Are all NAS equal?

Posted by: stpierre76 on 11 May 2013

Hi all, I ve decided to use the qute as it was I tended to be, as a streamer, thanks to many of you that have steered me into that direction ( thanks you indeed). I went out a bought 2 iPad mini so that I could use the n stream app ( there s less than $60 difference between an iPod touch and mini, plus my eyes will thank me for the bigger display ) Now I will need to buy a NAS in order to load all my music collection into it and be able to access it from the qute via n-stream and nit have it store into my laptop and have it running 24/7. So, Are all NAS equal? Are they any better ones out there, any better one that work best with naim. Hopefully, I need one that is easy to configure out of the box and use as not very computer savvy. I will probably need a minimum of a single 1Tb and better 2 x1Tb. I ve never had a NAS and always been reluctant to get one as a bit afraid of the set up, but this time m going forward. Is a NAS a simple solution for naim streamers. Just load it up with music files, connect it to your network and the naim streamer / n-stream, automatically finds it and you can start playing tunes? Any recommendations and advice will be greatly appreciated. Regards Froggy
Posted on: 11 May 2013 by Marky Mark

The single most important thing with a NAS is your back-up approach. Let me be clear here, this has to involve a frequent back-up to say an external USB drive which you then store off-site between back-ups.

 

People may want to sell you RAID capabilities etc but that is really unimportant compared to the above.

 

Re the NAS, suggest a one disk model from QNAP or Synology. If you are no good with computers get someone to set it up for you but it is not hard and is generally just done once.

 

Some people like to use UPNP etc with streamers but I just have my music on a network share. Simple and efficient. If you have the option of using a network share on the NAS for the Qute I would look at that personally. Reduces complexity which is always a good thing!

Posted on: 11 May 2013 by Reburner

I can highly recommend the Synology DS211J. You buy the bare unit and slot in whatever disks you want. (I have 2*2TB  in raid.).

 

Works seamlessly with my Unitilite and another streamer I have plus can do so much more.

Posted on: 11 May 2013 by stpierre76
Hey Mark, Thanks for the heads up in regards to the NAS. My intention for using a NAS is to purely to store music on it to be access by the qute. That will reduce the amount of possible hiccups and errors. I already save and back up all my other important files regularly on multiple external hard drive that I keep in different locations other than my home, just as a precaution. I will have a look around for the 2 NAS you mentioned and see if easily accessible in my location. Regards
Posted on: 11 May 2013 by stpierre76
Hi rebuner, Your post must have come thru whilst I was replying to mark. Thanks for your advice. That s the second vote for synology, so it seems I ll be heading towards a sinology NAS. Regards
Posted on: 12 May 2013 by Claus-Thoegersen

If I were in the market for a new nas, I would by one or two 3 gb disks, for safety reasons I would follow the manufacturers disk recommendation, tested disks that they know will work with the particular nas model.

 

Claus

 

 

Posted on: 12 May 2013 by Simon-in-Suffolk

NASes are quite varied in terms of reliability, disk compatibility and performance. Fortunately if you are using it as a media store then that in itself is no too demanding and they are pretty much of a muchness, and the Netgear NASes have proved cheap and reliable for me for several years now with good direct and indirect web community support.

 

The next question is how you are getting the media to your streamer. You can directly mount the NAS and access the media using a network file access protocol. This is usually transparent in consumer stuff and is plug and play if you can see your 'network file shares'. The Unitiserve and HDX can work this way.

 

The other method is to stream with upnp (or in the apple world Airplay) which has advantages that you can physically decouple your media from where it is stored. and you can more efficiently attach multiple network players simultaneously and control bandwidth and do on the fly conversions remote from the sensitive network player.

 

The next consideration is whether you have the upnp server on the NAS or on its own little seperate micro server. I go for the latter as I like to use powerful upnp server software (as that is key for speed and usability) and have it access multiple NASes seamlessly.

However most consumer  NASes have a basic upnp server built in. They are usually limited in options and usability, but most will stream your media without issue and are great for getting started.

Simon