Network Attached Storage - any recommened products?

Posted by: plocker on 09 January 2012

I am encountering problems with setting up my recently purchased NDX so that it sees my laptop & the music stored on its hard drive (I presume its a firewall problem).  I quick solution is to use a NAS which I was going to get in the meduium / long terms anyway.  Can anybody recommended a good quality, easy to use NAS?  Netgear stora seems a decent option....?

Posted on: 09 January 2012 by Geoff P

If you want to get a NAS I recommend selecting ( check with the seller or manufacturer) a make that allows you to install media server software on it at least. I use Asset UPnP ( from dB Poweramp) which I find excellent at logging and serving up requested music in an efficient and reliable way. It also seems to be found easily by control point software such as n-serve which is valuable so you get good results using an 1-device for example to order up music for the NDX to play.

 

Twonky Media is another server programme to do this. I have no personal experience with it but it seems to be more clunky and unreliable than Asset based on what gets reported on the Forums.

 

Personally I use an Acer Easystore NAS which runs very reliably and allows addin programs like Asset, but there are other suppliers such as QNAP which might be a good alternative.

 

There also seem to be a group of folks who swear by Vortexbox on here who will probably be along sometime to comment.

 

regards

Geoff

Posted on: 09 January 2012 by Guido Fawkes
Vortexbox if it is for music

Why not switch off your firewall for a few moments and see if the problem goes away
What firewall are you using?
Posted on: 09 January 2012 by plocker

McAfee

Posted on: 09 January 2012 by Guido Fawkes
If you add the IP address of your NDX to the McAfee FW trusted list then it is like there is no firewall on your computer. McAfee Firewall does not block traffic  or generate event alerts from IP addresses in the Trusted IP list.

To add an IP address to the Trusted IPs list:
1. Right-click the McAfee icon, point to Personal Firewall, and then click Options.
2. Click the Trusted IPs tab and click Add.
3. Enter the NDX IP address to trust at all times, and then click OK.
The IP address appears in the Trusted IPs list.
4. Click OK if you are finished making changes.

I have this software on a work PC and this is how you stop it messing up specific apps, if it is the cause of your problem this may help - good luck
Posted on: 09 January 2012 by nickpeacock

I use a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo with 2 x 1.5TB Seagate barracuda drives.

 

Runs fine now.

 

When you set it up you have to turn off your firewall and then once set up make sure your firewall recgonises it as a safe network.

 

Make sure you check the list of Naim-tested NAS drives.

Posted on: 09 January 2012 by Steve2

At the not quite so recent Summer Sounds On Stream demonstrations Naim were using a QNAP TS-410.  I bought a QNAP TS-412 on the strength of that using two 1Terabyte hard drives in RAID 2 mode.  Been faultless since it was installed last September.  Talk to Naim technical department for advice and reassurance.  They are very helpful.

 

SteveT

Posted on: 24 January 2012 by plocker
Originally Posted by nickpeacock:

I use a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo with 2 x 1.5TB Seagate barracuda drives.

 

Runs fine now.

 

When you set it up you have to turn off your firewall and then once set up make sure your firewall recgonises it as a safe network.

 

Make sure you check the list of Naim-tested NAS drives.


Thanks for the feedback. Some other forum members have suggested that any NAS should have installed (or be able to download) media server software on it like Asset UPnP which apparently is excellant at interfacing with n-serve.  Does your Netgear ReadyNAS Duo have such s/w?

Posted on: 24 January 2012 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Hi I use Netgear NAS. It can run Twonky but that software is not for me. The thing with NASs is that they have tiny CPUs. They really don't do very much. But with a fully fledged upnp server you may well want to do on the fly transcoding of hidef, so you may need a little more power. I use a netgear NAS with two x 1TB disks, and a tiny seperate Windows Home Server running Asset. It works a treat, and the small WHS machine ( the size of a large text book) has enough power to hidef transcode to Naim and stream mp3 wirelessly to one of the kids Windows Media Players on Win7 at the same time, Perfect.
Simon
Posted on: 24 January 2012 by pcstockton

Ive been asking my IT friends the same question for the last year or so. I always get the same answer.  QNAP.

