it will still attempt to join with the main office.

How should I tune my ReadyNAS performance?

The ReadyNAS ships with conservative settings (the default mode) that provides the best compatibility and the quickest recovery in case of inadvertant shutdowns such as that caused by power outages. By simply using a UPS and a jumbo frames-capable switch, with a few tweaks of the performance options, you can easily configure the ReadyNAS for optimal mode, a more aggressive setting that can give your ReadyNAS a nice boost in performance.

Let’s look at the Performance options available through the FrontView web-based management system. Select the System → Performance option from the main menu. You’ll see:

If you have a UPS (make sure to use one from the USB UPS compatibility list) or if you don’t mind a longer boot-up time after a power failure, you can select the Disable journaling option. Doing so will boost your write performance by about 25%.

Next, let’s look at the Network options. Go to the Network → Ethernet tab and scroll down to thePerformance Settings box. You’ll see:

If you have a jumbo frames-capable Gigabit Ethernet switch (it’s advisable to use one from theNetwork Switch/Router compatibility list if possible), select the Enable jumbo frames option. You’ll also need to make sure you’ve enabled the jumbo frames option on your PC or Mac driver setting and/or specify a MTU size larger than the default 1500. The ReadyNAS supports up to 7936 byte frame size, so for optimal performance set your NIC to at least this size. If your NIC does not support this exact frame size, don’t worry — the network drivers will negotiate down to the lesser of the two sizes.

Using jumbo frames can reduce the number of packets needed to transfer a file by a factor of 4, so performance can increase by about 15%.

What performance level should I expect?

There are two tests that the ReadyNAS Performance Lab uses to measure performance on the Windows platform:

IOMeter using 256 KB sequential block reads and writes on a 3 GB test file, and

Drag & Drop of a 3 GB file over CIFS, Windows default network protocol.

The tests are run on Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Vista Home Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1). [Note: Vista SP1 is highly recommended as it fixes major performance problems with remote share access.] A test file of 3 GB is used to overcome any advantages due to client caching.

On the Mac, IOMeter is not available, so we use:

Drag & Drop test of a 3 GB file over AFP. Mac users tend to prefer accessing the ReadyNAS over AFP as it provides better support for non-standard characters in filenames and the ability to maintain Mac-specific resource information.

We show the results in two performance settings — the default and optimal modes on the ReadyNAS NV+. Similar results can be obtained with the ReadyNAS Duo.

ReadyNAS Setup

ReadyNAS NV+
4 – Seagate ST31000340AS 1TB hard disks, 32 MB cache
RAIDiator 4.01c1-p1

PC Setup

Intel Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz
1 GB Memory
Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 2
Intel Pro/1000 MT GigE, Jumbo frame 9014 bytes

Intel Pentium Core™ 2 Duo, 2.13 GHz
2 GB Memory
Windows Vista Home Edition, Service Pack 1
Intel Pro/1000 MT GigE, Jumbo frame 9014 bytes

Mac Setup

Apple Power Mac G5, 667 MHz
1 GB Memory
OS X 10.5.2
Onboard GigE, Jumbo frame 7936 bytes

Network Setup

Switch: NETGEAR GS724TP

Router: NETGEAR WNR854T

IOMeter Results

Drag & Drop Results

How should I measure my ReadyNAS performance?

So now that you’ve seen what the ReadyNAS is capable of, let’s get as close to doing an apples-to-apples comparison. As you can see from the lab results, we use two tests — IOMeter read/write test and drag & drop test of a 3 GB file. You can elect to run one or both tests, in default and/or optimalmode.

For the drag & drop test, you can use a test file close to 3 GB in size. We select 3 GB to avoid any caching effects, so you’re truly measuring the network to disk performance rather than just network to memory. Simply time your drag & drop of your test file to a share on the ReadyNAS, delete the test file on your client, and time your drag & drop of the file back to your client. The first test measures the write throughput, the second test measures read throughput. Calculate MB/sec by dividing the number of seconds you get by the number of megabytes in your file.

You can use this number to compare with the results from our Performance Lab.

For IOMeter, following these instructions. Note that IOMeter will run only in Windows environments.

1. Download IOMeter from www.iometer.org.
2. Download iometer.icf, the IOMeter configuration file that we use in our labs.
3. Map your backup share on the ReadyNAS to V:.
4. Start IOMeter, and click on the Results Display tab.
5. Click on the green flag button at the top to start. It’ll ask you to enter a file name where the results will be stored. Click Save.
6. A 1 GB test data file call iobw.tst will be created in your backup share the first time IOMeter runs. Once the file has been created, you’ll see the Read and Write MB/sec as it runs each of these two tests sequentially. Note these two numbers.

You can use the numbers from #6 for your IOMeter comparison.

How do I troubleshoot my performance problem?

Due to different environments, you may not be able to achieve what we get in our lab. There are plenty of factors that may limit your performance. However, most results will be within 15-20% of what is expected, and some will even achieve faster numbers. If your results are off by more than 20%, check the following:

