MinimServer

I could be wrong but I don't think so. I only rescan Minim after adding or deleting music files from the NAS via the PC. Haven't yet re-scanned merely because I switched the NAS and/or the PC off (which I do regularly if I'm away for 2 days or more.)

Sorry - should have added I'm speaking as a PC user, not a MAC user if that makes any difference.

Assuming that the nas is always on, and both it and the streamer are networked correctly, the PC has nothing to do with it. You just fire up the app and off you go. 

It sounds like you have Minim installed on your Mac rather than on the NAS, if so, maybe that's the cause of the problem??

It can cause confusion as although Minimserver itself should be loaded onto the NAS drive, the configuration program Minimwatch is installed on a computer/laptop. However, you should only really need to run Minimwatch when you need to change the server's settings e;g. to add a new directory to monitor or to do a rescan, otherwise Minimserver should run happily on the NAS.

Perhaps this is a powersaving issue of the NAS going to sleep. 

Slightly tangential, but can anyone tell me whether it's possible to get Minim to start automatically on Windows startup and if so how?  If it is, then perhaps that might just help the OP with a Mac

If you type Minimserver on PC into your search engine you will get the instructions. 

Ah. When we upgraded to Windows 10, the programme for our tomtom sat nav kept starting. I burrowed around on google and found how to stop it auto starting. I suspect minim could be added to the auto start list somehow. Might it be better to put the music, and minim, on a nas, so that the music plays without needing the computer working. 

You need to add a shortcut to Minimserver in your windows startup folder rather than trying to find a setting within the program itself. You haven't said which version of windows you are running. In Windows 7 or Windows 10 this will be in C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. Open up this folder and right click to add a shortcut and navigate to the Minimserver program.

NOTE: The App Data folder may be greyed out so you may have to go into folder\view options in Explorer and enable Hidden items.

Many thanks to you both.

I use Windows 7 at the moment but will go to 10 soon.  My NAS is a cheap WD My Book and doesn't allow me to install Minim on it direct, hence the Windows 7 computer.  I shall buy a new NAS soon, and one where I can install Minim direct

SJB's solution looks the one for me.  I'm going to try it now

Thanks again

Worked a treat, thank you.  That's my supplementary done but I'm not sure the OP's original question has been answered! I personally don't know the answer but would be interested to see it, if there is one

I'm running MinimServer on a MacBook Pro and it only takes a few seconds to rescan on startup or if I request a rescan.  I think the initial scan only took a few minutes - I've got about 1500 albums.  I don't leave the MacBook running all the time and often disconnect the external drive holding my music library.  Have you asked on the MinimServer forum?  I've found the developer very helpful.

Has anyone found the answer to the OP's question?  When I reconnect it goes to restart when surely rescan would be quicker?

Anyone??

I contacted Simon at MinimServer and this is his reply

"At present, it isn't possible to add or delete music without reading the whole library and doing a restart. This might change in the future.

If the rescan+restart is [slow], you probably have your music library on a network share (or shares). This setup isn't recommended. You will get much better performance if you run MinimServer on a NAS with your library on locally attached disk storage."

Hope this helps others.  Simon's support is exemplary as always and as good a reason for supporting Minim as any

this is what i found in minimserver User Guide, maybe it could help:

If the startupScan property is set to true (the default), MinimServer does a complete library scan when it is started. This scan uses MinimServer's library cache to avoid the overhead of reading audio files that haven't changed since the last scan.

If the startupScan property is set to false, MinimSever reads the library data from its cache and doesn't scan the library files to check whether any files have changed since the cache was written. This reduces startup time but might omit some recent additions or changes to library files.

If the startupScan property is set to full, MinimServer does a complete library scan when it is started and ignores any cached library data. This can be useful if the cache data is suspected to be inaccurate for any reason. With this setting, the cache data is also ignored when doing a Rescan (see the Controlling MinimServer using the minim icon section).

I think my answer is to load Minimserver onto the NAS so it is permanently active on that drive.

Thanks once I do this will let you know how I get on.

Benny if this doesn't work the I will try your options which sound idea also.

Another question : I have some WAV folders that were/are seen through most playback software but now cannot be picked up by Minimserver.

If I change any folder names or WAV file names (this is mostly downloads from Qobuz that tag folders and WAV files with long texts and IDs) then Minim won't read them?

I think there is a metadata tag which represents the entire folder and files sizes and if this changes (even by a tiny amount, like reducing the text on a folder name by a few characters) then this folder is now not being recognised inside Minim.

Any ideas would help as about 20 hi-res albums I have changed the folder name and WAV file names for won't load into Minimserver. Not a disaster but annoying.

An aside : Why does Qobuz name folder so differently than just Band name then album name then track name? They have added all sorts of extra characters to these names which are not standard to the rest of the library. Ah well.....

I have set the startup scan to full, needed to restart the Mac Laptop.

Trying to install on my NAS but I have WD Cloud and Minimserver doesn't support the Cloud drives as Simon mentions here in support :

There isn't a MinimServer installation package for the My Cloud Mirror.

It appears I need QNAP or Synology but still looking and the support on the site is excellent.

In this case it is no problem on the rescan on each new use as the drive I have doesn't appear to be supported at this stage.

Googling a QNAP or Synology now for a basic version of their storage options.

I would not set the property to "full". The default "true" should be enough and is quicker. If you start your mac often I would think about setting it to "false". You then have to trigger the rescan manually. This can be done via minimwatch or e.g. BubbleUPnP if you have an android device at hands.

Regarding the unrecognized wav files: You should check the log file of minimserver using minimwatch. Maybe you can see the file names there with an scan error. Either you can repair the files then, or report this to Simon, the author of minimserver.