NAS is on the way!!! C'mon, share what the heck you are doing!!

tophatjohnny · January 2016

Just placed my order for Synology Disk Station 2-Bay Network Attached Storage (DS215+) and 2 WD 4TB hard drives. This is totally foreign to me and hope I get through it (the set up, transfer and running of the thing) without checking in to the loony house!! My hard drive is completely full with more than 4800 cd titles and probably closer to 7000 disks as so many of the titles are 2-6 disk sets, and this was my only real option to continue ripping, building my library and accessing the files both on my Stream Magic 6 and my Onkyo receiver is the NAS, so here goes...something great I sure hope. Any help is so appreciated as my #1 brother who got me this far is not so experienced with this route. If nothing else, wish me luck and rub the polk nickles together for me..wood ya?? (I said Wood!

) Thanks and if you are running a NAS drive strictly for music, man I'd love to hear from you!! Peace

westmassguy · January 2016

I'd help you Brother, but I don't know diddly about NAS

tophatjohnny · January 2016

Yeah D. You the #1 brother I was referring to.

I'll make it happen. Just maybe someone here has a ton of experience with this and I may learn from them??

gudnoyez · January 2016

Yeah get it all down and help me out once your a wiz at it!!! I really have to much physical media literally thousands of CDs, a pretty nice collection of SACDs, ton of albums, 3 laptops full of tunes, to two PC'S full of tunes several IPods full of tunes, Cassettes, Amazon cloud jam packed full and running out of room for for it all.

I need to centralize the collection to be easy to access, I have each format in alphabetical order, but tire of updating it and moving everything around to accommodate the new titles that come in I've probably got over 30 new Cds since the holidays and need to put them in order. I do enjoy hooking the laptops up through the HRT streamer and find it easier that way. I will have to get a hold of you once you get this all down John, how much will this cost going this route?

gce · January 2016

I don't know if I can be much help, but I've had my Synology NAS for 3 or 4 years now. As I remember you just plug it into your network. Then with your computer you format the hard drives and start loading it up. If you have your other equipment on your network, AVR, TV, you'll see a complete listing of all your music on your TV and be able to play anything you have in your NAS. It's just that easy.

I haven't done it yet but to get the best sound out of your digital music you need run a good USB DAC out of your NAS to your Pre or AVR. I was going that way and still will but I got caught up in Vinyl and that stalled me out.

EndersShadow · January 2016

@ZLTFUL

ZLTFUL · January 2016

Yeah Johnny hit me up in a PM but I will repeat some of what I said here for the masses...

@gce Johnny has a Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6...it has a pair of Wolfson DACs and he will be connecting to it via his home network not via a direct connection. The sound quality will be just as good, if not better than a USB connection.

From my PM to Johnny:

A NAS is a bit different from an external hard drive. Whereas an external hard drive connects directly to your computer or streamer, the NAS needs to be connected to your network (The N in NAS hehe).
Synology has very simple step by step instructions to get everything set up, running and shared.
Bear in mind though that the default setup for the NAS is RAID 1. This gives you redundancy for the data by mirroring the data on both drives in the NAS. So you ultimately end up with 4tb of space but if a drive fails, you don't lose your data.
This always causes some confusion for neophytes in the RAID storage world..."Where did my storage space go?!?!"
With the Synology 2 disk NAS solutions, you are relegated to 3 options for storage...

1) RAID 1(The default during setup and you have to pay close attention to catch the step where you change it.) which is mirrored storage. This basically takes your data and puts it identically onto both drives. Your 8TB of storage space and cuts it in half...but one drive can die and you keep your data.

2) RAID 0 which is striped storage. This means that you get your entire 8TB of space...the data is split between the 2 drives. But there is no redundancy. If one of the drives fails, you lose all of the data because half of the "bits" are gone. It's fast though. Your data throughput will be faster than any device on your network so you will never experience any disk lag.

