Help with setting up Synology DJ214 NAS/Qute2

What media server software have you got installed/enabled on your Synology NAS drive?

Are you trying to play the files stored on the NAS drive direct (i.e. not via your laptop/Asset) or have you configured Asset to add the NAS drive files to its library by mapping its drives/shared folders on your laptop?

You need to download the Media Server package. Should work then.

Downloaded and activated media server and presto: Disk station has appeared on the Qute2. Cheers.

sjbabbey, my intention was to bypass the laptop and stream directly from the NAS. Do I have to be logged in permanently via DSM on the laptop or can my laptop be taken out of the equation now? Just for interest, how do I configure Asset to add the NAS drive files to its library? Thanks in advance.

Hi,

you should now be sorted to stream direct from your NAS drive without having your laptop on permanently although you'll need it for ripping CDs and sorting out metadata etc. 

I don't have a Synology NAS (I use WD MyBook Live NAS drives) but I assume that you can use your laptop to map your NAS as a networked drive and assign it a drive letter to enable Asset to see its shared folders to be added to its library. This is what I've done with my WD NAS drives so their files can be seen by my JRiver server installed on my PC. As I say I haven't used a Synology NAS and it may not work in the same way.

Yes . . . a huge reason to have a nas is that it is a self-sufficient box for storing and serving your music.  You do NOT need to be logged into it for it to serve music; you just need to have the media server running.

You will want to log into the nas from time to time, as updates for the DSM itself, as well as the different packages such as media server, come frequently.  

I would not follow the procedure that sjbabbey mentioned in his last paragraph, about mapping a laptop drive to the nas so that the nas can serve from the laptop.  Just put ALL of your music on the nas.  You want the nas serving from its own hard drives for best performance.  Anything on the laptop can be copied over to the nas once, and then forgotten.

AND as an aside, you need a backup plan.  You need to backup to an external usb drive.  Don't overlook that!

Bart, I have a copy of all music on the ext HDD as well as on the NAS (twice, in RAID 1 configuration) so this is a back-up I presume.

The Synology NAS set-up is working well now and I'm happy I made the step, but for computer semi-literates like myself, the set-up can be a very frustrating and time consuming. Thanks for the replies.

One last question: the laptop runs XP and is nearing its use by date. I'm thinking of going back to Mac. Better to keep the Windows laptop just for DSM updates and (wave) rips? Or can a new Mac just slot in to the system with the upcoming dbpoweramp for Mac? If so, would I have to convert all files from wave to AIFF or Apple Lossless?

Your interface with the nas is via a web browser; the nas does not know, or care, which OS that browser is running on  DSM updates and all package updates are done by the nas itself; DSM downloads the files and then updates itself and reboots itself.

I use all Macs at home, which is where my Synology nas (x2) are.  

Synology has available little programs ("Synology Assistant") to help you find and log into a nas on your network.  The Windows and OS X versions seem to work identically.  I'd go with Windows, or OS X, whichever you prefer.  Makes no difference to the nas.

OK, thanks. Might make the step back to Mac OS.

NAS working well but when it goes to sleep, sometimes I can't wake it up (Disk Station does not appear under UPnP) without retarting the NAS or activating it via my notebook. Any tips?

By the way, for those who like to classify their classical collection by composer, a tip when ripping from dbpoweramp: enter the composer in the "Artist" box (and not just in "Composer"). Otherwise the recordings are classified by orchestra/conductor, etc. which I found annoying.