Cheap NAS drive needed

[steve_1979]

Can anyone recommend a good cheap NAS drive to use with a SBT?

Thanks. 🙂

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Can anyone recommend a good cheap NAS drive to use with a SBT?

Thanks. 🙂

i just use a western digital my book live which works well and is reliable after many years. I’m sure the current pc world version is similar, as the live model is an old one now and no longer sold. I think they are all much of a muchness between brands but the thing to look for is the upnp dlna media server installed on them, which dictates how the file structures present in the streamers menu structure. Western digital use twonky media server, which some people don’t like in this regard but they seem to have all I need by browsing by album, album/artist, track etc, and you can set a folder up for compilations. The drives by synology are good and I think it has a more flexible own client where you can self determine file structures. One vaguery in the hi Fi world would be for someone to do a review of all of these servers and drives, how you install right servers on devices if you can, and how the various folder structure options work. I always tend to find this does my head in, as trying to read their instruction manuals it’s never easy to see how the media server structures are.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

The synology nas I use is in my signature...I think it was around £160 for the enclosure plus £110 each for the wd red hdd's but you can start with one if you wish and I've seen them 10-20 quid cheaper on Amazon . it's been doing it's job just fine but it isn't absolutely silent if that's a problem.

 

[Pedro]

I'd go QNAP or Synology, 1 bay (if you don't need more). I own a Synology DS216p (2 bay) and it's really good.

Previously I had a WD My Cloud, it's cheap and not very good, I'd avoid it.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

If you want to keep costs down it may be better to go with one without two drives , but just one drive, unless you have buckets of music files and videos. I use one nas drive and then mirroring software on my pc which mirrors a music drive on my pc to the nas. A lot of people don’t use anywhere near the storage of PCs, so it’s a good place to start storing music. If your pc etc is full or nearly so then buying a two drive nas makes sense, as you can backup one drive to another on the nas, but I’d maybe explore the possibility of solid state drive nas’ to keep noise down. I’ve really like the Melco and innuous drives which are expensive but eventually I’ll get one when I can I think, as I think all the functions they give is bound to have an effect on sq, albeit probably not massive. I know with synology you buy the enclosure and the drives as Mark says, but you want a drive with best possible processor speed for the price, highest storage, and check out if you like music server structure etc.

I use a programme called ‘anywhere back up’ to mirror my drives. Another really important feature of nas drives is whether they have software that can purge deleted files. So if you decide to mirror files between pc and nas, you want the file on the nas deleted when you delete the file on the pc. Some of them fill up and you have to do this purging manually which can be a faff. Eg when you buy one track from the album online in low quality, then buy the cd album, and re rip the album, you want to delete the single file and add the album.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Does your wd use twonky Pedro? And can you tailor the file structure on your synology. I wanted to have file structures like on twonky for two groups ‘albums’ and ‘singles’ so you could search by album/artist, album, genre etc, for each sub group. As if browsing album CDs or cd singles in a rack. I’m also fed up of seeing albums in a list where I only have one track downloaded and they fill up the list with album names, that because I don’t listen to these singles that often, they give spurious albums names in the album list. They should be in ‘singles’. Also a music server that allows you to store playlists. Sorry for hi jacking your post Steve, but anyone any ideas? Can I install a different server onto a wd drive.

 

[Pedro2]

Another vote for synology. I've just bought a DS115j which is a one bay 3TB NAS. Quite cheap (approx £185 on Amazon). It replaced an ageing Tranquil PC that used to run Windows Server 2003.

SO far so good with the Synology. It streams files to the Linn DSM and runs the free music server software MinimSever. I also store backup files from a macbook air and photos from my iphone.

Doubt if I'll use the music server much, mind as I mainly listen to Spotify these days. Still waiting for Spotify CD quality to arrive .... yawn..

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Is the folder structure on minimserver a set one like twonky, which can’t be tailored? I though synology use their own media server?

 

[Pedro2]

I think you might be correct with the fixed structure of Minimserver. I installed it as it was one of the few media servers recommended by Linn users. I used to use Asset (db poweramp) on the Tranquil PC and this could be customised but there isn't a version available for Synology (is it Linux OS?). Asset was brilliant!

 

[Pedro]

Does your wd use twonky Pedro? And can you tailor the file structure on your synology. I wanted to have file structures like on twonky for two groups ‘albums’ and ‘singles’ so you could search by album/artist, album, genre etc, for each sub group. As if browsing album CDs or cd singles in a rack. I’m also fed up of seeing albums in a list where I only have one track downloaded and they fill up the list with album names, that because I don’t listen to these singles that often, they give spurious albums names in the album list. They should be in ‘singles’. Also a music server that allows you to store playlists. Sorry for hi jacking your post Steve, but anyone any ideas? Can I install a different server onto a wd drive.

I don't know, I used the WD for a few weeks and after I bought the Synology it broke down all of a sudden.

I browse everything by folder, both on my desktop PC and streamer, because I have a very large music collection and I also like to listen to whole albums.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

If you’ve got so many albums, the last thing you want is to have another album listed if you just buy a single off the istore or hawk it online. It a bit of a polava, and I don’t want to do a work around by changing all the tags and maybe a folder etc which takes forever, and will prob loose some of the sub folder searching capability. My idea of selecting music on a tablet, is as if I’m looking at a bookcase of CDs.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

Hi quest you might want to try out plex media server....it looks quite robust in terms of features..pretty sure you can export playlists to the nas...I don't listen that way so I've not tried it as such,although it does have a small subscription fee of around £3.99 per month.I know I don't use it to it's full potential but I like the way it handles my album art work and the general interface etc.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Ok thanks, I did check out the app but not sure if you can install the server on the drive. I must admit I find all this stuff so much of a headf—k. The best thing is probably to pay someone who works in computing to reach a solution.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

The app is available in the synology diskstation control centre....and I know what you mean...I don't even know how I got it set up.lol.not the most pc savi bloke tbh.but it is on the drive where I can access it even when the pc is shutdown.

 

[steve_1979]

Basically I have a second hifi system consisting of just a SBT and a pair of DM5 active speakers. The sound quality and user interface are all good.

The only issue is that I'm using a 64GB USB memory stick full of MP3 files plugged in the back. It works ok most of the time but is still occasionally crashing which is a PITA. Hence I would like to connect it to a proper NAS drive.

Other solutions would be considered too.