What is the easiest NAS to use with ND5XS (for MacOS users with no skills in computing)

Posted by: Vicca on 08 February 2012

Dear friends,

I have been very confused, browsing this forum because I was not being able to find decent solution from posts and topics, regarding the above mentioned theme. Recently, I've gotten the opportunity to buy new D-link DNS-323 NAS with two big SATA drives, each one 2TB (for a very reasonable amount of money), but have been left in a confusing state of possibilities, neither one pointing to something easy to install and get working on Naim products.

Right now, I have MacMini running Twonky server and this performs relatively well, but got rather uncomfortable ripping routine, since this Mac is in my living room, attached on my TV, without monitor, so each and every intervention on Mac requires kneeling under the TV, looking upwards and interrupting kids and my better half in their off duty activities. I could add a little monitor, but seems that one could be somehow redundant.

Having said all of that, I have been left in dilemma, whether to buy a NAS or SSD-equipped small form factor notebook and attach my FLAC storing music to it, so that all could be left on the top of the hi-fi rack.

NAS has being favourable from my standpoint, but it seems to me that it requires a lot of programming knowledge, especially skills in running scripts, hexbin applications on MacOS and even a telnet operations, which I hardly remember how they have been executed.

 

Any advice from this point forward!?

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Fozz

QNAP are easy to set up, I just written a load on a nearby thread "Decision = QNAP TS212. Now what?"   

 

Others have suggested that some dealers will help you set up a NAS drive if you are not sure. 

 

cheers

 

Gary

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by PinkHamster

An NAS will do nothing to improve your ripping situation. That should be done on a computer on a desk, not kneeling down in front of a TV. You'll never have propper tags that way ....

Why don't you just hook up your MacMini to the network, as you would have to do with an NAS, do the ripping on your regular PC/Mac and transfer the files via the network to your MacMini?

One thing is certain, it is definetly easier to setup a server software on a MacMini, than on an NAS, if you are not so much into computing.

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by badlyread

Hi

 

Why don't you set up the Mini to rip a CD when you insert it and spit it out when it is finished? Also Apple has a Screen Sharing facility so you can see what the Mac is doing from another computer without the need to connect any cables (via wifi). This is all fairly easy to set up. No need for a NAS at all. If space is an issue copy the iTunes music folder to an external HD. Easy.

 

Regards

 

Neil

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Vicca

Qnap -> It's true, but it's by far the most expensive to buy.

They're retailing here in Slovenia for 290 Eur without HDs (two bay).

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Vicca

I was wrong. It does stand for S/H units.

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Fozz

re the QNaps, Got the TS-110 and 2tb drive for £204

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Zinger
Subscribing to thread Cheers
Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Vicca
Originally Posted by Zinger:
Subscribing to thread Cheers

Cheers!

 

Welcome

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Phil Harris

The NetGear ReadyNAS Duo has always been a good, solid and reliable unit from our perspective...

 

Phil

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Vicca
Originally Posted by Fozz:

re the QNaps, Got the TS-110 and 2tb drive for £204

Re: when buying NAS, I prefer two bay RAID units, setup for mirroring, methinks RAID0 if I'm not wrong.

I mean, for the safe of flacs!

 

:-)

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Vicca
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:

The NetGear ReadyNAS Duo has always been a good, solid and reliable unit from our perspective...

 

Phil

It does mean something, I mean stable, reliable but, is it really that easy to configure? (BTW, this was my best choice to the point when D-link popped-up, recently).

And another one: NetGear ReadyNAS Duo costs 360 Euros with two 1TB units,

I have an opportunity to buy brand new D-link with two 2TB HDs for exactly 100 Euros less!

I think, as the time goes on, (and especially considering the prices of HDs these days/months) to buy it just to grab the HDs, and eventually to change later for better NAS. 

Ooorrr, rather to spend money for something else, like a SSD equipped Acer (256GB SSD)...?

I could have one for about 320 - 340 Euros, (really basic model) and turn it into the music bearing unit, while sometimes using one as an ordinary laptop.

