I just signed up for a whole year as I'm in a desparate need to securely share several hundred meg of data with a project team.  My upload speed is ranging between 25-40kb though it did burst accidentally to about 170k for a very brief period.

What gives?  this is not enterprise performance in any book and I don't have 4 hours to wait so I've had to download free FTP hosting software to get this data out.  I'm test transferring now to an employee and his download rate is 300kb/sec + meanwhile my DriveHQ upload continues limping along at 40kb/sec.

Come on guys....

Please understand that 40KB / sec = 320Kbps; most ADSL and Cable Modems limit the maximum upload speed to 384Kbps.

If you use DriveHQ FileManager or DriveHQ Online Backup, you will notice that the upload speed can go as fast as 10 times as the normal speed. This is because of data compression or because of Magic Upload. However, not all files can be uploaded this way. If you upload personal photos, the upload speed usually cannot be improved because JPG files are already compressed. Moreover, DriveHQ servers automatically create thumbnail photos and preview size photos, combined with network overhead, the upload speed can be slower than 40KB/sec.

The upload / download speed is affected by the connection speed between your ISP to our data center; the speed varies at different times. So please try again at different times with different types of files, different size files; if possible, also try connect from different Internet connections.

I have a 1.0 Gps connection, and my upload speeds are also quite slow  - about 60KB/s according to DriveHQ FileManager 4.0.  So, with a fast connection and DriveHQ FileManager, the performance is still poor.  What is the explanation?

I guess you are confused here.

Please note Gigabit network is so far the fastest network speed within a local network. That means you could theoretically reach this speed if you copy files between two PCs in the same office, provided the two PCs both have Gigabit network interface and the office uses Gigabit network.

To upload files to DriveHQ.com, the bottleneck usually is:

(1) Your Internet connection speed.

Your Internet connetion speed is usually much slower than your local network speed. Moreover, many Internet connections are asymmetric, meaning the download speed is much faster than upload speed. (Please try to download files from DriveHQ, see how the speed goes).

(2) The connection speed from your ISP to DriveHQ Datacenter in the Silicon Valley. This is really about the "Internet speed", which varies from time to time, and from location to location. It is kind of like the Interstate free way system. How fast can you go? It depends on a lot of factors. So please try at different times and at different locations.

DriveHQ has developed great technologies to speed up the upload / download speed. In certain cases, you might find the speed is 10 times faster than normal speed.

 

Every so often, a few customers will report slow upload speed. DriveHQ has over one million customers around the world, and with such a large user base, it is normal that some users may experience slow upload speed at certain times. Usually it is not a DriveHQ server related issue. We have very fast servers and virtually unlimited network bandwidth. There are several reasons why you might be getting slow upload speed:

(1) Connection type: A lot of Internet connections (e.g. ADSL/Cable Modem) are asymmetric. The download bandwidth is much bigger than upload bandwidth.

(2) Misunderstanding of bps and B/sec: 1Byte=8bits. In reality, 100KB/sec is about 800Kbps-1Mbps. DriveHQ client software displays upload speed as KB/sec. Other companies' software might display transfer speed as bps.

(3) Your file type and file size: Smaller files have more overhead. If you upload a lot of small files, the speed is usually slower. Also, if you upload image files, DriveHQ’s server will automatically create thumbnails and preview images, causing slower transfers.

(4) The biggest factor affecting transfer speed is the "slowest link" between your computer and DriveHQ’s data center. The connection from your computer to DriveHQ’s server goes through many links (similar to the highway system). Each link is operated by a different telecom backbone operator. The slowest link determines the actual connection speed. Please note the speed usually changes from time to time, so you will get different transfer rates at different times of the day. If you experience very slow connection speeds often, contact your ISP and ask them to troubleshoot your connection to DriveHQ’s server or change the routing to DriveHQ server.

----------------

Solutions:

While the above problems are generic and affect all companies, DriveHQ has developed many technologies to mitigate the problem.

(1) Incremental upload/download: when you upload a large folder, DriveHQ’s client software (FileManager and Online Backup) automatically skip files that have not been changed, i.e. it only uploads and downloads new files or modified files. Your initial uploads may take some time, but subsequent uploads/downloads will be much faster.

(2) Data compression: File Manager and Online Backup automatically compress data for faster uploading/downloading. If your files are compressible, such as Microsoft Office documents and database files, upload speed can be 3-7 times faster. (.Zip, .JPG, .MP3, .mov, .wmv files are already compressed and cannot be compressed further).

(3) Local caching: When you use File Manager to open a remote file, it is automatically downloaded and cached in a local cache folder. If you open the file later, it will open immediately.

(4) Automatic resuming: when you have a slow connection speed, the connection tends to be less reliable. If upload/download is interrupted, DriveHQ client software can automatically resume when the connection is good again. This way, you can leave the software to run in the background while you work on other projects. It will finish uploading eventually.

(5) Magic Upload: In certain cases when "Magic Upload" can be used, upload speeds can be exponentially faster.
 

Finally,

if you need to upload/backup a lot of data and if the connection speed is too slow,

you can copy your files to an external disk and ship it to us

. We can upload your data from our data center, which is much faster. Normally, we charge $49.99 for this service. But please feel free to contact us if you feel your upload speeds are unacceptable.

In many cases, we may provide this service to you for free

.