Thanks for the links, I'll have a read tomorrow and post back.
One quick and possibly stupid question, how do you sync your mp3 players to library held on a NAS? I thought this wasn't possible with iTunes for example?
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Storage Solutions for our OUT-OF-CONTROL iTunes Libraries
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Thanks for the links, I'll have a read tomorrow and post back.
One quick and possibly stupid question, how do you sync your mp3 players to library held on a NAS? I thought this wasn't possible with iTunes for example?
I mount the iTunes share on my desktop and then point iTunes to that music folder. I have never had a problem with it that way and I have been able to sync my music just fine. I do use another program called multitunes that allows me to have a local copy of music on my internal hard drive and a copy on my NAS. When at home I tell iTunes to use the music stored on the NAS and when away I tell iTunes to use the music on my local drive.
Thinking about the sharing element of things, would having a device which had a network connection running an iTunes server program, but also a local connection via USB or Firewire, give you the best of both worlds?
So the machine its connected to, doesn't necessarily have to be switched on to share the library to other users or devices?
Going back to the other concern, how do you go about backing up a box like the unRAID?
So the machine its connected to, doesn't necessarily have to be switched on to share the library to other users or devices?
Going back to the other concern, how do you go about backing up a box like the unRAID?
Use a USB hard drive if one exists that is large enough, or build two unRAID/NAS boxes.
Use a USB hard drive if one exists that is large enough, or build two unRAID/NAS boxes.
Or purchase ur own dual/tri/quad case hard drive (fw, usb whatever) and raid them up... Even even just buy a really weak computer with two sets of identical raids lol that would be much easier!
There is an online backup solution called CrashPlan that allows you to backup unlimited stuff. I use there family plan to backup my parents computer to my server and the Internet. I also backup my laptop to my server and the Internet and then I backup the server to the Internet. Granted this can take quite a while but I limited the backup to certain files so it does not take as long.
CrashPlan sounds ideal, will look in to it, thanks.
QNAP devices are getting excellent reviews, looks like the addition of more powerful CPUs to the boxes is helping with throughput. So that's one option I may look at.
Are there any server programs like Firefly which support video streaming direct from a NAS to Apple TV?
Otherwise, am i right in thinking that I'm still looking at having a Mac switched on somewhere to share the library out to the ATV and others? Then I might be just as better to switch to a Mac Mini as a media centre with a large external HDD attached and run Front Row or similar.
QNAP devices are getting excellent reviews, looks like the addition of more powerful CPUs to the boxes is helping with throughput. So that's one option I may look at.
Are there any server programs like Firefly which support video streaming direct from a NAS to Apple TV?
Otherwise, am i right in thinking that I'm still looking at having a Mac switched on somewhere to share the library out to the ATV and others? Then I might be just as better to switch to a Mac Mini as a media centre with a large external HDD attached and run Front Row or similar.
It has been working great for me and I do recommend it for home use over something like Mozy. Crashplans "all you can eat" family plan really is very handy and nice. I now have 3 backups of my, my parents, and my sisters stuff somewhere; whether that is in the cloud or on my server.
The problem I found with most prebuilt systems is that they are/were to expensive for my taste. If you are willing to spend a little time order parts and building the computer you can build a far more expandable system for half the price of a QNAP like device. I built my server, not including hard drives, for right around the $350 mark. It now has 8 drives in it and about 5TB of usable storage space. There is a free version of unRAID available that supports 2 data drives and 1 parity drive.
If I remember correctly someone did get Firefly (previously mt-daapd) up and running on an unRAID server. I have not bother installing it but it should be doable.
Personally, I would always go with a Mac mini over an Apple TV, just for the fact that it is more powerful and more "future proof." I would still recommend a NAS of some type and not just go with a large external HD. the NAS will allow you to centrally locate all of you music, photos, movies, etc. and allow you a place to backup other important stuff to. Like I said above, I use CrashPlan to backup my laptop to my unRAID NAS (which is free as Crashplan only charges you to backup to there cloud) so that if anything happens I can get my data back no problem.
