NAS Box..Heads Up

[jantheman]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124390
Extraordinary VFM.
Bought one last week.....works a treat...

[jantheman]

Hurry up...they've sold 12 in the last 20 minutes...:lol:

[Ali Tait]

Doesn't support FAT32 or NTFS from what I've read. Is that correct?

[jantheman]

Possibly....but what difference does it make....slap your drives in, the unit formats them, then copy stuff over...as long as the system can read it then theres no reason why that shouldnt be enough.....is there?

[Ali Tait]

True, but it might be if folk wanted to use drives with files already loaded.

[Ali Tait]

Found this while looking around. Looks good value too-

http://www.dabs.com/products/d-link-sharecenter-pulse-2-bay-network-storage-enclosure-78PQ.html

[Tim]

Doesn't support FAT32 or NTFS from what I've read. Is that correct?

Isn't this how all NAS boxes work? Someone correct me if I am wrong, as it would be interesting to know if there are alteratives (apart from running a PC based server). But a NAS unit will format the drive and it needs to remain in the unit. You can't just pull them out and put them into another computer for the data to be read. The drive would need to be reformatted on the new host device.

Looks a good buy, not a fan of D-Link but at this price I am hovering over the Add to Basket button, but they are selling like hot cakes, so I had better make my mind up soon! :(

[Ali Tait]

Dunno, but my Drobo formats in NTFS.

[lurcher]

Isn't this how all NAS boxes work? Someone correct me if I am wrong, as it would be interesting to know if there are alteratives (apart from running a PC based server). But a NAS unit will format the drive and it needs to remain in the unit. You can't just pull them out and put them into another computer for the data to be read. The drive would need to be reformatted on the new host device.


Some will allow the addition of extra external drives via USB

[Ali Tait]

I'm just curious about how all this stuff works, as I'm currently using the Drobo connected directly to the Touch, but am starting to get buffering issues because of the size of the files stored on the Drobo.

As I got a new laptop for Christmas, I now have an old one going spare which I have flattened and reloaded XP on. The intention is to use this to run squeezecenter and to have the Drobo and the backup drive attached to.

[Tim]

If anyone wants to know, you can access these drives from a Windows O/S by using third party software;

http://www.fs-driver.org/

Can you eject a DROBO drive then and read it via Windows? Mind you it all won't matter in a minute, only 22 left and when I first posted there were 65!

[Ali Tait]

I have no idea. I would guess so if it's NTFS?

[jantheman]

just checked....12 left...

[Ali Tait]

You should get a commission!

[jantheman]

You should get a commission!

Feel free....:lol:

[Tim]

Well I just bagged one and there are now only 7 left..... many thanks for the heads up Ray :)

I know they are very old devices now, but all it has to do is store .flac files in a RAID-0 array and be visible on a network - for £50 quid that's a snip and I may even use it as a print server. In fact if it works, its almost worth the cost for that alone!

[jantheman]

All gone..

[WAD62]

I'm just curious about how all this stuff works, as I'm currently using the Drobo connected directly to the Touch, but am starting to get buffering issues because of the size of the files stored on the Drobo.

As I got a new laptop for Christmas, I now have an old one going spare which I have flattened and reloaded XP on. The intention is to use this to run squeezecenter and to have the Drobo and the backup drive attached to.

Should work well for playback, the only problem I see (as I've been thinking about this myself) will be the time taken to rescan the media files as they will be residing on the NAS, but if they're both hard wired to the router it might be acceptable, I suppose it depends on the library size.

The ideal would be to have SqueezeServer (app side) on the laptop, and it's DB and media files on the NAS, but I'm not sure if one can configure SqueezeServer that way anymore, I think the DB is embedded within the app. I think one could with older versions of SqueezeCenter and mySQL, the newer SqueezeServer uses an embedded SQLite DB, I think.

[WAD62]

I have no idea. I would guess so if it's NTFS?

My guess would be that it's based on linux, and will use EXT3 or EXT4, as my QNAP does, although they can usually read FAT32/NTFS if they have a USB/ESATA connection.

Otherwise loading it over the network can take some time, particularly for a Tb. ;)

The RAID synchronisation is a big advantage, as these things can be a pig to build from scratch

Do you know what the processing power is of the NAS? You might even be able to run an old version of SqueezeCenter on it, SqueezeServer's a bit too greedy for anything below 1Ghz.

