Good, reliable server for UPnP and family photos, vids etc

Posted by: CraigB on 27 May 2012

Hello all,

This great weekend of weather is coming to a close and after taking a bunch more photos of the kids, it's got me thinking that I really ought to sort out a good server, rather than relying on my netbook.

I've lost my ripped music collection several times over the last 5 years, but hey it's only music and i simply go into the garage and get out the CDs for another ripping session. But the thought of losing all the family pictures terrifies me. Although I back up onto external hard disc often, it's not ideal and I'd like a better, more reliable option.

I'd be interested to hear what you use for your all your music files and digital media, and what your opinions are of its safety (against total loss) and reliability.

Thanks & regards,
Craig.

Posted on: 27 May 2012 by Tog

I use Vortexbox on a bespoke i3 based server - easy to maintain with a web based admin - it will serve up music to Naim (UPnP) Sonos (Sonos net) Sqeezebox (LMS) and iTunes (forked-DAAPd) It will also store photos and operate as a back end Plex server for video. Most important of all I have USB backup 1 button away and operate on a rotation basis with two backups at any one time. Tog

Posted on: 27 May 2012 by Foot tapper

Hi Craig

I am in a similar position to you re not wishing to lose photos, all those ripped CDs etc.

I have 2 separate Synology NAS drives, located in different parts of the house but connected via CAT6 cable to a common gigabit switch. The back up routine runs twice a week to copy data from one to the other.

I am sure that you could do the same with QNAP or Readynas Duo drives.

Best regards

Posted on: 27 May 2012 by engjoo

I always perform 1 backup on my synology running raid1 with a secondary internal HDD of my desktop. Ideally, I should also add one more backup (eg portable external HDD) which should be physically located elsewhere.

Posted on: 28 May 2012 by McGhie

Hi Craig Check out the HP ProLiant MicroServer. There's been a long running cashback offer on it from HP, taking the price below £140. It comes with a 250GB drive, which you can use as a system drive, and no OS (I used to run VortexBox on mine but have upgraded to Windows Home Server 2011, which you can get for less than £40 and is great, especially if you have machines running Windows at home). You can stick another four drives in and it comes with 2GB RAM (upgradable to 8). Makes a very good NAS and with WHS2011 installed will automatically back up other Windows machines on your network and itself. I run Asset on mine for streaming music. Cheers Ian

Posted on: 29 May 2012 by CraigB

Thanks very much all for your tips and recommendations, which I'll start to look at over the next days. I'm glad to know I'm not on my own in thinking about the best solution to manage and protect digital media.

Some specific questions:
Tog - Does the Vortexbox have a built in upnp server? I also have a SB3 which forms the heart of my kitchen system so the server should have LMS as well. My NDX doesn't play files from LMS - something about incompatible file type but they are just FLAC in the end. Any ideas?

FT - sounds like a robust simple backup system you've got there. Stellar music system by the way, based on your profile.

Engjoo - the raid 1 means just one disc in your server, which you then duplicate to your desktop hard disc?

Ian - cheers for that, sounds like a very cost effective system. I have a lot of photos on PS3 disc. Do you think the Windows Server could also back these up?

Thanks again all and apologies for any dumb questions. It sounds like a combination of suitable hardware but also common sense regarding back up regimes is the best approach as you all have implemented.

Regards,
Craig.

Posted on: 29 May 2012 by Guido Fawkes

Craig

I know nothing about photographs, but the Vortexbox has a superb UPnP server that works faultlessly with Naim kit (well certainly with my UnitiQute), it also supports Logitech SB/SBT, Sonos and Apple devices. If you have an old PC that you don't mind sacrificing you can turn it in to a Vortexbox for free and give it a go. You can download the software, which is absolutely free, from the Vortexbox.org site - the Vortexbox is optimised for FLAC and it will NOT transcode on the fly (I haven't found any need to do this, but some folk like to do it).

If you are considering a VB then I'd try it first - I did and am now not considering an alternative because in Apple-like style it just works. The VB runs Linux, which means it has excellent operating system at its foundation; I'm allergic to Windows.

Back up is really simple with VB, as are most things - nothing fancy just does the essentials very well.

I built my VB myself (it was easy it was cheap go and do it - Desperate Bicycles), but you can buy pre-built ones to almost any specification.

Hope that helps, Guy

Posted on: 29 May 2012 by Tog

Guy, you might remember a time when our experimentation with Vortexbox was met with a soupçon of derision and not a little mirth from some fellow Naimites. For me it just works, quickly and invisibly with Naim, Squeezebox, Sonos and Apple. It is constantly and painlessly updated (are you listening Naim?) and works with Macs without a hitch. I would also recommend using Bliss to manage artwork and folder organization making drag and drop just that Tog

Posted on: 29 May 2012 by jobseeker

Me too

Posted on: 29 May 2012 by McGhie

Hi Craig

I think that the point with photos would be to store these (and other media/data files) on the server rather than the PS3 and use the server as a NAS (and make sure you back it up!) I keep everything on the server, sync it automatically with my PC (using Live Mesh), back it up regularly (WHS2011 does this twice a day automatically), and back it up offsite too (in real time using CrashPlan).

Cheers

Ian

Posted on: 29 May 2012 by engjoo

Craig, Raid1 is two disk working in parallel and mirroring each other real time. This offers you redundancy in case one disk fails during operation. EJ

Posted on: 29 May 2012 by pcstockton

J River.