File transfer speeds are really slow on desktop and browser client

I have been researching for the past hours, and I found that a lot of other people have had similar problems too, but none of the solutions have worked for me so far. Here is my situation:

I am relatively new to this, so please be easy on me.

I am using an old acer laptop as the Nextcloud server. The laptop has the following specs:

  • OS: Linux Debian
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • CPU: i3-4th gen
  • Hard drive: HDD with 512 GB
  • Nextcloud: installed via snap

Here is my use case of Nextcloud: I am a programmer, and I need a place where I can store all of my code and other documents. I only want a home server where I can store my stuff in. I mainly just use my personal laptop (a way better laptop than the acer one) to connect with the server and synchronize the data, but I also have my iOS phone. I haven’t had an issue with the iOS client (yet).

Now, when I use the desktop client, which is connected to the server as a virtual file on my personal laptop, the transfer speed from my personal laptop is very very slow (in the kbps). I tried to use the web interface, and it is just a tiny bit faster, but still very slow (still in the kbps). I transfer the data through Wi-Fi (can use LAN tho, but didn’t really try) and my internet speed is capped at 30 Mbps.

Here is what I checked and tried:

  • The internet works fine on both my personal laptop and the acer laptop and can reach speeds near 30 Mbps on both laptops (both connected to Wi-Fi).
  • Hard drive (HDD) of the server is not the bottleneck. I observed it and it can reach write speeds in the Mbps.
  • (IMPORTANT I think) While transferring the data on this slow speed, I started to download something on the acer laptop (a packge using sudo apt install). While downloading, the transfer speeds went through the roof in the Mbps. After the download, it stayed like that for a minute or 2 then became slow again.

TL;DR:

  • Nextcloud installed via snap on an old laptop (HDD; 4 GB; i3-4th gen)
  • 1 user (desktop and iOS clients, same user)
  • Transfer speeds very slow (in the kbps, while internet can reach Mbps)
  • It is not the internet
  • It is not the HDD

Hey @Space.yg, welcome to the Nextcloud community and thanks for supporting Nextcloud snap :handshake:

Sorry to hear you are having issues with your Nextcloud snap installation. If you’ve come this far, you’re on the right track! There is a good chance someone in the community has had a similar issue and knows how to resolve it.

Rest assured, the snap does not throttle anything. So the issue you are describing may be an issue with that client. You seem certain the bottleneck is not a network issue? You did enable HTTPS compression right?

Now I personally have in excess of 6K small files (mainly markdown documents and plenty bash scripts) and although I’ve never used the Nextcloud desktop client, because sync is not backup and sync is not copy, I can agree with you that transferring many small files feels slow (kbps) although I have plenty bandwidth (down 100 up 30).

This is why I prefer a scripted solution using rclone which also automatically backs up my docs to NAS.

Okay, so from what I understand, you want me to copy all of the files over directly into the server and that would avoid the long wait of the slow transfer speed.

I can do that as a temporary solution to copy all of the files, but later when I work, the transfer speeds will still be slow. What do I do about this?

Please correct me if I made a mistake.

no, you misunderstood! the suggestion was to use an alternative like rclone to see if the transfer rates improve for you.

the slow transfer speeds are probably a Nextcloud desktop client issue
 you’d have to tell us which client you’re using, how it was installed and do some research about network configurations.

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How do I know which client am I using?

what client did you install on your desktop computer? my crystal ball fell off the table and shattered
 :laughing:

He doesn’t know it. See:

In addition:

Did you check the nextcloud.log for error messages while tranferring files?

Are the files you are transferring, small (a few KB) or big (several KB oder MB)? - While adding files each needs to be added to the database, what will take a short time.

If you can get additional RAM, try to enlarge RAM to 8GB. So less data will need to be swapped on swap partition.

Yes, most of the data are a bunch of small files, a few Kbs each.

I don’t think it’s a RAM problem, the RAM usage is at nearly 50% (1.8 GB/ 3.8 GB RAM; 105 MB/974 MB SWAP). This is from the systm tab in nextcloud web interface. From the system monitor on the laptop it’s 2 GB/4 GB RAM and 168 MB/1 GB SWAP.

Also, one thing I forgot to mention that the CPU usage shown on the system tab in the nextcloud interface shows the CPU using 100%+ of the CPU. This only gets up there when files are being transfered. While from the system monitor on the laptop, the CPU usage shows only ≈25% usage. Could that be a problem?

So the speed hardly can increase, because after a few KB upload stops and the next file will be read. Test the speed with a few bigger files, f.ex. video.

is that using the Nextcloud desktop client or the web GUI in a browser
 how does rclone compare? please be clear!

That’s using the nextcloud desktop client.

Idk how to use/enable it. Could you provide me with a resource on how to enable it?

I’m trying😱

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no worries, take your time
 relaxx! we’re also just trying to help :wink:

ok
 so forget about rclone for now
 let’s concentrate on the Desktop client you’re using:

  • name the os of your laptop where the Nextcloud desktop client is installed
  • how was the Nextcloud desktop client installed on your laptop
  • try and find out which version of the Nextcloud desktop client is installed on your laptop
  • always mention if you’re transferring files with the Nextcloud desktop client or using a browser

Windows 11

Downloaded the installation media from the Nextcloud website, set it up, and then logged in.

It’s the latest one, I just downloaded it today. It’s version 3.17.2

Okay! For now, I mainly want to just make the desktop client at least to transfer the files fast because that’s what I will be using most often

ahhh
 see, now we’re getting there! :ok_hand:

so now could you compare the transfer rates;

  • transferring files in the GUI using browser (select approx. 10mb)
  • transferring files with the Nextcloud desktop client (select the same files as above)

and compare the speeds and time

Okay so, here is the observation:

  • Nextcloud desktop client: sending a bunch of small files is very slow (in the kbps), and sending one big file is very fast (in the Mbps).
  • Nextcloud web interface: The same as the desktop client, but a bit faster in both, but still slow with a bunch of small files.

Works as designed. The speed of small files cannot really increase, because after milliseconds the upload of one file is finished and the next file will be called. It is an up and down of tranfer speed per file.

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But other cloud services are way faster, such as OneDrive. I used to use OneDrive and the files were uploading normally. Why is it uploading one file at a time? Can’t it upload multiple files at a time?

Did you compare the upload-duration of f.ex. 500 files to each cloud server? - Should be the same files.

Don’t believe the displayed speed by the software, as long as you not know, how there are calculated.