[Mark Grant]

All gone..

Also on expansys

http://www.expansys.com/d-link-2-bay-network-storage-enclosure-142639

maybe a bit old and slow but is cheap:)

The lowest cost current model Synology for example is the DS211j at about £154

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/247319

-

[Tim]

Should work well for playback, the only problem I see (as I've been thinking about this myself) will be the time taken to rescan the media files as they will be residing on the NAS, but if they're both hard wired to the router it might be acceptable, I suppose it depends on the library size.


This could be the issue here indeed, a large library will take a long time to transfer over to this NAS, as it's a relatively slow and simple design. RAID-0 I am hoping will help a bit, but I have the time. Just using it to play music files from however should be a breeze, I wouldn't want to stream HD video mind you, but as a very simple music server I hoping it will do me, so I can retire my PC music sever and sell it. BUT I wouldn't consider using it as a backup device, my music library will be safe elsewhere, this IMO is not suitable as a backup device.

[Tim]

Also on expansys

http://www.expansys.com/d-link-2-bay-network-storage-enclosure-142639 maybe a bit old and slow but is cheap:)

The lowest cost current model Synology for example is the DS211j at about £154

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/247319-

It's on Amazon for 69 too. Hi Mark, I'm going to be trying out some of your cables soon too :)

[Ali Tait]

My guess would be that it's based on linux, and will use EXT3 or EXT4, as my QNAP does, although they can usually read FAT32/NTFS if they have a USB/ESATA connection.

Otherwise loading it over the network can take some time, particularly for a Tb. ;)

The RAID synchronisation is a big advantage, as these things can be a pig to build from scratch

Do you know what the processing power is of the NAS? You might even be able to run an old version of SqueezeCenter on it, SqueezeServer's a bit too greedy for anything below 1Ghz.

Last time I looked, someone on the Drobo forum was looking into making Squeezecenter run on the droboshare, but I don't know if he succeeded. As it stands AFAIK squeezecenter will not run on the Drobo, hence me looking at using my old laptop as a server.

[WAD62]

This could be the issue here indeed, a large library will take a long time to transfer over to this NAS, as it's a relatively slow and simple design. RAID-0 I am hoping will help a bit, but I have the time. Just using it to play music files from however should be a breeze, I wouldn't want to stream HD video mind you, but as a very simple music server I hoping it will do me, so I can retire my PC music sever and sell it. BUT I wouldn't consider using it as a backup device, my music library will be safe elsewhere, this IMO is not suitable as a backup device.

I was thinking about Ali's suggestion of running his SqueezeServer rescan with the media on the NAS...but the time taken to load it will also be an issue as you rightly say.

Doesn't look like there's a USB (there is a mention if USB but specifically for printing) or ESATA port from the spec, so it's loading via the LAN then...which will be a pain for the initial load, definitely worth hard wiring for that task at least...

[WAD62]

Last time I looked, someone on the Drobo forum was looking into making Squeezecenter run on the droboshare, but I don't know if he succeeded. As it stands AFAIK squeezecenter will not run on the Drobo, hence me looking at using my old laptop as a server.

As I said Ali it'll be interesting to see how long it takes for a rescan when the media is held on the NAS.

On my QNAP (with the data held locally) the process is CPU bound, so it SqueezeCenter maxes out at 100% for the 30min rescan process (about 2.5k CDs), which is what I'd expect and want.

I'd imagine holding the media files on the NAS will cause the process to be I/O bound, so you wouldn't see SqueezeServer hitting the 100% mark.

Not that this is a show stopper, it might not be too much of an issue if it's only an hour or so...:eyebrows:

[Tim]

I was thinking about Ali's suggestion of running his SqueezeServer rescan with the media on the NAS...but the time taken to load it will also be an issue as you rightly say.

Doesn't look like there's a USB (there is a mention if USB but specifically for printing) or ESATA port from the spec, so it's loading via the LAN then...which will be a pain for the initial load, definitely worth hard wiring for that task at least...

Indeed, as far as I have read you have to transfer the data over the Network, the USB is just a print server port. With the best part of 1TB, that won't be quick for me!

If anyone else here has bought it and is doing the same thing, I believe there is an issue with the power save function too. You should not activate this until the data is all on, as it may (speculation on other users reviews - so don't quote me) go into power save mode during the transfer and fail to complete. But not sure if that has been addressed with recent firmware upgrades - I believe it's now on 1.08, so this would need checking before fully deploying it on a Network?