3)JBOD or Just a Bunch Of Disks...this really is like a big hard drive. It combines your 2 drives into 1 big storage drive...there is no performance bonus nor any type of redundancy. It just makes 2 or more drives look like 1 big drive. One drive fails, you just lose the data on that drive while the other drive's data is maintained.

Honestly, your plan is fine...it will get you where you want to be and your sound quality isn't going to degrade in the least.

DaveHo · January 2016

Congrats! You're going to really like having your library accessible from any streamer on your network.

D'prived · January 2016

I have a 4 bay QNAP with 4 3TB WD Red drives. I'm running RAID 5 so that leaves me about 8TB of usable space. Right now I just hit 3TB of music... FLAC uncompressed. Most of it is 16bit 44Khz with a few 24bit 96Khz thrown in.

I have a Yamaha NP-S2000 network player that plays the FLAC's.

I use Seriivo as my DLNA app/software. In set up I just point it to my QNAP shared music folder. Serviio creates the database for my music and resides on my Domain Server.

I installed the Yamaha app on my tablet and upon start up it lists all the DLNA compliant servers on my network. I pick "Serviio (Domain-Server) and then you can select by "Album, Artist, Genre etc" I've had this set up for about two years now with no hick-ups. Of course you can use other apps like Bubble UPnP which will accomplish the same thing. I like Serviio because it's not all bloated with GUI's and the like. I use my tablet to display the cover art and other pretty stuff.

FYI, I have 3 QNAPS, a 2 bay (TV-Shows), a 4 bay (Music-Server) and a 5 bay (Movie-Server). I stream the TV Shows and Movies through a Dune HD media streamer. All three QNAPS are in my office in the back of the house away from the living room so there's no fan or hard drive noise. Not a big deal though because you can barley hear the QNAPS while sitting right next to them.

tophatjohnny · January 2016

D'prived wrote: »

I have a 4 bay QNAP with 4 3TB WD Red drives. I'm running RAID 5 so that leaves me about 8TB of usable space. Right now I just hit 3TB of music... FLAC uncompressed. Most of it is 16bit 44Khz with a few 24bit 96Khz thrown in.

I have a Yamaha NP-S2000 network player that plays the FLAC's.

I use Seriivo as my DLNA app/software. In set up I just point it to my QNAP shared music folder. Serviio creates the database for my music and resides on my Domain Server.

I installed the Yamaha app on my tablet and upon start up it lists all the DLNA compliant servers on my network. I pick "Serviio (Domain-Server) and then you can select by "Album, Artist, Genre etc" I've had this set up for about two years now with no hick-ups. Of course you can use other apps like Bubble UPnP which will accomplish the same thing. I like Serviio because it's not all bloated with GUI's and the like. I use my tablet to display the cover art and other pretty stuff.

FYI, I have 3 QNAPS, a 2 bay (TV-Shows), a 4 bay (Music-Server) and a 5 bay (Movie-Server). I stream the TV Shows and Movies through a Dune HD media streamer. All three QNAPS are in my office in the back of the house away from the living room so there's no fan or hard drive noise. Not a big deal though because you can barley hear the QNAPS while sitting right next to them.

I just now looked at the QNAP and it looks great! You have quite the set up for sure.
I have an Onkyo TX NR Series receiver that I have an app for on my android phone and looking forward to seeing how it works with the UPNP format. My Cambridge Stream Magic6 is my main network player so my attention is aimed that way first.

Thanks to Ryan "Zltful" I am feeling confident in moving forward as well as Daveho for great communication back and forth in my move to NAS. Thanks guys..really.

