Squeezecenter - Network Drive - NAS

[mattjax05]

Is it possible to have squeezecenter running on a pc (server) accessing your personal music from an external network drive (storage only) connected to your router? If so, can someone recommend a good external network drive?

If not, can anyone recommend a NAS with squeezecenter pre-installed?

Thanks, Matt

 

[Anonymous]

Yes. If your storage drive can be accessed/mounted over the network from your PC/server running Squeezecenter (or Squeezebox Server as it's now known).

I'm sure there are other NAS' that have squeezecenter preinstalled, but QNAP (http://www.qnapstore.com/ ) have a good range of options & have been supplying their devices with a wide range of supported apps ootb . Hope this helps.

 

[mattjax05]

negster:

Yes. If your storage drive can be accessed/mounted over the network from your PC/server running Squeezecenter (or Squeezebox Server as it's now known).

Excellent news as I feel this would be the cheapest option whilst keeping my personal music collection away from our pc. Just one thing, is there any complications with regards to my laptop being able to access the external network hard drive once it is connected to the router? Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

When you say "keeping your personal music collection away from our pc", you mean in a storage sense, right? You'll still need to run the Squeezebox server software somewhere (I'm assuming your pc)

I don't see any reason why you couldn't have more than one simultaneous connection to a external network drive - can you provide details of the device(s)?

 

[The_Lhc]

mattjax05:Just one thing, is there any complications with regards to my laptop being able to access the external network hard drive once it is connected to the router?

No there isn't. There wouldn't be much point getting network attached storage if nothing could see it.

You'll just need to connect the NAS as a network drive on the laptop, then it'll be there all the time (assuming you tell it to reconnect on startup).

 

[mattjax05]

That's what I mean - storing my music files elsewhere but obviously still on the network. I will have my laptop running the squeezebox server software. I have the following devices:

Laptop running squeezebox server, squeezebox receiver, wireless router.

I would now like to get my music files off my laptop and onto an external network drive which would be connected to my router. Also any future CDs which I rip on my laptop I would like the files to be saved directly on the external network drive.

Hope this is clear!

Thanks

 

[The_Lhc]

Perfectly clear. What's the issue?

 

[mattjax05]

the_lhc:

mattjax05:Just one thing, is there any complications with regards to my laptop being able to access the external network hard drive once it is connected to the router?

No there isn't. There wouldn't be much point getting network attached storage if nothing could see it.

You'll just need to connect the NAS as a network drive on the laptop, then it'll be there all the time (assuming you tell it to reconnect on startup).

I did mean any complications setting it up, but thanks for pointing out that there wouldn't be much point getting network attached storage if nothing could see it

 

[mattjax05]

the_lhc:Perfectly clear. What's the issue?

The issue was whether it could be done, now I know it can. 2nd, is it straightforward setting it up to talk to laptop, and now I know it should be.

Now to search for a good/cheap network drive...........

 

[The_Lhc]

mattjax05:the_lhc:Perfectly clear. What's the issue?

The issue was whether it could be done, now I know it can. 2nd, is it straightforward setting it up to talk to laptop, and now I know it should be.

Well that'll partly depend on which drive you buy but from the laptop side it's trivial, provided you have the IP address/network name of the drive and the name of the share(s), which you should have, as you'll be setting it up.

 

[j4mm3r]

im looking at some sort of music streaming system also, so following on from the above...

if you have squeezebox receiver and a nas with your music stored on it, would you need a pc running also to play the music or could the nas and receiver be set up to talk to one another somehow?

 

[Dave_]

j4mm3r:
im looking at some sort of music streaming system also, so following on from the above...

if you have squeezebox receiver and a nas with your music stored on it, would you need a pc running also to play the music or could the nas and receiver be set up to talk to one another somehow?

You would need to install squeezecentre on the nas,which is a PITA by all accounts,so would be better of buying a nas with it pre-installed.

 

[j4mm3r]

thanks daveh75, where could i look to get the squeezecentre pre-installed?

it might be easier to find an old pc and use as a server out the way? i could install software easily then?

 

[The_Lhc]

j4mm3r: thanks daveh75, where could i look to get the squeezecentre pre-installed?

There's a few around where it comes pre-installed, should be easy enough to find by searching the net.

it might be easier to find an old pc and use as a server out the way? i could install software easily then?

Yes, although then you lose the benefits of a NAS, like reduced power consumption.

 

[Dave_]

http://ripcaster.co.uk/ are a good source for nas with squeeze centre etc, and are also very helpful.

 

[j4mm3r]

thanks guys, is the issues with squeezecentre on a nas the same with itunes, as i was also looking at appletv or airport express, using my iphone as a remote, dont want to switch my pc on to play music would rather have a central storage hence the nas.