About a year ago I sat down to watch some TV episode on my 
TV when a little light went off in my head and I mentally estimated the cost (vs the value) of recreating my iTunes library if ever something went wrong. Needless to say, it was a large number. (estimating "value" is a personal thing but in my case it was probably 5 times cost). So I sat down and worked out a plan of attack. I could go through the entire history BUT I don't want to put you to sleep. My current setup is as follows:-
I am a Vista user (no boos from the back of the room please) and given my history with Microsoft, I purchased a small Shuttle SX38P2 Pro to JUST run iTunes and nothing else. I run the OS on a small 32GB SSD (which fixed the problems I was having with stalling during sync) and currently have 2x 1.5TB drives in Raid 0 format supporting my continuously growing 2.1TB iTunes library. This box lives in my home theatre but it could live anywhere. We own 3TV's (the kids bought 2 with their own money!). I dumped wireless and have everything hardwired. In my "bunker" (aka my locked wine cellar) I run a QNAP TS-439 NAS with 4x 1.5TB drives in Raid 5 format (throughput on this device is amazing!) attached to its own UPS. I run an excellent little program called "Allway Sync" which constantly looks at both my iTunes Library on the Raid 0 Volume and my Index files on the OS drive, detects any changes and syncs those changes to the NAS as often as is required. In addition I run a daily image of the OS disk too the NAS. (Needless to say, the NAS isn't dedicated to iTunes but is used by my whole family for backups etc). I share the iTunes libary so all the kids can drag whatever they want off it (into there own iTunes libraries) and ANY purchases are always made on the primary machine. This setup runs 24/7 and, apart from maintenance, has not missed a beat in 12 months. When I need to upgrade to 2TB drives on the Shuttle, I will simply install them and copy the library back from the NAS (yes this does take time but I don't do it that often).
Is this overkill? Given the money that we have spent on the iTunes store, the hours we have all put in loading up our CD collection, the even more hours we have spent with Handbrake migrating our entire DVD collection and our ever burgeoning photo collection... I don't believe so.
At least I can now sleep at night
TV when a little light went off in my head and I mentally estimated the cost (vs the value) of recreating my iTunes library if ever something went wrong. Needless to say, it was a large number. (estimating "value" is a personal thing but in my case it was probably 5 times cost). So I sat down and worked out a plan of attack. I could go through the entire history BUT I don't want to put you to sleep. My current setup is as follows:-I am a Vista user (no boos from the back of the room please) and given my history with Microsoft, I purchased a small Shuttle SX38P2 Pro to JUST run iTunes and nothing else. I run the OS on a small 32GB SSD (which fixed the problems I was having with stalling during sync) and currently have 2x 1.5TB drives in Raid 0 format supporting my continuously growing 2.1TB iTunes library. This box lives in my home theatre but it could live anywhere. We own 3
TV's (the kids bought 2 with their own money!). I dumped wireless and have everything hardwired. In my "bunker" (aka my locked wine cellar) I run a QNAP TS-439 NAS with 4x 1.5TB drives in Raid 5 format (throughput on this device is amazing!) attached to its own UPS. I run an excellent little program called "Allway Sync" which constantly looks at both my iTunes Library on the Raid 0 Volume and my Index files on the OS drive, detects any changes and syncs those changes to the NAS as often as is required. In addition I run a daily image of the OS disk too the NAS. (Needless to say, the NAS isn't dedicated to iTunes but is used by my whole family for backups etc). I share the iTunes libary so all the kids can drag whatever they want off it (into there own iTunes libraries) and ANY purchases are always made on the primary machine. This setup runs 24/7 and, apart from maintenance, has not missed a beat in 12 months. When I need to upgrade to 2TB drives on the Shuttle, I will simply install them and copy the library back from the NAS (yes this does take time but I don't do it that often). Is this overkill? Given the money that we have spent on the iTunes store, the hours we have all put in loading up our CD collection, the even more hours we have spent with Handbrake migrating our entire DVD collection and our ever burgeoning photo collection... I don't believe so.
