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Upload speeds from Synology NAS - Dropbox slow vs much faster Google Drive

I have a Dropbox business account. I am trying to upload files directly from my Synology NAS to my Dropbox business account.

I am using FileStation on the Synology NAS to directly upload them to Dropbox, essentially that NAS itself is uploading the files itself rather than going to Dropbox via my computer, but the speeds are very slow. Currently for Dropbox I get about 5-10MB/s.

My current internet connection is a 1GB up/down direct-to-home fibre connection. I have run speed tests on the internet itself and there are no problems.

I also did a file upload test with Google Drive in the exact same way and was able to get over 60Mb/s upload. So it can't be the NAS itself that is limiting the upload speeds.

I have removed the upload limit in the bandwidth settings in the Dropbox desktop app.

I'm unsure as to why Dropbox specifically is giving me significantly slower speeds?

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Hannah

Hey @Limewire, thanks for joining us here on the Dropbox Community!

Your setup seems a little complicated, so I'm not sure this has to do entirely with Dropbox.

Dropbox doesn't set caps on the sync, but syncing is a complex process, it's not just a transfer of the files.

During syncing, files are divided into components, compressed, transferred, encrypted and then stored in our servers, so that's why syncing might appear to be a bit slower, compared to your internet speed.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Limewire

Thanks for your reply @Hannah

Just so I understand how Dropbox uploads: will it take longer to upload lots of individual files vs uploading large single files?

I've had another look and it appears that when I upload folders with lots of small files, I get super slow speeds (around 4-10MB/s), but when I upload large video files, it absoltely flys through the uploads, hitting over 115MB/s. Is this in relation to the tasks you mentioned before (i.e. it has to compress, transfer and encrypt each file which takes longer to do for lots of small files vs fewer larger ones)?

And does Dropbox order the files in a specific way - does it upload smallest files first and larger ones after?

Hannah

Indeed, when the Dropbox application syncs, it starts with all the folders and then syncs the files from the smallest to the largest.

Also, the transfer speed depends on how quickly your computer processes and compresses the components of the files to make them available to be uploaded.

The app will also upload smaller files into batches of 800 files. So, if you have 800 * 1 kB files, the actual batch that's sent to Dropbox will be 800 kB in size and so on.

That's why it might seem more time consuming.

I hope this makes sense!

Thanushan

the problem is still here. I am having the same issue with upload speed.

Round 7 Productions

I’m currently experiencing the exact same issue. Did it end up clearing up for you and return to your normal speeds?

Round 7 Productions

I just ran a bunch of tests and here's what I'm finding... When I sync large files only using cloud sync on my Synology NAS my speeds are averaging around 1-2MB/s upload to Dropbox. When I do the same to Google Drive I get 5-10 MB/s. That's almost 5x faster to Google Drive!!! Changing the bandwidth on the desktop app preferences makes no effect at all on this. Can someone please help me!

This is the DropBox Account Sync:

Screenshot 2023-07-07 at 10.48.28 PM.png

This is the Google Drive Account Sync:

Screenshot 2023-07-07 at 10.52.39 PM.png

Rich

@Round 7 Productions wrote:
Changing the bandwidth on the desktop app preferences makes no effect at all on this.

Nothing in the desktop application will have any effect on your NAS. There are no settings in Dropbox that will change the sync speed of your NAS. The Dropbox app on Synology isn't created by Dropbox. It's created by Synology and uses the Dropbox API. Dropbox can't provide support for it; only Synology can.

Also, keep in mind that when syncing to Dropbox you're not just uploading files. Each file is split into chunks, then each chunk is hashed, compressed, transferred, encrypted, and then finally stored on the servers. Because of all those steps, you won't see the same speed as a regular upload.

Round 7 Productions

Thanks for the reply Rich!

Why am I getting faster speeds to Google Drive than Dropbox? Is it simply a different process and one is faster than the other? I've contacted both Synology support and Dropbox directly about this because this speed will inherently affect our workflow.

We're a video production company and we currently sync to Google every night. Sometimes this could be up to 3 TB depending on the type of film we capture. We've always had unlimited storage on GD, but they just reneged on that so now we're back to the drawing table. Dropbox seems great for our use case but this upload speed may be an issue. We currently have about 100TB that needs to be backed up and we only have 60 days to do it.

Round 7 Productions

I have the same issue happening.

This is the DropBox Account Sync:

This is the Google Drive Account Sync:

Thanushan

@Round 7 Productions

I am in the same boat as you, I am trying to move over 100 TB of data from google drive (15 days left). I have tried contacting both Synology and Dropbox with zero help. Dropbox won't support Synology apps and Synology just blames it on your ISP. I tried uploading via the Dropbox desktop app and I still get the same speed. Dropbox doesn't have an answer. We are just stuck with these speeds.

Round 7 Productions

@Thanushan
Probably not best practice to mention another provider on this thread but maybe they’ll hear us if so… I tested Box last night and I got 2.5x the speeds I get with Dropbox. This speed thing is going to pose issues for us so I may have to switch. - I just wish GD didn’t go back on their word with unlimited storage.

Rich

@Round 7 Productions wrote:
Why am I getting faster speeds to Google Drive than Dropbox? Is it simply a different process and one is faster than the other?

I can't answer that as I'm not familiar with how the sync process works for Drive.

I've contacted both Synology support and Dropbox directly about this ...

It's unlikely that they'll be able to assist you. You're using an unofficial sync client that wasn't created by Dropbox.