Throttled backup speeds across wired gigabit Networks?
Prior to updating to True Image 2017 I was using the 2014 version. One frustrating aspect of that version initially was that backup from a NAS to a USB 3 drive connected to a PC on a wired Gigabit network was artificially capped. No matter what settings were applied in True Image, NAS backup speeds never exceeded 50MB/s. After many months of trying to find a workaround I stumbled across a post in these forums that identified a tweak that could be made to individual backup scripts that increased backup speeds to the expected 100MB/s speed. It involved changing a line in the backup script from disk_speed_limit speed_limit_mode="absolute" value="99999" to disk_speed_limit speed_limit_mode="absolute" value="0". Doing so had no apparent impact on network performance or backup reliability.
After upgrading to True Image 2017, I was once again experiencing slower than expected backup speeds from my NAS to my PC. When I took a look in the script for one of the network backups, I found a line identifying <net_speed_limit speed_limit_mode="kilobits" value="0" />. On a hunch, I switched "kilobits" to "absolute". Immediately after doing so, backup speed across the network increased to close to 100MB/s. Its still not as fast as it was with 2014. But it is a huge improvement.
What is the point of throttling backup speeds across a wired Gigabit network? And why isn't Acronis more transparent about the fact that they are doing so?
I think it may depend on your environment. I have never seen this performance hit on NAS backups in my home or work environment. What drivers are you using for your NIC? Is it set to autonegoriate, or have you tried setting it specifically to 100/100 to see if that helps? If you're worried about bandwidth, why do you stick with 100Mpbs connection when Gigabit has been standard for several years? That would be your biggest performance boost (assuming you dont' have a bottle neck with hard drive speeds, but even 7200RPM drives should be able to handle over 100MB/s just fine and SSD and now PCIE NMVE can do much better.
I believe that the "cap" as you say is in place so that network bandwidth is not saturated to the point that other network traffic is impacted adversely. What you describe is a generally accepted level of performance for backups as such operations are not of high priority for most users. If you need more speed than obvously there are ways to tweak things more to your liking.
Thanks Mustang. I had thought that those options were for limiting upload to the cloud. I didn't realize they also impacted backup to storage on the local network. Setting the limit instead of using optimal did indeed get me closer to the gigabit speed I was expecting. It is still not quite as fast TI2014, but I can live with it.
Thanks Bobbo. My network is actually Gigabit, not 10/100. I'm trying to get speeds up to 100MB/s, not 100Mbps. In the past I've been able to backup from my NAS to a network drive at +/- 100MB/s without interfering with other network traffic. By changing the upload setting that Mustang pointed me towards, I'm able to get the Gigabit speeds I'm used to for backups.
Thanks for the confirmation - glad that helped bring things more in tune to the speeds you're used to seeing!