Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business
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Dropbox Business outperformed competitors in speed and bandwidth efficiency for large file sharing, with up to 65% lower bandwidth consumption and download speeds up to 32 times faster than Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, and Box Business. This efficiency can significantly enhance employee productivity by reducing wait times for uploading and downloading files. The recommended move to Dropbox Business for cloud-based file hosting can alleviate workflow disruptions associated with large file transfers.
![Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 7
Setting up the test
1. Create the large single test file for each run (500MB, 1GB, and 1.75GB) using the make_rnd_file.sh bash shell script:
#!/bin/bash
# create a file (named arg 1) of size (arg 2) n KBytes filled with random data
# usage make_rnd_file.sh file.txt 10
if [ $# -ne 2 ] ; then
echo “usage: $0 file.txt size_in_kb”
exit 1
fi
file=$1
size=$2
echo “Creating file $file of size $size kB”
dd if=/dev/urandom of=”$file” count=”$size” bs=1024
# check for error?
ls -lh “$file”
echo Done
2. Open a web browser.
3. Navigate to www.dropbox.com, and create a Dropbox Business account.
4. Navigate to drive.google.com, and create a Google Drive account.
5. Navigate to onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/, and create a OneDrive for Business account.
6. Navigate to www.box.com/, and create a Box Business account.
7. Place the test files into the Documents folder on each laptop.
Running the test
Sharing a large test file (500MB, 1GB, 1.75GB)
1. Open the desktop app of the storage solution under test on both the MacBook Air and the HP ProBook. Ensure both machines reside in
the same LAN address space.
2. On the MacBook Air, navigate to the Documents folder, and prepare the stopwatch. Prepare WireShark for packet capture.
3. Right-click the large file, and click Copy.
4. Navigate to the desktop sync folder for the storage solution under test.
5. Right-click the desktop sync folder for the storage solution under test, and simultaneously click Paste and start the stopwatch. Start the
WireShark packet capture.
6. Switch to the HP ProBook that you set up in step 1.
7. When the large test file has completely synchronized and shows up in the sync folder as synchronized on the HP Probook, stop the
stopwatch, and stop the WireShark packet capture.
8. Record the result for each file size.
Downloading a large test file (500MB, 1GB, 1.75GB)
Note: This requires large test files to already be uploaded to the cloud storage solution under test via the web UI on a separate machine, to
ensure that no file caching occurs.
1. Open a web browser, and navigate to the web interface of the storage solution under test.
2. Prepare the stopwatch, and prepare WireShark for packet capture.
3. In the web interface of the storage solution under test, simultaneously start the stopwatch and the WireShark packet capture.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dropboxlargefileperformance1016-161014171230/85/Lower-bandwidth-consumption-and-less-waiting-with-Dropbox-Business-7-320.jpg)
Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business
- 1. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business Dropbox Business performed large file downloads, uploads, and peer-to-peer sharing faster than tested competitors Moving from an onsite file-sharing solution to a cloud-based service can reduce wait times and improve productivity. But with so many to choose from, how do you know you’re picking the best option? Implementing the right solution could mean fewer workflow interruptions and increased productivity for your employees. In our tests, Dropbox Business consumed less bandwidth when sharing large files compared to Microsoft® OneDrive® for Business, Box Business, and Google Drive™ . Dropbox also performed large file uploads, downloads, and sharing faster than those competitors. High bandwidth consumption and long wait times for downloading, uploading, or sharing large files can leave your team waiting while a deadline looms. This diminishes productivity, hurts employee collaboration, and delays project completion. You can save precious time and reduce these headaches with Dropbox. Up to 65% lower bandwidth consumption Up to 32X faster downloads Up to 5X faster uploads A Principled Technologies report: Hands-on testing. Real-world results.
- 2. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 2 Finish projects faster If your employees routinely download, upload, and share large files like videos or disk images, they know how unproductive it is to have to wait for those tasks to complete. They may spend precious work time idle, handcuffed by the speed of their current file transfer method. Completing these tasks faster can alleviate this problem and prevent unnecessary interruptions in your employees’ workflow. Preventing those interruptions allows them to stay on task, avoid distractions, and complete projects faster. In addition, lower bandwidth consumption when sharing large files helps avoid interruptions for others working on the same Internet connection. What we found Lower bandwidth consumption while sharing In our tests, Dropbox Business used less bandwidth for large file sharing. Lower bandwidth consumption can improve the experience of others using the same network. 500MB file 1000 MB 2000 3000 1GB file 1.75GB file Dropbox Business Google Drive Box Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business Bandwidth used when sharing large files (MB transferred) Lower is better Up to 65% fewer MB used
- 3. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 3 Faster sharing Along with using less bandwidth, Dropbox Business shared large files faster than the competitors did. 500MB file 1GB file 1.75GB file Time to share large files (minutes) Lower is better 10 20 30 40 50 Up to 4.6X faster Dropbox Business Google Drive Box Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business Faster downloads Dropbox Business downloaded the same three large files faster than all three competitors. The chart below shows the wins for Dropbox Business on both PC and Mac laptops. 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Time to download large files (minutes) Lower is better PC Mac 500MB file 1GB file 1.75GB file 500MB file 1GB file 1.75GB file y 4.2 Up to 22X faster on PC Up to 32X faster on Mac Dropbox Business Google Drive Box Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business
- 4. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 4 Faster uploads Dropbox Business also uploaded the same three large files faster than the competition in almost every instance. The chart below again shows those wins. PC Mac 500MB file 1GB file 1.75GB file 500MB file 1GB file 1.75GB file 10 20 30 40 50 Time to upload large files (minutes) Lower is better Up to 5X faster on PC Up to 1.8X faster on Mac Dropbox Business Google Drive Box Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business Conclusion Dealing with large files efficiently is a necessity for every business. Choosing a cloud-based file-hosting service that allows your employees to upload, download, and share large files with less lag time means they can get back to their projects sooner and stay productive. Lower bandwidth consumption during large file sharing also helps prevent lost productivity or workflow interruptions. To regain valuable work time and reduce the workflow hassles that come from transferring large files, consider Dropbox Business for your cloud-based file-hosting needs.