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by McGhie
Hi I bought a ReadyNAS Duo to avoid having PC on all the time. I didn't get on with the streaming software so purchased Twonky ($20) and installed that, which worked fairly well but not as good as Asset, which I ran on PC. ReadyNAS Duo sat in study but the fan noise drove me mad (mine might have been louder than normal but having googled it there seemed to be lots of talk of how noisy the fan is and even ways of butchering it to attach larger quieter fans). Anyway, I then bought an HP Proliant Microserver and installed VortexBox. Job done, and a much more generic piece of kit compared to a NAS. You can install what you want on it (FreeNAS, Windows Home Server, Linux, etc.) and it has 5 bays and you can upgrade it (add RAM), plug keyboard/monitor in if you wish (I run it headless) - it's a server! Over last year there was a promo in UK <£140 inc £100 cashback. That's with 2GB RAM and no drives. I stuck 8GB of RAM in (since it's so cheap) and a 2TB WD Green Caviar drive. The drive was £40 at the time but I know that prices have more than doubled since. Don't know if there are any current promos on the Microserver. If I was choosing again I would compare what I have vs something that ran Asset, though to be honest I'm very happy with the HP box. It's very well made and does the job (streaming) perfectly. I am considering running Asset on it but that requires installing Windows (probably Home Server). One of the advantages of Asset over VortexBox is streaming Wav (have to stream FLAC on VB and can't as far as I know transcode). It is also more flexible on configuring the tree (by album, by year, etc) and filtering. Having said this I will more than likely live with my current set up for the foreseeable future. Cheers Ian
Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Fozz
Originally Posted by Vicca:

Re: when buying NAS, I prefer two bay RAID units, setup for mirroring, methinks RAID0 if I'm not wrong.

I mean, for the safe of flacs!

 

:-)

A fair point but I have had nowt but trouble with anything working in RAID modes, my rips now go to two NAS drives in different formats now.

 

To be honest my view is the workload on the drive just serving music is pretty low compared to one doing general PC / mac duties anyway and my life experiences of hard drive failure is having a (OK sometimes tiny) bit of warning.  Probably more likely some vinylfreak virus hits the whole nas. 

 

 

 

 

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by Vicca
Originally Posted by McGhie:
Hi I bought a ReadyNAS Duo to avoid having PC on all the time. I didn't get on with the streaming software so purchased Twonky ($20) and installed that, which worked fairly well but not as good as Asset, which I ran on PC. ReadyNAS Duo sat in study but the fan noise drove me mad (mine might have been louder than normal but having googled it there seemed to be lots of talk of how noisy the fan is and even ways of butchering it to attach larger quieter fans). Anyway, I then bought an HP Proliant Microserver and installed VortexBox. Job done, and a much more generic piece of kit compared to a NAS. You can install what you want on it (FreeNAS, Windows Home Server, Linux, etc.) and it has 5 bays and you can upgrade it (add RAM), plug keyboard/monitor in if you wish (I run it headless) - it's a server! Over last year there was a promo in UK <£140 inc £100 cashback. That's with 2GB RAM and no drives. I stuck 8GB of RAM in (since it's so cheap) and a 2TB WD Green Caviar drive. The drive was £40 at the time but I know that prices have more than doubled since. Don't know if there are any current promos on the Microserver. If I was choosing again I would compare what I have vs something that ran Asset, though to be honest I'm very happy with the HP box. It's very well made and does the job (streaming) perfectly. I am considering running Asset on it but that requires installing Windows (probably Home Server). One of the advantages of Asset over VortexBox is streaming Wav (have to stream FLAC on VB and can't as far as I know transcode). It is also more flexible on configuring the tree (by album, by year, etc) and filtering. Having said this I will more than likely live with my current set up for the foreseeable future. Cheers Ian

HP ProLiant?

That's very interesting.

Is it the slim model or a tower model?

Where are you having one, in the vicinity of hi-fi components or elsewhere (i.e. where your PC is)?

How complicated that might be, I mean installing Twonky for example, or a Vortexbox?

I have never, actually, had a chance to experience and get to know what Vortexbox actually is?

I thought that it's a hardware, also. Just found the slimboxes of HP ProLiant DL380 G3, retailing from 100E or a bit less upwards on a well known source.

Would it be that I might be happy with it?

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by winkyincanada
Originally Posted by badlyread:

Hi

 

Why don't you set up the Mini to rip a CD when you insert it and spit it out when it is finished? Also Apple has a Screen Sharing facility so you can see what the Mac is doing from another computer without the need to connect any cables (via wifi). This is all fairly easy to set up. No need for a NAS at all. If space is an issue copy the iTunes music folder to an external HD. Easy.

 

Regards

 

Neil

+1 on this.