D'prived · January 2016

I had an Onkyo TX-NR809 that I used to play FLAC files with the app. It did a good job EXCEPT it didn't support gapless playback. That's why I bought the Yamaha network player.

cnh · January 2016

When they can download my "consciousness" into those tiny monoliths, give me a call. Of course, that might be sooner rather than later, they say our brains start to SHRINK as we age and then there's the fact that we lose more and more access to our memories. So who knows, maybe that NAS thing can already hold cnh? lol

kharp1 · January 2016

Thanks for the posts and info, guys. I've been rethinking my set up (a laptop with a 2TB storage ran through a DAC) recently and really am perplexed about the best way to go. I've just recently started my quest for hi-rez audio. I'm not sure if I want to go with a streamer or build my own HTPC. Much of my library needs to be updated as most were downloaded in MP3 years ago. Trying to figure out the most streamlined way to get my music into the most lossless form. I fear I'll have to start over and reload my discs.

Anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw them my way. In the meantime, I'll keep researching and reviewing the posts here for a better level of knowledge.

Thanks, Kerry

kharp1 · January 2016

BTW, I'm running 2 channel mainly these days.

tophatjohnny · January 2016

kharp1 wrote: »

Thanks for the posts and info, guys. I've been rethinking my set up (a laptop with a 2TB storage ran through a DAC) recently and really am perplexed about the best way to go. I've just recently started my quest for hi-rez audio. I'm not sure if I want to go with a streamer or build my own HTPC. Much of my library needs to be updated as most were downloaded in MP3 years ago. Trying to figure out the most streamlined way to get my music into the most lossless form. I fear I'll have to start over and reload my discs.

Anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw them my way. In the meantime, I'll keep researching and reviewing the posts here for a better level of knowledge.

Thanks, Kerry

Hey Kerry,
I don't think you can change the MP3's you have ( I could be wrong) so starting over with a good ripping program and find the setting you like the best and rip away!!

I am trying the NAS route as my (and most network players) will not see anything larger than a 2TB hard drive. I know, I tried, and tried again was finally told by a tech guy at Cambridge that NAS was the answer for continuing on with my ripping addiction.

Hope that helps a little and been there with the reripping to get my files to where my ears were liking what I heard!! Not everyone hears the same, and some gear is more revealing than other gear..it almost never ends!!

tophatjohnny · January 2016

Update,........ the NAS was pretty much a breeze to set thanks to the great support at Synology. Thanks also to ZLTFUL, Ryan was a huge positive support person as I was pretty nervous about being able to do this. Went so smooth, and the transfer of a 2TB HD with a ton of FLAC files 95% of which are 16 bit 48000Hz is done and was done in less than 10 hours of setting up the NAS. So far I see a couple of hiccups in playback, but looking into a better router and probably running a Ethernet cord right to the Stream Magic 6, and that should rectify those hiccups. Even with the hiccups, this was a great move. Already back to ripping straight to the NAS no cords or cables needed!! So far so good!!

EndersShadow · January 2016

tophatjohnny wrote: »

looking into a better router and probably running a Ethernet cord right to the Stream Magic 6, and that should rectify those hiccups

Yup, thats prob your hangup. I have the same with my Squeezebox Classic and my office computer. Both are wireless and playback skips for me. When I get it all hardwired I'm sure it will go away.

honestaquarian · January 2016

Wired is always better than wireless when it comes to music or video transfers. I have a 3TB Western Digital NAS wired to a port on my router (*it sits a foot and a half away so...*) with a gigabit connection. I can stream up to 24/96 FLAC and WAV to my Integra in the bedroom. Up to 24/192 FLAC,WAV,ALAC and AIFF. As well as DSD to the Oppo in the living room. The DSD cannot go via DLNA. It must go via SMB.
Either way those files along with a LOT of videos and pics are all on my NAS.

D'prived · January 2016

Everything I have network wise in my house is wired. Don't like or trust wireless and only use it when I have to.

tophatjohnny · January 2016

honestaquarian wrote: »

Wired is always better than wireless when it comes to music or video transfers. I have a 3TB Western Digital NAS wired to a port on my router (*it sits a foot and a half away so...*) with a gigabit connection. I can stream up to 24/96 FLAC and WAV to my Integra in the bedroom. Up to 24/192 FLAC,WAV,ALAC and AIFF. As well as DSD to the Oppo in the living room. The DSD cannot go via DLNA. It must go via SMB.
Either way those files along with a LOT of videos and pics are all on my NAS.