1. Update to the latest RAIDiator.
2. Update to SP1 if using Vista. Microsoft fixed Vista network performance issue with SP1 and you’ll likely see a huge performance gain by updating to it.
3. Check for network errors. Go to the Network tab in FrontView and check for errors. Bad packets and unrecoverable TCP retransmit errors are a sure sign that there’s something on your network causing performance problems. Here are some common problems and troubleshooting tips.
   1. Marginal cabling. Replace cable(s) and see if the error counts continue to go up.
   2. Incompatible or bad switch/router. Try setting ReadyNAS for static and going direct-connect. The network interface is auto-detecting, so you can use a straight or cross-over cable. Check the Switch/Router compatibility list to see if you device is listed or if there’s a known problem with it.
   3. Wireless router. Try checking for router firmware update. We’ve seen cases where a bad router firmware caused performance degradation.
   4. NIC on PC. If you have a Intel or Airlink gigabit NIC, try using that.
4. Disk fragmentation on the ReadyNAS. The ReadyNAS uses a file system that reduces the amounts of fragmentation; however, over time, constant deletion, creation, and modification of files can fragment your data. The only option at this point is to back up your data on the ReadyNAS, delete it, and restore. Unfortunately there is no defragmentation option at this time.
5. USB device causing connection timeouts. Try disconnecting USB storage and UPS monitoring cable from the ReadyNAS and see if the performance improves.
6. Marginal disks. Check the SMART logs in the Health tab. Check for non-zero ATA errors and re-allocated sector counts. They usually point to possible timeout conditions causing slowness.
7. Check System.log. Do a Download All Logs and check System.log. Sometimes this will give you some clues with low-level errors codes.
8. Delete any active snapshot. Snapshot will add extra delay to your write performance.
9. Disable firewall and virus scanner. See if that helps.
10. Close RAIDar and FrontView. Running them will cause extra scanning of device health every minute.
11. ReadyNAS 1100 slowness due to upgrade to RAIDiator 4.x. When upgrading to RAIDiator 4.x from 3.x, you may encounter slowness due to the way we are unable to apply the same hardware acceleration on the firmware. The best way to gain back the performance is to backup your data and do a factory default with 4.x as that will use large filesystem blocksize for faster disk access. For even faster performance, factory default with X-RAID. We apologize for this unavoidable situation.
12. Slow access over wireless or 10/100. The ReadyNAS employs an aggressive hardware acceleration for optimum throughput, however some wireless routers, wireless adapters, and 10/100 routers are unable to handle this acceleration. Try setting the MTU on the ReadyNAS to 1492 to disable this aggressive mode.
13. Check if BitTorrent is enabled. Even if you’re not fetching a file, there can be others fetching yours.

How can I get help if my ReadyNAS performance is still slow?

If you still see slowness after going through the troubleshooting steps above,you can post your request on the ReadyNAS Community Performance forum. It helps to mention that you’ve gone through each step of the troubleshooting guide, and provide the following:

1. RAIDiator version
2. Performance tab settings
3. Network switch model (and firmware version)
4. NIC on your PC
5. Number of disks and disk models
6. The read/write MB/sec numbers from IOMeter or drag & drop test.

Do remember that troubleshooting performance issue remotely can be time-consuming. Please avoid ranting (you’ll find folks more willing to help if you remain civil), and don’t expect miracles overnight. There are just too many combination of hardware and software that can have an effect on your performance.

We hope this guide helps and as always, let us know if there’s anything that you’d like to see improved in the future.

 (102 votes, average: 4.12 out of 5)

The solutions was to….

In FrontView under
Shares > Share Listing, click on the CIFS for the share with the issue
Goto the Advanced Options tab.
Click an option, then revert it (so that the apply button will do something)
Hit Apply

Takes a while, but the used function then works.

Of course, setting this up may be more that some of you wish to take on, but you still might like to use such a gadget..feel free to contact us.  We can supply the unit, and install it in your home.  We can then transfer your data for you, and enable all your devices to access it.  We can show you as little or as much as you would like to know.

Why…?
For the home, the family has various stores of music, film, photos, and files spread all around the house.  You can store ALL your data onto your NAS box, and back it all up in one place.
For the small business, a low cost, easy to access server…gain instant access to basic word, excel and pdf files generated in your office on your iPhones, iPads, MACS, PCs or laptops.

The better units then allow different types of access to the data.  We are very impressed with the Buffalo NAS Duo.  We’re testing the 4Gb unit.  Let’s go through the bits we’ve got working and enjoyed using.

(1)  Easy to setup.  We created a user, added some folders and transferred some music and photos, fixed the IP address and then registered a name with Buffalonas.com (we will come back to that).  This is setup phase that has to happen to enable services you need.

(2)  We searched the Apps on the iPhone for “WebAccess i” from Buffalo.  Installation is the same as installing ANY iPhone application.  We then typed in the name of the NAS we registered with Buffalo (1).  We entered the username and password (and the option for the phone to remember them!)  The app let us browse down the folders to the music and play a selection.  This music streamed down initially using the WiFi connection.  Even disabling the WiFi and using 3G did not stop it – having reconnected with the 3G, we resumed playing.  While still playing music, we could browse and pull up photos and documents.  We tried a pdf and word doc.  All working well.

So we have access to the house data from all our iPhones and iPads from other WiFi zones and even from 3G!

(3)  Typing http://buffalonas.com/<yourNASname> into a browser on an iPad or a PC directs you through to a page where you can choose to login to your NAS box.  The browser session give you access to navigate your folders, create new folders etc.  You can also upload and download, making changes as you see fit, using the internet to change your data.

(4)  Adding the mass of folders localling is easy.  Start run \\<ipaddress and allows to open the folders and copy en-mass as much as you like – quickly and easily

(5)  It is also a Media Streaming Server.  Goto iTunes, advanced, Open Stream, and type in the ip address of the unit.  Then appears in your menu as a SHARED resource.  Instant library to add to any iTunes that has access to your NAS unit.

Of coure, setting this up may be more that some of you wish to take on, but you still might like to use such a gadget..feel free to contact us.  We can supply the unit, and install it in your home.  We can then transfer your data for you, and enable all your devices to access it.  We can show you as little or as much as you would like to know.

Matt, Bristol Computer Support, 0117 9424433