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by McGhie
Originally Posted by Vicca:
Originally Posted by McGhie:
Hi I bought a ReadyNAS Duo to avoid having PC on all the time. I didn't get on with the streaming software so purchased Twonky ($20) and installed that, which worked fairly well but not as good as Asset, which I ran on PC. ReadyNAS Duo sat in study but the fan noise drove me mad (mine might have been louder than normal but having googled it there seemed to be lots of talk of how noisy the fan is and even ways of butchering it to attach larger quieter fans). Anyway, I then bought an HP Proliant Microserver and installed VortexBox. Job done, and a much more generic piece of kit compared to a NAS. You can install what you want on it (FreeNAS, Windows Home Server, Linux, etc.) and it has 5 bays and you can upgrade it (add RAM), plug keyboard/monitor in if you wish (I run it headless) - it's a server! Over last year there was a promo in UK <£140 inc £100 cashback. That's with 2GB RAM and no drives. I stuck 8GB of RAM in (since it's so cheap) and a 2TB WD Green Caviar drive. The drive was £40 at the time but I know that prices have more than doubled since. Don't know if there are any current promos on the Microserver. If I was choosing again I would compare what I have vs something that ran Asset, though to be honest I'm very happy with the HP box. It's very well made and does the job (streaming) perfectly. I am considering running Asset on it but that requires installing Windows (probably Home Server). One of the advantages of Asset over VortexBox is streaming Wav (have to stream FLAC on VB and can't as far as I know transcode). It is also more flexible on configuring the tree (by album, by year, etc) and filtering. Having said this I will more than likely live with my current set up for the foreseeable future. Cheers Ian

HP ProLiant?

That's very interesting.

Is it the slim model or a tower model?

Where are you having one, in the vicinity of hi-fi components or elsewhere (i.e. where your PC is)?

How complicated that might be, I mean installing Twonky for example, or a Vortexbox?

I have never, actually, had a chance to experience and get to know what Vortexbox actually is?

I thought that it's a hardware, also. Just found the slimboxes of HP ProLiant DL380 G3, retailing from 100E or a bit less upwards on a well known source.

Would it be that I might be happy with it?

I just searched on a large UK online retailer's site and the current model is:

 

HP ProLiant Microserver G7 N40L NHP EU SVR

 

It's still under £240 and there's still the £100 cashback offer (until end of Feb, but this has been rolling for a while), so <£140.

 

It is an ultra micro tower - 21 cm x 26 cm x 26.7 cm (WxDxH).

 

Mine is in my study (near to my PC and router), i.e. it's in another room to the hi-fi and on the network.  It comes bare - there's a 250GB drive but nothing pre-loaded, so you need to install an OS.

 

So, if you're looking for a NAS then the simplest thing might be to buy one from Synology, Netgear, QNAP, or whoever.  You might get just what you're looking for but if not you are a bit locked in with applications that the manufacturer chooses to load.

 

I found that for a very similar cost I could get a box from a leading server manufacturer.  It's a far more flexible solution but it does require some installation.  The hard drives are (very) easy to install but installing the OS is a bit more tricky.  The easiest way to install an OS from a CD is to install an optical drive in one of the 5 drive bays (there are four hard drive bays and one larger optical drive bay).  It is possible to mount a CD drive or disk image over the network or to put an installation disk image on a USB stick and install from that (I must confess that I am not sure how to do either).  I stuck a Samsung optical drive in mine (<£20).

 

To install VortexBox I downloaded the latest (free) installer, burnt to CD, and popped it in the drive.  Boot the server up and away it goes.  It asked one question along the way (to make up a password) and once the install is complete you can use the server headless (no monitor or keyboard) via a web page (e.g. from a PC).

 

VortexBox is a suite of applications running under Fedora (Linux).  It's open source and dedicated to serving media.  You can find much more info on it elsewhere on the forum.  You can, as I think you've noted, buy VortexBox hardware - media serving hardware with VortexBox installed.  This, of course, is another route.  If, like me, you want to go down the more DIY route then you need to be confident about installing hardware and software in/on the server.  I found it to be quite a fun experience but don't let me try to put you off buying a NAS (just sharing my experiences of buying a NAS and soon after first replacing the UPnP software and then replacing the NAS!)

 

I think that if you had VortexBox up and running then you would be happy with it (many others on this forum are).  The 'simplest' thing to do, though, might be to buy a NAS (and in answer to your question about installing Twonky on the ReadyNAS, that was very easy - I purchased and downloaded a version built for installation on the ReadyNAS and there is an option through the ReadNAS interface to install stuff, so it was pain free).  I found the ReadyNAS Duo to function fine (once Twonky was installed) but I did not get on with the fan noise.  Others might have recommendations.  I have heard good things about Synology.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers

Ian

Posted on: 08 February 2012 by pcstockton

You might want to look into a server that can handle pics and video which are a part of the fun elsewhere in the house.

