Question for the computer people

No. A portable hard drive cannot act as a NAS device. A NAS device has a built in operating system (usually linux) built into it. This controls the functionality of the NAS. It's also why a 2TB NAS drive will always be more expensive than a 2TB external drive, for instance.

A NAS differs from a USB hard drive basically by using an extra layer to "talk" over tcp/ip, usually using the SMB protocol.

If you imagine the NAS device as a "mini PC" in itself, complete with hard drive and network card.

Your device will therefore be looking for it on the network, rather than through a data channel, such as USB.

You can use a USB hard drive if you also have a router with USB device inputs (not a USB based modem!), or "convertor device" that will allow transition of a USB drive to network device. These aren't that common.

I used to have a little device, about the size of a cigarette box, that had the SMB/FTP servers built-in and would therefore act as the "NAS" part to the USB drive.

But really, to answer your question, in the interest of simplicity, you really should just buy a NAS device.

Once it is setup and visible on your network, you may plug your USB drive into your pc, browse to your NAS devices relevant folder(s) and simply copy the contents in the usual manner to your USB drive for removable backup purposes.

Hope that's of some help...

If cost is an issue (and when is it not?), you could go for a lower cost D-Link NAS with a single (1 or 2 Tb) disk.  The D-Link at around the £60 mark (diskless) plus the disk of your choice works fine with the US and since this is the backup device, there's no need to have a mirrored (2-disk) configuration.

If cost is not such a constraint, there are many recommendations for NAS drives on this forum - I use Netgear ReadyNAS myself.

You can easily back up your UnitiServe's stored music using any sort of backup device attached to the same network that the uServe is on.  This is because you can 'browse' to the uServe, and then simply use Windows or OS X to copy the files to another location / device.  For example, you can copy the data to a laptop.  Heck, I can "see" my uServe on my Samsung TV that is on my home network

I use my Apple Time Capsule to backup my uServe.  But any device on your network can be used.  However I recommend using backup software that only copies changes unless you want to re-save your entire music collection each time.

Short answer -- you do not need a "NAS" to backup your uServe.

In order to use the automatic back-up facility of UServe, you need a NAS (or a computer turned on all the time and with sufficient memory). If the content of your collection is not changing often and manual backup is fine with you, you can do that by "copying and pasting" as Bart says (on a usb hard drive connected to computer or on computer's memory). However, in the second case, recovering from this backup (in case you need it one day) will not be automatic and will involve some tricks.

Choose a NAS or server that can use USB hdd drives as backup and do it frequently.

For Vortexbox based server attach USB drive - click backup - have a drink, watch some TV , read a book - job done - detach drive (in my case attach backup backup drive and repeat - store each drive in a different place - seek help for paranoia)

Remember to check drives actually contain correct files (in my case flac files) by attaching to a Mac (or PC)

and relax....

Tog

Also make sure that tagging/re-tagging done inside your media player/database is actually written to the files themselves, not just to some internal XML file.  Typically you will have a setting such as "Write Changes From Library to Tags".

You will potentially want to be able to use them with a different server someday.

-Patrick

Not FLAC - shouldn't you be using WAV? I use FLAC, but I can't hear a difference - everybody else can. 

Magic flac Guy - using magic software :-)

Tog

Thanks Aysil, this addresses a question I've had for a long time.  So if the HDD in the uServe fails, how does one go about restoring a backup to a new unit?  If the backups were made as you describe, can the home consumer do it?  Clearly, the way I make backups, I cannot "write" my files to a new uServe and would have to have the dealer do it (I have been guessing).

So whilst I have a backup, how useful is it??  And how is the automatic backup you describe to be used??

Thanks a lot,

Bart

The backup function in our software creates a structure that can be restored to a new machine by simply assigning it as a music *STORE* and then moving the music back from the store to the serve ... then you would allow the unit to back up again as normal to create a new backup.

Cheers

Phil

Bart,

In the unlikely event of HDD of your Naim server failing, it will go to the dealer for the replacement of the disk and installation of the OS, software, and necessary folders. Phil has described how to restore from an automatic backup location. Automatic backup is available on the latest software and the instructions are on the latest instructions manual on the website.

Restoring from a manual backup (copy/paste backup as we discussed above) is not much more complicated and you can do it yourself easily: You just create a new empty remote 'store' location when the server is on; then paste restoration files to this location correctly when your server is off. Your server will reindex the 'store' when it reboots and your files will be available. You can then move them back to the internal storage location.

It is enough to backup the contents of the MQ folder. The other folders are empty; I hope Naim gives the other folders a functionality with future updates with new features.

Unlikely?????  You mean eventual.  It WILL fail eventually... period.  Especially given the 24/7 approach to powering Naim gear.

Leaving them running 24/7 is generally accepted to be "kinder" to drives than constantly spinning them up and down (or powering them up and down)...

Cheers

Phil

Phil,

1) When is HDS coming? or HDX new version? or UServe with linear power supply?

2) When is the software update coming for existing servers which would allow us to store our downloads on the internal drive without tricks?

Hi Aysil,

As I have stated before - unless a product has been officially announced by or marketing or PR departments then I am sorry to say that I cannot comment on when a product will be available or whether a product is even being developed (or not).

Best Regards

Phil

Thank you Phil,

I am aware of that; we are expressing our wishes and requests here, or our wishful thinking...

I'll do you all a deal ... I won't mind you asking as long as you guys don't mind me not telling.

Phil

Certainly yes to the deal... as long as you transmit our requests to the relevant departments...

Aysil, pardon my ignorance, but I'm unfamiliar with the 'server is on' and 'server is off' feature of the uServe.

I assume that this has to (or can) be done with the uServe being accessed over my home network.

Is there a setting (maybe using DTC??) to turn the server function on or off whilst the internal hdd is nevertheless available via my home network?

Bart,

I was simply mentioning simply turning UServe device on or off! You know that the default store location is the internal HDD; but you can assign other folders on the network as secondary store locations (for example for the case that internal drive is full etc). These can be on a NAS or on a computer on the network. Please check the manual for instructions how to create one. When your UServe device is off, your computer can still reach these external "store" locations and make changes there. (Mind that Naim advises against making any changes on these folders with your computer except in such exceptional cases like recovery!)

Has your HDD failed? You need this information only when you really need a recovery from backup.

Thank you again.

The good news -- all is working fine and I'm just trying to learn about my uServe.  I am 'planning for failure' but hope to never need it!

So I think I better understand your advice. Tell me if this is right.  If the uServe were to need a new hdd, using my backup where the files from the MD folder have been copied using generic backup software, not the uServe's backup software, the backup could not be written to the new hdd of the uServe -- it would have to be accessed from then on, instead, as an externally hosted store (on a NAS, for example).  This for me would not be ideal; I would prefer a backup that I (or the dealer) could place back on the uServe's new hdd just like the original data. 

Is this ever possible? Is it possible if I were to use the uServe's backup software rather than what I'm doing now.

All the best,

Bart

Bart, yes, this is possible. UServe and HDX have a "move music" function, for moving files btw "stores". This means files on externally hosted "stores" can be moved to the internal "store" just fine!