Which NAS

[Naturelover]

Dear friends,

I am contemplating getting a NAS to be used only for audio which will be accessed in three rooms.
Have been scouring the forum and Google for the past few days. I find three main options. Synology DS213j from amazon.com (Rs 16,600 landed), Netgear RN102 available at local dealer (Rs 11,850) and some options from Buffalo as per their website but apparently not available in my city or online. I could not ascertain their prices.

I do not have much knowledge of computers let alone setting up a NAS. So will prefer to have something user friendly. Think NAS for dummies :lol:

Would like to have suggestions as to the best option among the above or any other brands.

Planning to use 2TB x 2 WD Green drives with the NAS. I have reached this conclusion after some research on the net. Red is suggested by WD but many users have confirmed that Green is equally suitable.

 

[gobble]

Just get a seagate wireless HDD and be done with it

 

[IndianEars]

I would avoid Seagate like the plague. Every Seagate HDD I have owned in the past 3 years has failed within 1 year of purchase.

I have had MUCH better experience with WDD.

YMMV !

 

[Naturelover]

I have a Seagate wireless HDD which I had bought with my iPad for additional storage. How thrilled I was with that! But not for long. The connectivity is so hit-and-miss that I just stopped using it in wireless mode.
@gobble Are you using one? Do you have a better experience?

Just get a seagate wireless HDD and be done with it

Yes, I too have had issues with Seagate drives and would definitely like to avoid them.

I would avoid Seagate like the plague. Every Seagate HDD I have owned in the past 3 years has failed within 1 year of purchase.

I have had MUCH better experience with WDD.

YMMV !

 

[haisaikat]

@Naturelover, what is the size of your collection and currently how are these stored (USB drives, PC HDD, Laptop, etc)?

Also you said multiroom streaming, what will be the player which will be used to access the music. UPnP players or it will be just playing files from a network share directly? If it is the later, do not spend a ton on dedicated off-the-shelf NAS solutions. You can very well think of USB port sharing devices that mimic a NAs but offers the portability of extenal hard drives ta one go. One example is iOmega iConnect, and there are many available in the market of these type.

Is there a requirement for video streaming / sharing?

 

[alladinkachirag]

I am using TP Link WDR 3600 router that has 2 USB ports, and have connected hard drives to each of them. I get write speeds of 8 MBPS and read of more than 15 MBPS. Each of these are configured as the network storage on my 1st Cubox running LMS over Volumio , and 2nd Cubox running XBMC (GeexBox). I am very happy with the performance, and did not have any problems until now.

 

[kvm]

another option to consider is WD Mycloud. My 4TB WD MC connected to a router is performing very well to stream both movies/ music.

One thing to note 16k price for Synology NAS is only for the box w/o drives.

 

[ranjeetrain]

For not so heavy use a one in one system such as WD MyBook Live, or similar offerings from Seagate is acceptable. As a stopgap arrangement I have used a Netgear router/hotspot with ReadyShare feature. Did the job for me, besides providing the ability to have a network printer in home, which was a nice bonus.

For a dedicated NAS, I use Buffalo, which has served me quite well and I highly recommend. The software is not too advanced, but it never failed me on the functionality it had. I even used it's torrent client feature for a while, which was not too advanced but enough to get the job done. Best part is, it has even survived some power outages without even being configured in RAID, something that might have become an issue with some NAS. Read/writes are blazing fast and still at par with current products despite being a 3 year old unit. But the availability in India could be an issue. I'd say look around in the market. If available at a decent price, it would be a great way to go for a NAS.

 

[gobble]

I have a Seagate wireless HDD which I had bought with my iPad for additional storage. How thrilled I was with that! But not for long. The connectivity is so hit-and-miss that I just stopped using it in wireless mode.
@gobble Are you using one? Do you have a better experience?

Yes, I too have had issues with Seagate drives and would definitely like to avoid them.

No. And thank you for the heads up. I guess then a wireless WD hdd may be a better choice.



G0bble

 

[dheerajin]

NAS is going to add value to the SQ? only going to help in easing the operation.
Why not keeping it simple by attaching a hard drive to PC or laptop and saved
cost can be added to SQ(source-DAC/CDplayer).
I meant to say wireless capability is necessary?..when you can control your PC by your Phone...
Just my 2 cents..

 

[Hassan Khani]

The requirement mentioned was to access files from 3 different rooms. With NAS it is possible to access simultaneously from all 3 rooms but with HDD connected to USB one at a time, also connecting the HDD to each setup at different time would be inconvenient.

 

[Naturelover]

@haisaikat @alladinkachirag @kvm @ranjeetrain @dheerajin @Hassan Khani

Guys, thanks, for the suggestions :thumbsup:. I really should have asked something like "NAS or what?" and given a fuller picture of my requirements.

Let me make amends. So here goes:

Main rig: Living room. Amp + DAC + M1CliC server. Amp and DAC to buy, M1CliC bought. LAN cable from router in place with LAN switch for multiple connections.
2nd rig: This in same room as home desktop and router. But the router and hifi rig along opposite walls. Amp + DAC + internet radio tuner with LAN port and wifi. All in place. LAN cable from router can be laid.
3rd rig: Bedroom with Marantz M-CR503. This does not have wifi or LAN port. LAN cable from router in place with LAN switch for multiple connections.