But hey, for £50.00 delivered you cannot expect everything and if it works as a music file server and nothing more, then I will be very pleased - that is a bargain :)

[Ali Tait]

Well I have about 350Gb on the Drobo (all FLAC) so far and it takes minisqueezecenter on the Touch about 20 minutes to do a wipe and rescan. Not a problem for me, but the problem is the Touch is starting to rebuffer all the time because it can't handle that amount of data, hence me looking at setting up a network for the Touch with the laptop to to the number crunching.

[jantheman]

1.08 worked OK for me when copying, nothing shut down and my copy took about 5 hrs. One thing to note..the hardware revision is 'C1'....the European D-Link site only shows A1 and B1.
There is an issue with the fan control, options include 'auto/low/high' speeds but sometimes the fan doesnt switch off, even when the NAS isnt doing anything. A Firmware update is supposed to be on the cards...doesnt really matter though. The fan is a BB type so could run forever.....
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?board=155.0

[WAD62]

Well I have about 350Gb on the Drobo (all FLAC) so far and it takes minisqueezecenter on the Touch about 20 minutes to do a wipe and rescan. Not a problem for me, but the problem is the Touch is starting to rebuffer all the time because it can't handle that amount of data, hence me looking at setting up a network for the Touch with the laptop to to the number crunching.

...also it should improve the sound quality by taking the extra workload away from the touch.

I'm at about 700Gb of FLAC so it'll be interesting to see how fast your 'Network' re-scan goes.

If I ever want to use SoX processing on SqueezeServer I'll need to go down a similar path, as my QNAP (1.2Ghz) would not have the grunt to handle that with 3 players.

An alternative would be to get a proper architecture, i.e. SqueezeCenter on it's own application server, and MySQL and the data on my NAS as a DB server. Time for some research...:)

[Ali Tait]

Another downside at the moment is how long it takes to rip to the Drobo as the file has to go through the small prcessor in the Touch, so it can take 20 mins or more to rip 1 cd.

[WAD62]

1.08 worked OK for me when copying, nothing shut down and my copy took about 5 hrs. One thing to note..the hardware revision is 'C1'....the European D-Link site only shows A1 and B1.
There is an issue with the fan control, options include 'auto/low/high' speeds but sometimes the fan doesnt switch off, even when the NAS isnt doing anything. A Firmware update is supposed to be on the cards...doesnt really matter though. The fan is a BB type so could run forever.....
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?board=155.0

I've found that keeping up with the latest firmware is important for these NAS devices...:eyebrows:

How much data did you copy in 5 hours? when I initially loaded my QNAP via the USB it took just over 5 hours for 600Gb or so.

[jantheman]

Somewhere around the 250GB mark...this was by a network connection, not USB......

[WAD62]

Somewhere around the 250GB mark...this was by a network connection, not USB......

That's pretty reasonable I would say, and it's a one off task, you were obviously using it hard wired to the LAN :)

[Ali Tait]

...also it should improve the sound quality by taking the extra workload away from the touch.

I'm at about 700Gb of FLAC so it'll be interesting to see how fast your 'Network' re-scan goes.

If I ever want to use SoX processing on SqueezeServer I'll need to go down a similar path, as my QNAP (1.2Ghz) would not have the grunt to handle that with 3 players.

An alternative would be to get a proper architecture, i.e. SqueezeCenter on it's own application server, and MySQL and the data on my NAS as a DB server. Time for some research...:)

Yes I'm hoping it will sound better. I heard better when I visited Gary, but how much is down to running SC on a pc, and how much to the Soundcheck mods, I'm not sure, but it certainly sounded better whatever the reason. I'm hoping for similar improvements.

[WAD62]

Yes I'm hoping it will sound better. I heard better when I visited Gary, but how much is down to running SC on a pc, and how much to the Soundcheck mods, I'm not sure, but it certainly sounded better whatever the reason. I'm hoping for similar improvements.

You'll also be able to de daft stuff like 1.5k track playlists, keeps me amused anyway ;)

[synsei]

For your delectation, eBuyer now have these back in stock... ;)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124390

[jantheman]

For your delectation, eBuyer now have these back in stock... ;)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124390
I dont want another one...:lol:
Also, the price has gone up...:ner::ner:

[synsei]

Someone else might though :ner::lol: