Newbie with NAS questions! Who, why, which, where :-)

[cybervision_]

I have not ever owned or tried a NAS so I have some questions for you who have:

1. If I buy a NAS-station with a built in harddrive I do not need anything but it to get music of high fidelity to my SB3?

2. Are there any ready-made software packages that will __easily__ make the NAS into my music server?

3. If there are - then I just install it on the NAS disc - put my .flacs on the disc and hook it up to my SB3?

4. Which models are the best to use for this type of thing? (I live in Europe - Linksys we do have f.i. but many others)

5. I get my internet feed from a usb-modem - are there any NAS-discs that can receive internet wirelessly and feed it to my SB3 for internet radio and such?

Help will be greatly appreciated.


EDIT: The brands I see retail here are: Synology, Buffalo, Linksys, WD, Qnap, Thecus, Zyxel, Microstorage, Levelone.

[mherger]

The brands I see retail here are: Synology, Buffalo, Linksys, WD, Qnap, Thecus, Zyxel, Microstorage, Levelone.

Search the forums for Synology, Qnap or Thecus and you'll find plenty of information which answer your questions:

1. yes (well, probably a switch and some cable)
2. yes
3. yes
4. depends on your needs - discussed in many of the threads you'll find
5. don't know. If it needs USB and some driver software then this won't work. Better get a router.

[cybervision_]

What kind of switch? You do not mean a network "switch", but you mean the actual electric "Power on" switch?

I will try to search, but I feel the number of available products is a bit overwhelming.

My need are ca 300 GB of space - swift operation and ability to feed lossless flacs without gaps.

The USB modem is connected to my PC, but I wondered if any NAS-devices can use wlan to get internet through ICS.

[Taxcheat]

I can speak for the QNAP since I have one. They come barebones, but some retailers sell them with pre-installed drives and maybe even with slimserver already set up (by default it is not).

You need to make a choice on the hardware type for the NAS: one drive, two drives (RAID 1) or four drives (RAID 5). The advantage of extra drives is that if a drive fails, you won't need to re-rip your collection. The advantage of four drives is that it's more efficient in using space, therefore cheaper per megabyte. The QNAP range is TS-109, TS-209 and TS-409 with the first digit reflecting the number of drive bays.

Otherwise, it's very easy to put the thing together on your own. You do need to follow the configuration steps (find the device on the network, choose RAID setting, turn on/off the extra features, etc). All the settings are on a web page, and it's fairly painless. I'm sure the other NAS makers are similar.

Edit: Just noticed "USB modem". Not sure how to deal with that one.

[cybervision_]

I already own an external hd so I just need a NAS that will handle the delivery of music to my SB3 without me having to wait. One drive is more than sufficient.

How many mhz and ram does SS require to run? I do not run any sound altering plug-ins - I use an external DAC to handle decoding.

[cybervision_]

I have checked the web and I can get a Synology 106 cheap, but it has only 32 mb RAM.

The Synology 107+ is pricier, but sports 500 mhz and 128 mb of ram. Will it be snappy enough for me only looking to play .flac music files? How much power do I really need?

The 207+ costs 20% more - is it worth the extra money?

If I install SSODS on the 107+ - can I use some of the space for backup and can I use it as a printserver at the same time? I don`t need to - just wondering.

Any help appreciated.

[funkstar]

Onlyyou can decide if the ability to use two disks is worth the extra 20%.

i would go for the x07+ if it was me. I had a Qnap TS-101 for a while, and it wasn't cut out for the job (in my opinion, others found it was good enough) and that was before the move to a MySQL database in 6.5.x, this put even more strain on the memory in the unit.

the x07+ series should be able to run SC for the forseeable future.

[Seineseeker]

Onlyyou can decide if the ability to use two disks is worth the extra 20%.

i would go for the x07+ if it was me. I had a Qnap TS-101 for a while, and it wasn't cut out for the job (in my opinion, others found it was good enough) and that was before the move to a MySQL database in 6.5.x, this put even more strain on the memory in the unit.

the x07+ series should be able to run SC for the forseeable future.

What do you use now Funkstar, the TS101 is fine if you only use SS6.3 (which I do), I wouldn't upgrade it until something comes along that runs SS7 flawlessly.

[cybervision_]

Synology 107+ 128 mb ordered with Samsung T166 500 GB.

Can I use the it as a backup harddrive AND music-server on the same configuration?

[flipflip]

Synology 107+ 128 mb ordered with Samsung T166 500 GB.

Excellent choice :-) Be sure to check if it really is a 128MB version when it arrives. Some have received 64 MB..

Can I use the it as a backup harddrive AND music-server on the same configuration?

Yes. SSODS does not affect any of the other functionality (available with current firmwares/systems). It may slow them down during scanning and database operations (random playlist and such). I never tried the print server, but as I heard it does work. Other stuff on the DS does not work (or rather: is unusable), such as the Photo Station and the Music Station.

If you feel lucky, I would go for SSODS 3.0(beta) and SqueezeCenter 7.0(beta).

Regards,
flip