Posted on: 09 February 2012 by totemphile
Took delivery of my ND5XS yesterday and installed Yazsoft Playback (UpNP server) locally on my MacBook Pro. Don't know much about computer and network stuff but set up was easy enough for me. Works great and I can now stream out of my iTunes library directly over the network to the ND5XS, no NAS needed. Worth playing around with, it only cost €12 to download Playback. There is a free trial version too but usage is limited to 30 minutes or so at a time.
Posted on: 09 February 2012 by Vicca
Originally Posted by McGhie:
Originally Posted by Vicca:
Originally Posted by McGhie:
Hi I bought a ReadyNAS Duo to avoid having PC on all the time. I didn't get on with the streaming software so purchased Twonky ($20) and installed that, which worked fairly well but not as good as Asset, which I ran on PC. ReadyNAS Duo sat in study but the fan noise drove me mad (mine might have been louder than normal but having googled it there seemed to be lots of talk of how noisy the fan is and even ways of butchering it to attach larger quieter fans). Anyway, I then bought an HP Proliant Microserver and installed VortexBox. Job done, and a much more generic piece of kit compared to a NAS. You can install what you want on it (FreeNAS, Windows Home Server, Linux, etc.) and it has 5 bays and you can upgrade it (add RAM), plug keyboard/monitor in if you wish (I run it headless) - it's a server! Over last year there was a promo in UK <£140 inc £100 cashback. That's with 2GB RAM and no drives. I stuck 8GB of RAM in (since it's so cheap) and a 2TB WD Green Caviar drive. The drive was £40 at the time but I know that prices have more than doubled since. Don't know if there are any current promos on the Microserver. If I was choosing again I would compare what I have vs something that ran Asset, though to be honest I'm very happy with the HP box. It's very well made and does the job (streaming) perfectly. I am considering running Asset on it but that requires installing Windows (probably Home Server). One of the advantages of Asset over VortexBox is streaming Wav (have to stream FLAC on VB and can't as far as I know transcode). It is also more flexible on configuring the tree (by album, by year, etc) and filtering. Having said this I will more than likely live with my current set up for the foreseeable future. Cheers Ian

HP ProLiant?

That's very interesting.

Is it the slim model or a tower model?

Where are you having one, in the vicinity of hi-fi components or elsewhere (i.e. where your PC is)?

How complicated that might be, I mean installing Twonky for example, or a Vortexbox?

I have never, actually, had a chance to experience and get to know what Vortexbox actually is?

I thought that it's a hardware, also. Just found the slimboxes of HP ProLiant DL380 G3, retailing from 100E or a bit less upwards on a well known source.

Would it be that I might be happy with it?

I just searched on a large UK online retailer's site and the current model is:

 

HP ProLiant Microserver G7 N40L NHP EU SVR

 

It's still under £240 and there's still the £100 cashback offer (until end of Feb, but this has been rolling for a while), so <£140.

 

It is an ultra micro tower - 21 cm x 26 cm x 26.7 cm (WxDxH).

 

Mine is in my study (near to my PC and router), i.e. it's in another room to the hi-fi and on the network.  It comes bare - there's a 250GB drive but nothing pre-loaded, so you need to install an OS.

 

So, if you're looking for a NAS then the simplest thing might be to buy one from Synology, Netgear, QNAP, or whoever.  You might get just what you're looking for but if not you are a bit locked in with applications that the manufacturer chooses to load.

 

I found that for a very similar cost I could get a box from a leading server manufacturer.  It's a far more flexible solution but it does require some installation.  The hard drives are (very) easy to install but installing the OS is a bit more tricky.  The easiest way to install an OS from a CD is to install an optical drive in one of the 5 drive bays (there are four hard drive bays and one larger optical drive bay).  It is possible to mount a CD drive or disk image over the network or to put an installation disk image on a USB stick and install from that (I must confess that I am not sure how to do either).  I stuck a Samsung optical drive in mine (<£20).

 

To install VortexBox I downloaded the latest (free) installer, burnt to CD, and popped it in the drive.  Boot the server up and away it goes.  It asked one question along the way (to make up a password) and once the install is complete you can use the server headless (no monitor or keyboard) via a web page (e.g. from a PC).

 

VortexBox is a suite of applications running under Fedora (Linux).  It's open source and dedicated to serving media.  You can find much more info on it elsewhere on the forum.  You can, as I think you've noted, buy VortexBox hardware - media serving hardware with VortexBox installed.  This, of course, is another route.  If, like me, you want to go down the more DIY route then you need to be confident about installing hardware and software in/on the server.  I found it to be quite a fun experience but don't let me try to put you off buying a NAS (just sharing my experiences of buying a NAS and soon after first replacing the UPnP software and then replacing the NAS!)

