SmallNetBuilder

Performance

The 409s were tested with our standard test process. I used the latest firmware in both products, DSM 2.1-0844 for the 409+ and DSM 2.1-0845 for the 409. Both products had four Samsung HD753LJ 750 GB drives installed by Synology. Tests were run with 1000 Mbps and 1000 Mbps with 4k jumbo LAN connections in RAID 0 and 5 modes.

Backup

I first checked backup performance to an Iomega UltraMax Pro Desktop Hard Drive configured in RAID 0 attached via both USB 2.0 and eSATA. The test copies a 4.35 GB ripped DVD test folder that I use in the NAS Chart Vista SP1 file copy tests from the NAS to the attached drive.

The results are summarized in Table 1. Note the 409's higher USB backup speed. But the 409+ clearly outperforms the 409 when backing up to an eSATA drive.

Table 1: Attached backup throughput test summary

I also tested NAS-to-NAS backup between the 409 and 409+. Table 2 summarizes the results, for full backups without and with the encryption option enabled. Speeds using an unencrypted connection are lower than backing up to an attached USB drive. And you really better want the added security of the encrypted connection, because you'll pay around a 70% speed penalty.

Table 2: Networked backup throughput test summary

Don't forget to use the new backup benchmark NAS Charts if you want to compare backup speed to other products.

Benchmarks

Figure 6 presents a summary of the benchmark tests run for the DS409+. Moderate cache effects are present up to 256 MB file size for writes while throughput is reduced ~20% going from RAID 0 to 5 for writes and less than 10% for reads.

RAID 5 performance with a 1000 Mbps LAN connection averaged over the 32 MB to 4 GB file sizes and with cached results above 125 MB/s removed from the average comes in at 47.7 MB/s for writes and 60.4 for reads.

Figure 6: Performance benchmark summary - DS409+

Figure 7 presents a summary of the benchmark tests run for the DS409, which are surprisingly similar to the 409+ once you get past the cache effects at the lower file sizes. RAID 5 performance with a 1000 Mbps LAN connection averaged over the 32 MB to 4 GB file sizes and with cached results above 125 MB/s removed from the average comes in at 61.9 MB/s for writes and 59.9 for reads.

Figure 7: Performance benchmark summary - DS409