- 5. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 5 On May 11, 2016, we finalized the hardware and software configurations we tested. Updates for current and recently released hardware and software appear often, so unavoidably these configurations may not represent the latest versions available when this report appears. For older systems, we chose configurations representative of typical purchases of those systems. We concluded hands-on testing on June 28, 2016. Appendix A – System configuration information System HP ProBook 430 Apple® MacBook Air® Screen size (inches) 13.3 13.3 Display resolution 1,366 × 768 1,440 × 900 PPI 118 127.68 Dimensions – length × width × height (inches) 12-7/8 × 9-1/4 × 3/4 12-3/4 × 9 × 1/2 Weight (lbs.) 3.40 2.90 CPU Intel® Core™ i3-4010U 1.7 GHz Intel Core i5-4260U 1.4 GHz Storage Samsung® 128GB SSD Apple 256GB SSD OS Windows® 7 Professional SP1 Apple OS X® 10.11.4
- 6. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 6 Appendix B - How we tested As the table below shows, we tested four identical models of an HP ProBook 430 running Windows 7 and four identical models of an Apple MacBook Air running OS X. We installed one file-storage service client on each device. HP ProBook 430 Device number File-hosting service 1 Dropbox Business 2 Google Drive 3 Microsoft OneDrive for Business 4 Box Business Apple MacBook Air Device number File-hosting service 1 Dropbox Business 2 Google Drive 3 Microsoft OneDrive for Business 4 Box Business We performed each test sequentially for each service and device at approximately the same time of day in Durham, North Carolina. We used a 100Mbit business-class symmetric internet connection. To avoid possible bandwidth conflicts among applications, only the device under test was connected to the network. We used a stopwatch to record the time it took each file-hosting service to download, upload, and perform end-to-end synchronization of files of each size, respectively. For each task on each service, we started the stopwatch as explained in the methodologies, and stopped the stopwatch when we observed the following indicators (all indicators were the same for downloads, uploads, and end-to-end synchronizing): • Dropbox Business: The blue arrow became a green checkbox. • Google Drive: The icon stopped pulsing. • OneDrive for Business: The animated bar below the cloud disappeared. • Box Business: The orange arrow became a blue checkbox. We also collected network traffic data using WireShark 2.0.4, available at https://www.wireshark.org. We used a dedicated desktop PC running Windows 10 for this purpose. The configuration ensured that we collected all traffic bound to and from the internet. In addition to packet capturing capabilities, Wireshark provides advanced packet analysis and filtering features.
- 7. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 7 Setting up the test 1. Create the large single test file for each run (500MB, 1GB, and 1.75GB) using the make_rnd_file.sh bash shell script: #!/bin/bash # create a file (named arg 1) of size (arg 2) n KBytes filled with random data # usage make_rnd_file.sh file.txt 10 if [ $# -ne 2 ] ; then echo “usage: $0 file.txt size_in_kb” exit 1 fi file=$1 size=$2 echo “Creating file $file of size $size kB” dd if=/dev/urandom of=”$file” count=”$size” bs=1024 # check for error? ls -lh “$file” echo Done 2. Open a web browser. 3. Navigate to www.dropbox.com, and create a Dropbox Business account. 4. Navigate to drive.google.com, and create a Google Drive account. 5. Navigate to onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/, and create a OneDrive for Business account. 6. Navigate to www.box.com/, and create a Box Business account. 7. Place the test files into the Documents folder on each laptop. Running the test Sharing a large test file (500MB, 1GB, 1.75GB) 1. Open the desktop app of the storage solution under test on both the MacBook Air and the HP ProBook. Ensure both machines reside in the same LAN address space. 2. On the MacBook Air, navigate to the Documents folder, and prepare the stopwatch. Prepare WireShark for packet capture. 3. Right-click the large file, and click Copy. 4. Navigate to the desktop sync folder for the storage solution under test. 5. Right-click the desktop sync folder for the storage solution under test, and simultaneously click Paste and start the stopwatch. Start the WireShark packet capture. 6. Switch to the HP ProBook that you set up in step 1. 7. When the large test file has completely synchronized and shows up in the sync folder as synchronized on the HP Probook, stop the stopwatch, and stop the WireShark packet capture. 8. Record the result for each file size. Downloading a large test file (500MB, 1GB, 1.75GB) Note: This requires large test files to already be uploaded to the cloud storage solution under test via the web UI on a separate machine, to ensure that no file caching occurs. 1. Open a web browser, and navigate to the web interface of the storage solution under test. 2. Prepare the stopwatch, and prepare WireShark for packet capture. 3. In the web interface of the storage solution under test, simultaneously start the stopwatch and the WireShark packet capture.
