Network drives slow to connect/disconnecting?

[htrodscott]

I have a TS-859 with F/W 4.0.3 that's roughly 75% full. I have 5 Windows 7 PC's connected to it on a wired Gigabit LAN. 4 of them have mapped drives to the QNAP and the 5th is an HTPC (running XBMC) that is not using a mapped drive, but rather pointing directly to the QNAP (\\NAS\Videos with a saved username and password).

This issue started with the HTPC occasionally being very slow to start a movie after it was selected. I started investigating the issue further and realized that I have a similar issue when I connect to a mapped drive from Explorer. If I click on the mapped drive in Explorer after booting, it takes 15-20 seconds to load. If I close it, and reopen it within a few minutes, it loads immediately. If I wait more than 5-10 minutes, it takes the 15-20 seconds to load again. The same thing seems to happen with the HTPC that points directly to the NAS. If I start a movie after booting or waking, it takes the same 15-20 seconds to start. If I stop the movie and start it again shortly after, It starts immediately. If I wait a few minutes after stopping the movie to restart it, it's back to 15-20 seconds to start the movie.

I can connect via FTP immediately anytime without a problem. I've turned off all services other than Windows sharing and FTP.

It seems to me that when Windows 7 boots or wakes, it does not automatically connect to the mapped drive but rather it waits for you to connect by clicking on it. It also seems that Windows 7 must disconnect from the NAS after a very short period of inactivity. Does this sound correct? Is there a solution to this issue? Could the NAS being 75% full cause this? I've searched and searched and don't feel like I've gotten anywhere. Any help would be great.

Thanks.

[dsylexicdog]

Have a look at;
http://www.sysprobs.com/windows-7-network-slow

My UNC paths are very quick to open both on Win7 & 8.1, so too network drives although they appear disconnected upon boot up which is normal (regardless of ethernet or wifi)
Windows Media Player also users a UNC path and is generally fast enough not to frustrate even when updating its DB with media changes.

IPV6 is disabled, the NAS has a static IP, Windows Networking is ON, WINS OFF.

[kertaf]

The advice in the link didn't help.