 

I think that if you had VortexBox up and running then you would be happy with it (many others on this forum are).  The 'simplest' thing to do, though, might be to buy a NAS (and in answer to your question about installing Twonky on the ReadyNAS, that was very easy - I purchased and downloaded a version built for installation on the ReadyNAS and there is an option through the ReadNAS interface to install stuff, so it was pain free).  I found the ReadyNAS Duo to function fine (once Twonky was installed) but I did not get on with the fan noise.  Others might have recommendations.  I have heard good things about Synology.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers

Ian

Dear Ian,

 

thank you very much for this extensive explanation. 

In the meantime, and due to a significant influence of member I have managed to deal

2 HDs for nearly half-price (maybe a little bit more), but without D-link NAS, which is out and off, now. 

That means I've just became armed with lots of TBs (actually 4TB) with free choice of mid-priced NAS, to put them in.

I am opened to suggestions even more, so...

 

Thanks once again

 

Viktor

Posted on: 09 February 2012 by Vicca
Originally Posted by pcstockton:

You might want to look into a server that can handle pics and video which are a part of the fun elsewhere in the house.

Yes and yes, especially for movies.

Posted on: 09 February 2012 by HTM_1968

I have a 2TB QNAP, which is full of ancient FLACS, most of which aren't tagged. I push this music to my NDAC using an old notebook via a M2Tech HiFace. I recently moved house and decided that looking at 1200 odd CDs on shelves no longer interested me. This led to the purchase of a ND5SX  to replace my ancient CD3.5/FC combo. I also bought a vortexbox for tiny £££ on Amazon. I'm very impressed with the Vortexbox. It rips accurately, tagged all bar about 30 of my CDs, most of which are very obscure releases, and does not make a racket, unlike the QNAP.

 

Vinyl is still my preferred source, but the Vortexbox/ND5SX/NDAC is getting far more use than the CD3.5 saw for years. The ease of use of the Vortexbox is astonishing.

Posted on: 10 February 2012 by Eloise
Originally Posted by Vicca:
Originally Posted by Fozz:

re the QNaps, Got the TS-110 and 2tb drive for £204

Re: when buying NAS, I prefer two bay RAID units, setup for mirroring, methinks RAID0 if I'm not wrong.

I mean, for the safe of flacs!

 

:-)

Not sure anyone corrected youalready, but two drives mirrored is RAID1 not RAID0. 

 

RAID0 offers no protection as it just spreads (technical term is stripes) the data across the two drives. 

 

As an aside, you also want to cosnider your backup strategy.

 

Eloise

Posted on: 10 February 2012 by Vicca

Thanks, I confirm this, made a mistake, so:

RAID 0 - no mirroring, more HD space

RAID 1 - yes mirroring, less HD space

 

Posted on: 11 February 2012 by Vicca

Hi, friends

Well, just for the record - the bottom line of this week is that I've bought two 2TB Samsung drives with no NAS enclosure, and according to my impressions (directing their way mainly through "Naim forum filter") have decided to purchase Synology NAS, DS212j or rather DS212+...

...what emerges further thoughts:

- Are Synology users running their UPnPs that is supplied as a part of a Synology's Disk Station Manager or rather installing some other UPnPs, like Twonky or whatever? 

- Is it easy to install the system from the start, I mean with my HDs, so let's say in a "driveless" state?

- I have about 600GB of FLAC files so far, to transfer to a new unit and that will be a pain,because they are on a Hfs Mac formatted external drive running through firewire. what would be the most painless solution?

 

Thanks for your input in advance

 

Viktor

Posted on: 27 February 2012 by Vicca

Resurrection of a topic:

 

The bottom line is here - I ended  up with Synology DS 212, loaded as two 2TB disks with no mirroring,

and streaming successfully to ND5XS through its built-in UPnP Media Server, transcoding checked and n-Stream application working flawlessly.

I recommend Synology products for streaming files to Naim players.

 

I can certainly conclude the following:

- setting up wasn't as easy as expected, but equally not much complicated for an average MacOS user (with the best knowledge so far to reinstall the MacOS system whatsoever)

- Me dumb :-( I haven't managed to setup external remote access to my NAS, after running EZ internet setup. How can I do that?  Wher am I going wrong? on the site canuseeme.org I am visible. What should I do? What should I type in?