Router: TP-Link TD-W8968 having one USB port, four LAN ports and wifi.
In possession: A couple of portable 1TB hard drives which can be used.
Also planned: A music PC with fanless Antec 110 build. Parts not bought or ordered as yet.
The music: Maybe 400 CDs and few hundred gigs on a hard drive with back-up on desktop.
Now add a very confused gent in the mix

The M1CLiC and the internet tuner are both UPnP devices and can be used as servers.
Requirements:
Need to attach the M-CR503 to network. Considering Sam's WD TV. Any opinios/suggestions. The music PC can also be placed in the bedroom so the it can be connected directly. Will this need a DAC?
The portable hard drives can be connected to either the router (thanks haisaikat and alladinkachirag - very interesting handle!) or the music PC. They can also be used for back-up in which case will look at the suggested options.
As of now, no video streaming is planned.

Now please tell me the best options to get this working. What all do I need to do?

Thanks again

 

[gobble]

If you have router with usb, just plug in the hdd to the usb port of the router. Don't dedicate a different machine just for NAS/HDD.
Check limitation of router software though. some of them only work with 256GB HDD others will only work with FAT32 with a file size limit of 2GB or something.
Yet others may work with FAT64 or NTFS formatted drives and unlimited(for now) size..

 

[ranjeetrain]

Gobble's suggestion above will work. Your router is storage sharing capable. Make use of it. This is also the most economical way to get your rigs work in tandem without adding audiophile complications. You have everything you need. Just hook it up and get going.

Next point is - performance. To be honest, to get anywhere near audiophile quality data-stream a proper NAS is very much in order. Performance will be completely in a different league. A storage shared with a router will get the job done, but if you play all systems together, depending on your software player, you may hear stuttering.

To give you a clear cut order of performance:

USB drive shared with router << Network sharable portable drive << Proper NAS.

 

[Naturelover]

Thanks. I really would like to have good audio quality. So maybe a NAS is needed?
Another thing I wanted to know if I can play the same music simultaneously in all places. I have been reading that it is possible only with Sonos.
Also do let me have opinions on how best to connect the m-cr603 to the network.

 

[ranjeetrain]

A NAS is almost needed if you intend to use all systems together.

To play same music at all 3 places you need a different solution; software based. A small scale Internet radio station! You can start from building your own NAS. But a multi-room capable system such as Sonos will be very convenient.

 

[Naturelover]

I will play usually on one but at times on two systems at one time but on all three if I am able to play the same music at all places.
Sam had a thread on a radio station. Maybe I can go through that. Will that help?

 

[gobble]

NAS is going to add value to the SQ? only going to help in easing the operation.
Why not keeping it simple by attaching a hard drive to PC or laptop and saved
cost can be added to SQ(source-DAC/CDplayer).
I meant to say wireless capability is necessary?..when you can control your PC by your Phone...
Just my 2 cents..

I agree. But I saw major performance problems the first day I setup my NFS server after reading an old article and setting a "generous" buffer size (for that era) that was actually 10x lower than todays default when unset. :lol:

So MPD would hang indefinitely when I gave the command to update its database with only 250GB of music. The NFS was stalling. Then after many reboots when I got it to play there was stuttering or poor muddy scratchy SQ during playback. I fixed it the next day when I read a more recent article and removed the artificially low buffer size parameters in the nfs client (cubox). but believe me it was a lot of frustration after waiting for delivery, figuring out which linux distie installed flawlessly over a few days and then being unable to playback for another whole day!!

A low power 800mhz router with usb made only for FAT16/32 or a wireless hdd may have a buggy sub-optimal cifs/samba server in it that can only dribble like an ol' man and it might impact SQ during actual playback.

So try the router usb port, then review wireless usb drives for hight throughput read/write before you buy. Else go the NAS route (not recommended expect for tweakers).

G0bble

 

[ranjeetrain]

I will play usually on one but at times on two systems at one time but on all three if I am able to play the same music at all places.
Sam had a thread on a radio station. Maybe I can go through that. Will that help?

It's straight forward. You just need to install a streaming software. The problem will arise when you want to play the stream. Not all DACs are capable of playing through such a stream. Your Marantz should be able to do that. Your desktop computer also can (through a software player). But your M1Clic may not be able to. But I could be wrong on the M1Clic part as I don't have any first hand experience with.

 

[Naturelover]

That sure took me a while to read and comprehend with much help from Google Baba!

My router does support NTFS. Mentions hard disk, flash disk and memory card reader in supported USB mass storage but no size limit given.
Under FTP server it says that the max share folders is 10 but under media server this is 6. How does that happen? I am assuming this will refer to main folders only.
It also says "Supported volumes: Only two USB storage devices with up to eight volumes could be activated simultaneously, up to four USB storage devices with about eighteen volumes could be recognized". Can you explain this please?

Why do you say that NAS is for tweakers only? I thought it would be just like any mass storage.

A low power 800mhz router with usb made only for FAT16/32 or a wireless hdd may have a buggy sub-optimal cifs/samba server in it that can only dribble like an ol' man and it might impact SQ during actual playback.

So try the router usb port, then review wireless usb drives for hight throughput read/write before you buy. Else go the NAS route (not recommended expect for tweakers).

G0bble