Speed-Comparison: VirtualHere on Raspberry Pi vs Silex DS-600

Due its compatibility and stability I would prefer to use VirtualHere (optimized / licensed) on Raspberry Pi 4 instead using Silex DS-600.

Software on Silex DS-600 is sometimes picky and not quite stable.

However, I made a speed comparison with following results:

Silex DS-600 USB-Server / Transcend 128 GB USB3 Stick: stable 120 MByte / Sec. (1,5 GByte file)

VirtualHere (optimized version / licensed) on Raspberry Pi 4 (USB3-Port) / Transcend 128 GB USB3 Stick: 35-40 MByte / Sec. (1,5 GByte file)

I am a bit surprised but I think, limitation is on side of Raspberry Pi 4. On the other hand, Silex DS-600 also uses a small linux system but seems at all much more powerfull regarding speed.

Is there a way to optimize something?

Greetings

#2

Can you test to see if it is the network stack or the USB that is the limit?

I know the pi USB had not been the best.

Are they both using the same WiFi channels?

#4

For the speedtest I used this stick: https://de.transcend-info.com/Products/No-378
I couldn't find any informations about UAS /UASP compatibility of this stick in the datasheets. Testing was with disabled WLAN on Raspberry Pi 4.

USB3 on Raspberry Pi 4 supports UASP up to 296 MB/s according to this article: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/uasp-makes-raspberry-pi-4-disk-i… . But even without UASP, Raspi 4 is mentioned to support up to 172 MB/s on large files.

Ethernet throughput of Raspi 4 is about 943 Mbps according to https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/articles/raspberry-pi-4-specs-benchmarks

During my extensive comparison between some SILEX USB device-servers and VirtualHere on Raspi 4 I noticed some interesting facts:

- VirtualHere is capable to work flawlessly with USB-Hubs, even with integrated hardware switches for each port. SILEX wasn't able to work stable in such scenario.
- VirtualHere recognized all tested, quite different USB-devices without even one failure

Conclusion:
- VirtualHere works quite stable and reliable but seems to have in some scenarios drawbacks in speed
- We need more tests to compare non-UASP scenarios in relation to drawbacks of VirtualHere
- It would be great if VirtualHere will support UAS(P) in the near future

#5

No you are confusing things. Its nothing to do with Pi4 UAS compatibility. UASP is used by that disk but it is not supported by virtualhere because bulk-streaming is not supported. UASP works on top of bulk-streaming. I dont get many requests for this so it hasnt been implemented.

#6

Michael, thanks for your reply. I think, useres are'nt aware about this topic because most of them have no comparison to maximum possible speed. I am sure, that they all would like to get maximum speed regarding USB-based harddisks and sticks which are connected by VirtualHere.

#7

Yes, I for one would LOVE bulk-streaming since I could retire the silex. I have probably 4 virtualhere servers around the house and with my desktop in the garage and my office elsewhere in the house using HDMI extenders. I use both Silex (for performance) and VirtualHere for pretty much everything else.

#8

OK yes im getting quite a lot of demand for this now so i will implement it soon...

#9

My RPi4 is jumping with joy on the prospect of being fully utilized :-D

#10

OK i implemented UASP support.

Can you:

1. Download and run (at least) version 5.1.8 of the windows client from here https://www.virtualhere.com/usb_client_software

2. Download and run (at least) version 4.2.8 of the Linux server from here https://www.virtualhere.com/usb_server_software

Then use the disk via VirtualHere, and then see if it uses UASP by opening Windows Device Manager->View - Devices By Connection ->VirtualHere USB 3 eXtensible Host Controller and see if the UASP disk is listed under there.

Can you let me know now it goes...