At least I can now sleep at night
I just bought a Drobo, added (2) 2TB Green Caviar drives. That gave me about 1.75 TB of free space. I will add 2 more when I get low. It is quiet. I love the option of using any combination of drives. Drobo Dashboard is easy to use and it formatted the drives pretty quickly. Throughput is slower than most external 4-bay enclosures but not too slow for streaming movies and music. I am happy. I now have to think of a backup solution. Even though the Drobo allows you to hot swap the drive if one fails, with any RAID system you must have a backup of the data in a separate location. So, maybe a 4 bay QNAP or another Drobo. We'll see.
crhendo, excellent setup, congratulations! I also think (and run several) Qnaps that this is the *best* SOHO NAS out there (performance, software, community support, etc). I get 80MB/s out of each network port. On my Qnap I run directly SlimCenter in addition to your setup have Slimdevices Transporter and Receiver units throughout the home. The Slimcenter Repository is sync'ed to my main iTunes library (playlist, etc). Wonderful! I was just wondering why do you have your iTunes library locally and copy it to the Qnap and not put it directly on the Qnap, import the volume on your Windows box (a) and point the library to that volume? Or do you like having a 2nd *logical* copy of your iTunes library?
(a) you may install Microsoft NFS Services for Windows and use the much better performance protocol, also able to reconnect to the Qnap after wakup of iTunes...
PS: I even use my Qnap for TimeMachine backups of all my Macs over the network (wired and wireless). Works like a charm.
(a) you may install Microsoft NFS Services for Windows and use the much better performance protocol, also able to reconnect to the Qnap after wakup of iTunes...
PS: I even use my Qnap for TimeMachine backups of all my Macs over the network (wired and wireless). Works like a charm.
Thanks for the compliment starcat. In answer to your question, we travel to a holiday house at weekends or during holidays and it is great to simply pickup the Shuttle box, an
TV and simply walk out the door with our entire collection. This stops all the arguments about "what should we sync to the TV" and has the added bonus of providing an "offsite copy" while we are away. Otherwise your solution would be the logical thing to do. I have never heard of SlimCenter before. I will have to do some research.
Glad to hear there is yet another Qnap supporter out there. These are really great products.
And I will be a future qnap user. I'm looking at the 419. You guys see any big advantage in the 439 over the 419? I kinda like the power consumption with the 419.
I have an unRAID server, and I just bought a Drobo. I'm currently copying all my files over to the Drobo. It will be interesting to see the pros and cons of each. I've been very pro unRAID, but my time is so limited with little ones around the house that my needs for simplicity have surpassed my needs for tinkering. Right now I have about 2TB of TV shows and movies and another 500GB of misc files (music, photos, software, etc) that I backup.
The Drobo was super-easy to setup and is very quiet. Obviously, it is taking some time to move all my stuff over to it. I am anxious to see how it performs with my Mac Mini and Plex on high bitrate Blu-ray content. I also want to see how well it sleeps and wakes up with the Mini as I try to conserve energy when I am not using my equipment.
The Drobo was super-easy to setup and is very quiet. Obviously, it is taking some time to move all my stuff over to it. I am anxious to see how it performs with my Mac Mini and Plex on high bitrate Blu-ray content. I also want to see how well it sleeps and wakes up with the Mini as I try to conserve energy when I am not using my equipment.
Used to be called SlimServer, it is the software which streams music to and controll all the Squeezebox clients connected to it. The cool thing is that each client is able to play different muxic, they prform absolutely marvelous in terms of sound quality and there are various size/design clients available, from $100 to $1900 for a high-end unit completely XLR based which can also be used as a DAC (inputs), all following the same concept. There is a huge momentum and open source source support. Logitech bought them about 1-2 years ago. Roku used to use their software too (without contributing a bit) but are disappearing now.
Take a look at http://www.slimdevices.com
Not affiliated with them, just a very satisfied user.
I looked at the Drobo first but decided against it because of low network performance and proprietary file system. In fact if there happens anything to the Qnap, you can take out the disks, insert in any Linux based box and recover your data, as they are just using standard Linux stuff wrapping around a very simple but powerful web user interface. While all basic things like online expansion or swapping drives against bigger ones are available here too of course. To able to run pre-packaged and popular soft on the Qnap is also a huge plus (it is actually a server with a very powerful CPU one can even ssh to).