So, is your Integra Wired to the router?? My Onkyo in the living room is wired to the router and loves the NAS. (meaning they talk well together) and no hiccups at all.

I have my cable co. coming tomorrow to run a couple of Ethernet cables up to the bedroom where the Stream Magic 6 is and as I am moving the NAS up to the bedroom as well.

Next move will be a bad azz Router but has to be one that will allow a phone connection and be Time Warner friendly! Right now the supplied router is a Arris TG862. It's not too bad I guess???????

tophatjohnny · January 2016

Well, the cable company wasn't able to install the Ethernet cords as they told me (over the phone) they would, so I ordered 2- 100ft Cat 6 cables and they arrived today. I ran one (just for a test) from my router to the Stream Magic 6 and it preformed real good, I mean REAL good. Now to install it properly and I'll be back in ripping and listening business!!
Hard wire is the way to go, no doubt!! If anyone cares???

westmassguy · January 2016

Just don't get caught in a crawl space brother.

D'prived · January 2016

Back in 1999 when my house was being built I went in before they installed the sheet rock and ran Cat 5, phone and RG6 coax to every major wall in every room of the house. All the network/phone breakout panels are in the garage. Of course back then wireless was just barely a thing. Wired is definitely the way to go especially when streaming music and video.

tophatjohnny · February 2016

D'prived wrote: »

Back in 1999 when my house was being built I went in before they installed the sheet rock and ran Cat 5, phone and RG6 coax to every major wall in every room of the house. All the network/phone breakout panels are in the garage. Of course back then wireless was just barely a thing. Wired is definitely the way to go especially when streaming music and video.

Yes yes.. Just ran 2 Ethernet cables up to the bedroom. Very nice indeed.

honestaquarian · February 2016

tophatjohnny wrote: »

honestaquarian wrote: »

Wired is always better than wireless when it comes to music or video transfers. I have a 3TB Western Digital NAS wired to a port on my router (*it sits a foot and a half away so...*) with a gigabit connection. I can stream up to 24/96 FLAC and WAV to my Integra in the bedroom. Up to 24/192 FLAC,WAV,ALAC and AIFF. As well as DSD to the Oppo in the living room. The DSD cannot go via DLNA. It must go via SMB.
Either way those files along with a LOT of videos and pics are all on my NAS.

So, is your Integra Wired to the router?? My Onkyo in the living room is wired to the router and loves the NAS. (meaning they talk well together) and no hiccups at all.

I have my cable co. coming tomorrow to run a couple of Ethernet cables up to the bedroom where the Stream Magic 6 is and as I am moving the NAS up to the bedroom as well.

Next move will be a bad azz Router but has to be one that will allow a phone connection and be Time Warner friendly! Right now the supplied router is a Arris TG862. It's not too bad I guess???????

@tophatjohnny
Yes it is via a Netgear five port gigabit switch.

Mr_Hz · February 2016

So I'm joining the party late here, but I use a Drobo device for a NAS. The thing I like about Drobo is that they do all the fault tolerant RAID stuff within their own software... 'Beyond RAID' they call it. I just add drives, or replace them as they fail. The system rebuilds the image. You can also use drives of different capacity... the Drobo figures all that out, although I'm sure using same sized hard drives is more efficient. They are not inexpensive though, and have units from 4bay all the way up to 12 bay capacity. I bought an 8bay years ago (an older model replaced by the current lineup) and have a few 2TB drives installed right now. The goal is a complete media server, both music and video libraries. Haven't started ripping videos though, some other things to sort. I do use a HTPC and JRivers to manage it all. Been fairly happy with the set up, and there's plenty of room for growth.

crashb4 · February 2016

Got an old PC laying around? Feeling adventurous? Build your own NAS with Open Media Vault. http://www.openmediavault.org/ . Build a system to suit your own needs. Based on Debian Linux, There are countless plugins available and there are plenty of sites devoted to installation and configuration. Compatible with tons of hardware and easy to deploy.

