Dedicated WiFi PCIe Card for Fast WiFi File Transfers?

[Kasazn]

Currently my TrueNAS Scale server is connected to my home router over gigabit ethernet. I also have a mesh WiFi connected to the same router.

I've tried doing Macrium backups over WiFi to my NAS but I am getting extremely slow speeds (Connected to my NAS' ethernet IP address). Do I need a dedicated PCIe WiFi Card and connect my devices to the WiFi Card's IP address to have fast speeds?

Asking before dropping cash to buy a good gigabit WiFi PCIe card.

 

[sretalla]

FreeNAS isn't likely to have a lot of drivers for WiFi cards... so do your research carefully if you do go down that path.

But don't.

If your mesh is connected with GbE then the clients are likely to be able to reach TrueNAS at GbE speeds.

The question is are you able to connect your client to your mesh reliably and get that kind of real-world speed to anything? Also, if you connect that same client via cable, can you get it to use GbE speeds for the same task?

WiFi is notoriously tricky to get right unless your device is right in front of an access point (and even then, maybe too much interference can cause problems).

 

[Kasazn]

I have a few powerful desktop PCs that take advantage of fast ethernet speeds. Only WiFi is the problem now.

 

[ChrisRJ]

I would say the chance that adding an additional WiFi card solves the issue is close to 0. As @sretalla , wrote WiFi is pretty difficult for high-speed transfers. And then you have changing interference as well. So even if it works well now, it can be slow or even be unreliable tomorrow.

The bottom line, at least from my perspective, is to use a cable for the initial backup. For delta backup after the first full one WiFi may good enough.

 

[Kasazn]

Thank you for the suggestions. Guess I'll have to go with delta backups. I'm used to doing full backups as it only takes 3 to 5 mins. I manage my storage on my main PCs frugally, storing only data to redundant disks, not the main OS drive.

 

[stavros-k]

I have a few powerful desktop PCs that take advantage of fast ethernet speeds. Only WiFi is the problem now.

In addition to the above, i'd agree to avoid wifi for big file transfers.
But sometimes is hard to have cables on all the time.
So i'd suggest to verify that both your mesh equipment and your end device support 5Ghz WiFi,
If it does, theoretically you should be getting about 700-800mbit speed. (At least this is what i get from my ubiquity AP, with full signal sitting about 6-8 meters away).
If 5Ghz don't give you something near that, try searching how to tweak your mesh for more throughput, but that might decrease your range.

 

[Constantin]

5GHz is attenuated even more than 2.4GHz by anything in between your computers antenna and the AP. So, in part it depends on you understanding where the Wifi antennas are in the computer (esp. if a laptop) and then not getting between them and the other antenna. For example, a human is great way to attenuate signals due to all the water in us.

Apples laptops and desktops are hilariously unhappy campers due to the extended use of metal casings, leaving only a few uncovered places to hide antennas (such as the bezels around the display, under the Apple logo, etc.). My G5 Tower had an external Wifi + Bluetooth antenna, the iMac hides them behind the display, etc. The titanium laptop even featured plastic windows in the edges for Wifi.

Wifi can operate effectively and over great distances, if set up right. I have set up a 5GHz Wifi bridge operating at 400mbit/s "shooting" through two exterior walls @ 900 ft with a partial fresnel lens obstruction that works swimmingly... thanks in part to the excellent hardware that UBNT makes (24dbi antenna, among other things) as well as a very "quiet" Wifi location (no interference).

However, I agree with doing the first snapshot over ethernet followed by doing the incrementals over Wifi. It'll be quicker and more reliable that way. Plus, potentially less interference in the middle of the night if you schedule your incrementals to execute then.