NAS vs PC

[Archer_1400]

Hi

I have been looking at the idea of getting a NAS such as QNAP TS109, but before I take the plunge can anyone give me some insight on the benefits of using a NAS to run slimserver versus using a dedicated budget PC?

Thanks

[Ian_F]

Cheaper. Smaller. Lower power consumption. Less noise. Less heat. Easier to manage as a headless device (although that one's arguable).

If you get the TS-109 it does SO much more than just run slimserver. It's also a video streamer, BitTorrent Client, print server, FTP server, Web server etc etc.

Very happy with mine and have no regrets at all.

[aubuti]

Here's a start. I'm sure others will chime in to add the things I've left out, or correct (cough!) some of the things I've left in. ;o)

NAS advantages
- low power consumption
- small physical footprint

NAS disadvantages
- web ui response and scanning times tend to be slow because of slow processors
- slimserver installation and maintenance can be fiddly on some models (or slow for vendor to provide updates)

PC advantages
- suitable old ordinary PCs are available at a price somewhere between free and cheap
- better performance with web ui and rescanning

PC disadvantages
- tend to be noisy
- relatively big physical footprint
- high power consumption OR
- low power consumption PCs tend to cost as much as a NAS

I usually run slimserver on a very low horsepower Buffalo LinkStation NAS, but sometimes use a much more powerful PC, and imo the two are a dead tie in the area that matters most: reliably streaming music to multiple SBs around the house. Either does just fine.

[jeremydta]

I have been trying to set up my QNAP 209 for the last week. I have spent heaps of hours. I initially made mistakes received some good help from this forum, and QNAP support, but now I'm stuck as Slimserver doesn't scan my library properly, so I've got no way of searching all my music. I am quite "tech-savvy", but I think you really need to know some Linux programing to do it. I am thinking of getting a mac mini, or maybe even a Sonos, as it is designed to easily link with a NAS device. NAS's are definitely the way of the future, and I think Slim Devices needs to make it easier for normal people to be able to get a NAS based Slimserver setup.

Jeremy

[Ian_F]

I have been trying to set up my QNAP 209 for the last week. I have spent heaps of hours. I initially made mistakes received some good help from this forum, and QNAP support, but now I'm stuck as Slimserver doesn't scan my library properly, so I've got no way of searching all my music. I am quite "tech-savvy", but I think you really need to know some Linux programing to do it. I am thinking of getting a mac mini, or maybe even a Sonos, as it is designed to easily link with a NAS device. NAS's are definitely the way of the future, and I think Slim Devices needs to make it easier for normal people to be able to get a NAS based Slimserver setup.

Jeremy

I'm sorry to hear you've had so many troubles getting yours working properly, I'm very happy with mine.
Are you sure the scanning problems are NAS related and nothing to do with slimserver and/or your music collection?

EDIT: If you've moved your music from a different platform (eg. a windows desktop) then perhaps you've still got links referring to now non-existent locations?

[jeremydta]

Hi Ian
you have been helpful getting me this far
I am not sure what is the problem
others seem to be having the same problem, so I imagine it's not a defect in my equipment
maybe I should re-transfer my music collection across, when I did it initially, I dragged my iTunes folder across to my NAS. Should I do it some other way, how did you do it Ian?

Jeremy

I moved it from a Mac platform

[Ian_F]

Hi Ian
you have been helpful getting me this far
I am not sure what is the problem
others seem to be having the same problem, so I imagine it's not a defect in my equipment
maybe I should re-transfer my music collection across, when I did it initially, I dragged my iTunes folder across to my NAS. Should I do it some other way, how did you do it Ian?

Jeremy

I'm sure your equipment is fine

I've never used iTunes so have no idea whether that's where your problem lies. I had no playlists or anything fancy when I copied my music across from my desktop. There were no cross-links of any sort. I do fear that's where the problem lies - redundant links that are upsetting the slimserver scanner.

I've read a few threads recently from guys who've started tracking down the errors using the scanner debugging options and a bit of trial and error.

It's not a very pleasant task but I'm not sure there's an easier way?

[jeremydta]

I just retagged the filenames from the tags of the songs on the QNAP using a free program called tritag,I used the format suggested by giorgio, it scanned for a long time after that, and now it recognises about 3500 out of my 5500 songs. I checked some albums which were half missing, and they all had the same format tags. Any suggestions?

Jeremy

[bernt]

Get an old PC with Celeron. I have a 2,8GHZ with 512 MB RAM. It has only one fan and is very quiet (but ugly).

I got mine for free. Had to buy a SATA controller but it was cheap.

Install SlimNAS. It's easy and up and running in no time.

[Fifer]

Here's a start. I'm sure others will chime in to add the things I've left out, or correct (cough!) some of the things I've left in. ;o)

NAS advantages
- low power consumption
- small physical footprint

NAS disadvantages
- web ui response and scanning times tend to be slow because of slow processors
- slimserver installation and maintenance can be fiddly on some models (or slow for vendor to provide updates)

PC advantages
- suitable old ordinary PCs are available at a price somewhere between free and cheap
- better performance with web ui and rescanning

PC disadvantages
- tend to be noisy
- relatively big physical footprint
- high power consumption OR
- low power consumption PCs tend to cost as much as a NAS

Good summary. However, there is a solution which provides most of the main advantages of both platforms and is relatively straight-forward and inexpensive to put together.