RamZet · March 2016

The Synology stuff matched with WD reds is the best combo. Great choices.

billbillw · March 2016

Another late reply, but here goes...

I started with my first NAS a little over 2 years ago now. Over time, it has changed the way I do everything. I started with a pair of 3TB Toshiba drives (Raid-1) put into a Buffalo Linkstation. I filled it with my then tiny movie collection, all of my music, all of my digital photos, and all of my documents. I had 4-shared files and mapped them to each of my computers.

I wired up about half of my house when I first moved in, so I have CAT-6 from basement computer (main router/cable modem) to living room, and from living room to basement Home theater area. A couple of 8-port switches, a Ubiquiti ER-3, and a Ubiquiti UniFi AP, plus a MOCA bridge (for Tivos) give me solid wired speed everywhere that is critical in the house and pretty solid N300 speed wireless everywhere in the house.

Shortly after getting the NAS, I liquidated all my off the shelf streaming players and started using XBMC/Kodi on HTPCs. Life was better when it came to movie playback!

I also converted an old Dell business laptop (D830) into a music streamer for my main 2-ch system by adding a semi-obsolete Digigram VX Pocket PCMCIA sound card with balanced outputs (grabbed it for something like $15 on ebay).

Since doing that, I almost always listen to my digital library with Foobar2000 on the 2-ch system instead of pulling out CDs. The sound quality may be a tiny step down (its not an audiophile sound card, its more for pro sound editors), but most of the time, I'm not critically listening anyway.

After the 1st year, my NAS was getting more than 3/4 full and I was looking at ripping all of my old HD-DVD movies. I had about 40 movies, so that was going to be something like another 250-300GB. I decided to add a 2nd NAS (I had an empty 2-bay Zyxel unit laying around) so I filled it with a pair of refurbished 2TB Hitachi enterprise drives (again in Raid-1). I moved all of my music, photos, and documents over to the Zyxel 2TB pair leaving my original 3TB pair less than 1/3 full. Then I ripped all my HD-DVDs (thanks to Fry's $30 closeout X-Box HDDVD drive) and packed them away. No more headache of slow software HDDVD players. Nothing but Kodi goodness. Still less than 1/2 full after ripping all of those.

Now a year later, both are still going strong. Plenty of room still left on the 2+3TB of NAS space. However, my main PC drives (750GB/1TB/2TB) are all filling up since I keep original digital copies of everything on them. Looks like I'll be shopping some larger drives to replace the 750 and 1TB.

Oh, I also gave up on HTPCs. I went back to Tivo for Live/recorded TV and Netflix/Amazon/etc. To replace Kodi functionality (I'm not giving that up), I re-purposed a couple of Haswell CPU Chromboxes to run OpenElec. They are appliance reliable, noiseless, and very fast running OpenElec. Perfect for movie playback. I still have a couple of older Blu-ray players for the occasional Disc playback. (I still have ~80+ Blu-rays that I'm not eager to rip)

So, TMI?

Moose68Bash · March 2016

@billbillw,

The OP says:

"Just placed my order for Synology Disk Station 2-Bay Network Attached Storage (DS215+) and 2 WD 4TB hard drives. This is totally foreign to me and hope I get through it (the set up, transfer and running of the thing) without checking in to the loony house!!"

Sounds to me like you must have an axe to grind with @tophatjohnny and want to send him off to the local "loony bin!"

tophatjohnny · March 2016

Too funny. It is a great learning experience and still ripping. 5400 album titles so far and all have album artwork. Kind of cool. As far as sound quality goes.. Whatever format you rip in..it does help to have great gear for the ear. This forum and a few of its members steered me straight in that. NAS is flat out..where it's at. Back to my loony bin.

NAS is on the way!!! C'mon, share what the heck you are doing!!

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