- 8. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 8 4. For Dropbox Business, OneDrive for Business, and Google Drive, move the test file to a folder being synced by the desktop client. For Box Business, select the folder that contains the large test file, and click Properties > Sync to Computer. 5. When the file has completely downloaded, stop the stopwatch, and stop the WireShark packet capture. 6. Record the result for each file size. Uploading a large test file (500MB, 1GB, 1.75GB) 1. Navigate to the Documents folder, and prepare the stopwatch. Prepare WireShark for packet capture. 2. Right-click the large test file, and click Copy. 3. Navigate to the desktop sync folder for the storage solution under test. 4. Right-click the desktop sync folder for the storage solution under test. Simultaneously click Paste, start the stopwatch, and start the WireShark packet capture. 5. When the file has completely uploaded, stop the stopwatch, and stop the WireShark packet capture. 6. Record the result for each file size. Repeating the tests 1. Once you have completed each test, reboot the systems, and repeat the tests two more times with a new set of files.
- 9. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 9 Appendix C - Detailed test results Each time or bandwidth statistic we report is taken from the average of three test runs. Lower bandwidth consumption while sharing Bandwidth used when sharing large files (MB transferred) Dropbox Business Google Drive Box Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business End-to-end single large file (500 MB) 395.9 1,131.9 1,126.9 1,133.2 End-to-end single large file (1 GB) 793.6 2,265.0 2,233.8 2,254.7 End-to-end single large file (1.75 GB) 1,379.5 3,964.5 3,895.7 3,952.5 Faster sharing Time to share large files (minutes:seconds.milliseconds) Dropbox Business Google Drive Box Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business End-to-end single large file (500 MB) 04:31.59 04:48.76 15:52.34 11:53.04 End-to-end single large file (1 GB) 08:46.54 11:17.67 49:22.00 19:11.69 End-to-end single large file (1.75 GB) 16:23.14 22:40.88 53:57.33 46:15.33 Faster downloads Time to download large files (minutes:seconds.milliseconds) Dropbox Business Google Drive Box Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business PC results Single large file download (500 MB) 02:14.50 02:26.17 06:00.60 06:02.48 Single large file download (1 GB) 03:42.99 04:28.00 86:51.67 11:50.39 Single large file download (1.75 GB) 06:47.59 08:05.46 66:53.00 19:30.49 Mac results Single large file download (500 MB) 01:43.41 02:02.51 17:27.64 06:45.47 Single large file download (1 GB) 03:10.28 04:14.14 106:09.67 10:24.62 Single large file download (1.75 GB) 06:48.43 07:30.50 138:44.67 19:25.22
- 10. Lower bandwidth consumption and less waiting with Dropbox Business October 2016 | 10 Principled Technologies is a registered trademark of Principled Technologies, Inc. All other product names are the trademarks of their respective owners. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES; LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: Principled Technologies, Inc. has made reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and validity of its testing, however, Principled Technologies, Inc. specifically disclaims any warranty, expressed or implied, relating to the test results and analysis, their accuracy, completeness or quality, including any implied warranty of fitness for any particular purpose. All persons or entities relying on the results of any testing do so at their own risk, and agree that Principled Technologies, Inc., its employees and its subcontractors shall have no liability whatsoever from any claim of loss or damage on account of any alleged error or defect in any testing procedure or result. In no event shall Principled Technologies, Inc. be liable for indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages in connection with its testing, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Principled Technologies, Inc.’s liability, including for direct damages, exceed the amounts paid in connection with Principled Technologies, Inc.’s testing. Customer’s sole and exclusive remedies are as set forth herein. This project was commissioned by Dropbox. Principled Technologies® Facts matter.®Principled Technologies® Facts matter.® Time to upload large files (minutes:seconds.milliseconds) Dropbox Business Google Drive Box Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business PC results Single large file upload (500 MB) 04:02.74 07:15.87 13:47.05 04:45.78 Single large file upload (1 GB) 08:19.72 15:45.57 50:00.00 11:34.25 Single large file upload (1.75 GB) 14:02.68 26:39.55 59:12.33 17:01.41 Mac results Single large file upload (500 MB) 02:31.99 02:07.28 05:08.30 04:31.53 Single large file upload (1 GB) 04:44.67 06:35.12 09:19.70 10:16.35 Single large file upload (1.75 GB) 08:16.77 10:26.59 23:33.18 18:07.96