I looked at the Drobo first but decided against it because of low network performance and proprietary file system. In fact if there happens anything to the Qnap, you can take out the disks, insert in any Linux based box and recover your data, as they are just using standard Linux stuff wrapping around a very simple but powerful web user interface. While all basic things like online expansion or swapping drives against bigger ones are available here too of course. The ability to run pre-packaged and popular soft on the Qnap is also a huge plus (it is actually a server with a very powerful CPU one can ssh to).
Forgive my ignorance if this next question sounds stupid but; how are you using the disks? Are they in a RAID5, RAID4, JBOD, or some other format?
I ask because if they are any of the above except the JBOD, then I am going to assume you are going to have a very "fun" time trying to get the drives to be recognized under a Linux Distro. The reason I say that is; If you already had the RAID4/5 set up and had to move it and not use the same "controller" that is in the QNAP, you are more then likely going to have to rebuild the array, thereby destroying the data on the drives.
The thing that attracted me to unRAID was the JBOD like approach and the User File System that "aggregated" same named top level directories. With unRAID you really can pull a disk out and mount it on any distro that can read the ReiserFS.
prostuff1, RAID5. There is no hardware based controller in the Qnap but simple SATA channels and it does Linux software RAID. Had the same with my other SuSE based Linux box which I moved away from as updates and maintenance was way more complex and time consuming. Qnap is a simple Linux whcih you may even expand on the cmd line if for some reason the Qpkg or Ipkg's available would not suffice one.
I probably have to say that the official answer would be that moving disks would not work, you must do this on your own risk and some Linux knowledge is necessary.
I probably have to say that the official answer would be that moving disks would not work, you must do this on your own risk and some Linux knowledge is necessary.
Sounds about right. I figured it was a linux software RAID5 but wanted to make sure. Since that is the case you are probably right in that you could, if need be, get the RAID up and going on another Linux distro with a little work and some knowledge.
Quick question
I have around 500 gb of media on an external and backup everything with another external. This seems like a tedious process. I'm looking into getting this:
http://www.amazon.com/3-5-Bay-Ext-USB-firewire/dp/B001N06UXC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
I'm pretty new to RAID, now my question is if I use a RAID 1 setup, from my understanding everything is being mirrored from drive 1 to drive 2. What happens if a drive fails? Do I just pop it out and install a new drive? I'm not looking to go the drobo route. Thanks.
I have around 500 gb of media on an external and backup everything with another external. This seems like a tedious process. I'm looking into getting this:
http://www.amazon.com/3-5-Bay-Ext-USB-firewire/dp/B001N06UXC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
I'm pretty new to RAID, now my question is if I use a RAID 1 setup, from my understanding everything is being mirrored from drive 1 to drive 2. What happens if a drive fails? Do I just pop it out and install a new drive? I'm not looking to go the drobo route. Thanks.
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Quick question
I have around 500 gb of media on an external and backup everything with another external. This seems like a tedious process. I'm looking into getting this:
http://www.amazon.com/3-5-Bay-Ext-USB-firewire/dp/B001N06UXC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
I'm pretty new to RAID, now my question is if I use a RAID 1 setup, from my understanding everything is being mirrored from drive 1 to drive 2. What happens if a drive fails? Do I just pop it out and install a new drive? I'm not looking to go the drobo route. Thanks.
Correct. One fails you put a new one in and click rebuild. But remember, RAID wont protect you from corruption. Only had it happen once with OS X, but i'm fairly sure Norton was behind it.
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Seems like yesterday I had to flash my 1.5TB Seagate drives.
Of the roughly 6 TB RAID-5 I set up about half a year ago, I only have 1 TB free space left, and looking at my DVD pile I haven't ripped yet, I will be in need of more space soon.
Hoping the 2.5TB's will be coming along shortly, not really looking forward to replace the 509 w/ an 809 or alike. Or maybe take the plunge and go for an 809 w/ 2.5TB's at once...