Posted on: 24 January 2012 by aloysiuschan

If budget is not an issue, go for a Synology NAS. I have one for almost 2 years. Very stable and firmware support is frequent. Wired up the NAS to a steamer via a network switch to achieve stable bit steams.

Posted on: 25 January 2012 by spartacus
I looked at the market for NAS this time last year and along with my many years of IT experience I purchased a QNAP.
Posted on: 25 January 2012 by aloysiuschan
QNAP and Synology are related and share common hardware architecture. Wouldnt go wrong with either 1.
Posted on: 26 January 2012 by Foot tapper

I too am a complete novice when it comes to streaming. The permutations of hardware, software and formats is truly intimidating for us beginners.

 

For the NAS drive, I have bought a Synology DS212+, a two bay NAS drive with high speed processor and lots of RAM, together with a pair of compatible, fast, 2TB Seagate hard drives.

 

Both QNAP and Synology are supposed to be excellent, premium makes.  I eventually opted for Synology because of 3 factors:

  1. Too many scare stories about Twonky software, as installed on QNAP, working with Apple devices & itunes, though these may no longer be relevant with the release of version 6 of Twonky software
  2. The software for setting up and controlling Synology products, called DSM, is reputed to be by far the easiest to use and navigate
  3. Synology products seem to be circa 10% cheaper than the equivalent QNAP, though this was the least important factor for me

So far, I have inserted the Seagate drives into the Synology NAS drive, started it all up, plugged it via CAT6 ethernet cable into the home network, set up all the NAS settings using the DSM software and ripped the first CDs (all 2 of them ) using a windows XP computer with dbpoweramp + its little bolt on for those who rip CDs to a NAS drive.

 

The instructions have been very clear and everything has worked first time.  As someone who is new to setting up computer network devices, this is a huge relief.  I can now play music from the NAS drive on the home Windows computer via itunes.  Result!

 

The next step will be to insert the ethernet switch into the home network, set up the new mac mini for streaming to the dac in the main hifi system.

 

So far so good, for a novice who wants a NAS drive that will work equally happily with NAIM and Apple devices + itunes.

 

More to come as this educational journey progresses.

 

Best regards

FT

Posted on: 26 January 2012 by too old to rock
Out of interest is your laptop connected to the network via wired or wireless ??  originally had problems my self with router not being fully UPnP compliant . Changed to  Draytek router and much improved although laptop still ocaisionally gets lost and have to connect with ethernet lead and  allow the laptop to be redicovered....
 
Originally Posted by plocker:
Originally Posted by nickpeacock:

I use a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo with 2 x 1.5TB Seagate barracuda drives.

 

Runs fine now.

 

When you set it up you have to turn off your firewall and then once set up make sure your firewall recgonises it as a safe network.

 

Make sure you check the list of Naim-tested NAS drives.


Thanks for the feedback. Some other forum members have suggested that any NAS should have installed (or be able to download) media server software on it like Asset UPnP which apparently is excellant at interfacing with n-serve.  Does your Netgear ReadyNAS Duo have such s/w?

 

Posted on: 26 January 2012 by Mr Frog

QNAP TS-212 (4TB) works excellent with Naim ND5XS Media Player

 

Absolutely no issues whatsoever with the Twonky (pre installed on QNAP NAS)

 

Hope that helps

Posted on: 26 January 2012 by meissmar
Originally Posted by Steve2:

       

         class="quotedText">
        At the not quite so recent Summer Sounds On Stream demonstrations Naim were using a QNAP TS-410.  I bought a QNAP TS-412 on the strength of that using two 1Terabyte hard drives in RAID 2 mode.  Been faultless since it was installed last September.  Talk to Naim technical department for advice and reassurance.  They are very helpful.

SteveT



+1 for QNAP. using 219P+. Very fast, very reliable, regular firmware updates, very good. And Twonky already installed. Only problem is the artwort is in low def on nStream and I don't know a solution.

what about all you QNAP users, do you have this issue on your iPad?