NAS/Unitiserve advice please

Posted by: Voltaire on 06 April 2014

Having committed to a digital music collection played via my Qute2 (which constantly amazes me) I think I need to formalise the way I store my music. At the moment I have everything stored on my 2013 iMac, backed up to a usb external drive and organised via iTunes which has been fine but I think its time to take the next step and store all my jazz and hires albums on some kind of NAS to cut out the iMac.

My question is, if I buy a Unitiserve, how easy is it to transfer music files to it from my iMac? I only ask because I know the US is great at ripping cds but I've already done all that and all my purchased music is now downloaded so I want to be sure that its just as easy to add existing/downloaded files to the US as it as to rip cds.

Any advice always appreciated.

Gordon.

Posted on: 06 April 2014 by Bart

Hi Gordon,

The process of moving your iTunes library to the uServe is essentially the same as it would be to move it to a nas -- simply drag and drop the folders created by iTunes to the right folder on the uServe, or nas, respectively.

I would do a test, first, and just drag a couple over, to be sure that the metadata is all right.

Posted on: 06 April 2014 by Audioneophyte

an additional thought...

buy a 3TB external hd...

store your music on it instead if the US… therefore if ever the US needs service you still have your collection.

Note: this is not a back up of your music… a NAS with raid would assist in this

Posted on: 06 April 2014 by Jasonf

Originally Posted by Audioneophyte:

an additional thought...

buy a 3TB external hd...

store your music on it instead if the US… therefore if ever the US needs service you still have your collection.

Note: this is not a back up of your music… a NAS with raid would assist in this

Why doesn't he just back up to a Nas and be done with it? Therefore, if the U-Serve requires a service he can play and/or restore the database from the NAS.

As far as I am aware, Naim don't recommend backing up your U-Serve to a USB or any other type of Hard Drive, simply because its not designed to manage a database. Whereas a UPnP Nas can, unless it's Wonky Twonky , so there's no point in bringing a Hard Drive into the equation, just by a simple Nas to be your backup and spare UPnP server, job done.

Jason.

Posted on: 07 April 2014 by The Meerkat

Voltaire

Get a two bay NAS, with a UPnP server, preferably one with Assett, or Minim. Then get a ND5 XS, or if you have loads of cash, a NDX, rather than a UnitiServe, especially as you've ripped al your CDs.

Posted on: 07 April 2014 by Jasonf

Originally Posted by The Meerkat:

Voltaire

Get a two bay NAS, with a UPnP server, preferably one with Assett, or Minim. Then get a ND5 XS, or if you have loads of cash, a NDX, rather than a UnitiServe, especially as you've ripped al your CDs.

That's probably sensible.

Jason.

Posted on: 07 April 2014 by Audioneophyte

yes it is super easy.

it is important to use recommended file structure however.

The ripper likes to place files in a specific "store"

It is a bad idea to add your own files to this same store.

Multiple stores are creditable and readable at the same time to create your entire library.

recommend separating your hi rez vs full flac/wav (cd quality) vs low res downloads into three separate folders.

A nas device if used as the primary source of storage (even though raise config'd) is not considered a back up… Having the experience of a failure of this type… sonology is exceedingly quick to point this out… so always keep a mirror of your music… I do not know if the US has a back up function build into it...

Posted on: 11 April 2014 by Voltaire

Thanks for all the replies. I'm busy watching deadlines woosh by at the moment but I will get into it over Easter hopefully