It was originally known as AppleTalk, but was later changed and renamed to AFP. AFP vs NFS vs SMB / CIFS Performance ComparisonĪFP, which stands for Apple Filing Protocol, is a proprietary network protocol that was developed as part of the Mac Operating System.Let’s do a quick overview of each file sharing protocol and we will get down to comparisons and conclusions right after.

To make sure that I can get the maximum potential network speed, the iMac Pro, the Synology DS1817+, as well as the 10 GbE network switch were configured for 9000 MTU Jumbo frames. Since Synology DS1817+ does not have a Thunderbolt connection, all tests were performed over 10 Gbit network. The Synology drives are in RAID 6 configuration, using 6 TB HGST 7200 RPM drives. To make sure that my data is a bit more accurate and not just localized to a single NAS system, I also ran a similar test on an 8-bay Synology DS1817+ NAS with 10 Gbit connectivity that I reviewed last year.

Nothing was changed on the iMac Pro from the configuration standpoint, with default /etc/nfs.conf, /etc/nf and /etc/nf files (if you are running an older version of macOS, you should edit the /etc/nf file and make sure to add “signing_required=no” to the file or your transfer speeds with the SMB protocol will suffer greatly). File System Analyzer within QNAP Diagnostic Tool showed that the volume’s potential was roughly 680 MB/sec read speed and 570 MB/sec write speed, which is pretty decent for four drives in RAID 0 configuration (with each drive potentially being able to do up to 180-190 MB/sec, according to HDD Analyzer). In order to make sure that the 4-bay QNAP device performs at its maximum potential, I used fast 7200 RPM 4x WD Red drives configured in RAID 0 configuration. The 4-bay QNAP device offers both Thunderbolt over Ethernet and 10 GbE connectivity options, so I tested both, although it turned out that Thunderbolt offered better overall performance, which is why I decided to stick with it instead of 10 GbE. I am currently in the process of reviewing another QNAP device, and while at it, I decided to test out all these protocols on the latest version of macOS Mojave 10.14.3 on my iMac Pro that has a built-in 10 GbE connection. Add to this the fact that macOS itself might behave differently depending on which version of it you are running, and it can get quickly aggravating for many photographers out there who are simply trying to get the best out of their equipment. With macOS allowing one to choose between AFP, NFS, SMB and CIFS protocols, it is sometimes tough to make the proper choice, especially considering that some of these protocols have different versions that might perform differently.

If you are a Mac user, you might be wondering which file-sharing protocol gives the best performance when using a network-attached storage device (NAS) such as Synology, or a NAS / Thunderbolt over Ethernet device such as QNAP.

Macos smb