Question NAS quality determined by price?

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tinpanalley

tinpanalley

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Jul 13, 2011
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I need probably the simplest NAS compared to most people's use. I have at MOST 1TB of music I'd like more easily synced to my home network than with SMB which I use now. But even that I think is a function of the hdd you put in the device, am I right?
Is it a must to get one that costs 300-400 dollars (CAD)? Isn't there anything cheap that does the job of connecting to my home network via ethernet for sharing across devices? I use the foobar media server right now but it's a pain, constantly disconnects.

Thanks for any help!
 
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Fallen Kell

Fallen Kell

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Oct 9, 1999
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If you want to go DIY, you can usually find some older PC hardware on ebay. Someone has a pretty decent guide on DIY NAS hardware:

forums.serverbuilds.net

[Guide] NAS Killer 4.0 - fast, quiet, power efficient, and flexible - starting at $125

Prebuilt 1155 options Why prebuilt? Prebuilt options are a good way to get into “the game” with a tight budget. If you’re looking to build a standalone NAS Killer and you have little experience, a prebuilt can save you a lot of hassle. I’d still recommend thoroughly reading over the spec sheets...
forums.serverbuilds.net forums.serverbuilds.net

I would definitely look at the section on "prebuilts" as a good starting point and see if you can find something that fits your needs off ebay and then just fix it up with storage as needed and an OS (I am running FreeNAS, but I am also a Solaris/Linux admin with years of experience with ZFS. A lot of other people think unraid is a better solution, but for me with my background and knowledge, FreeNAS was a much better fit).

I personally built a system using a supermicro 846 platform (this is more than what you are looking for, but mine has 12c/24t, 192GB RAM, and 24x3.5" hot-swap SAS2/SATA drive bays, of which I am currently using 6). But there are plenty of options, many listed on the above linked page.
 
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tinpanalley

tinpanalley

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mxnerd said:
Another option: Android TV Box is super cheap now. Get one, attach an external USB 1TB storage, install media server and SMB server APPs and you are done.
And you can get it in Canada.
Click to expand...
I actually already have an Android tv box I use for iptv. So if I add an ssd to it or something, could I access that drive directly from the computer for adding to and managing the collection?
What apps would you recommend?
 
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mxnerd

mxnerd

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or


I don't really use Android and don't have Andoid tv box,
only tested Android x86 in VMware VM,
so you have to decide yourself which one you prefer.
You need to purchase the APP if you want full feature.

Android only recognize FAT32 or EXT4 partitions(not sure about exFAT). FAT32 file system only supports up to 4GB size.
If you ever need to store file size larger than that, you need to format the SSD drive into EXT4 partition.
I don't know if Android provides formatting tool or there are APPs can do that.
You can use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free 12.x to format the SSD drive on PC, however.

==

Take a look at Syncthing if all you need is syncing between different devices/platforms. In this case, SMB is not needed.


Once setup, you can manage the files locally on your PC and it will sync automatically everywhere, you also don't need NAS or Android box if you don't want to.
 
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thecoolnessrune

thecoolnessrune

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I think it's worth having the OP expound on their wants, as it sounds like NAS from a Storage perspective is the minimum of your concerns. How do you plan to interact with it? You say here "I'd like more easily synced to my home network than with SMB which I use now. " What is more easily to you? What devices do you intend to use to access your music? How much are you willing to pay per endpoint, or client, to play your music?

That Fast / Good / Cheap paradigm applies here. If you're looking for a simple NAS to just hold your music, and use SMB to access / play it via clients, then you can get a fairly cheap unit. If you're looking for something that categorizes your music, makes it accessible via Internet Access, or provides whole home audio access, you are likely looking at multiple products to get the job done.
 
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tinpanalley

tinpanalley

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thecoolnessrune said:
You say here "I'd like more easily synced to my home network than with SMB which I use now. " What is more easily to you?
Click to expand...
All I meant by more easily was.. without the pain that often comes with getting devices to see, interact with, and not lose connection to SMB shares which seem very finicky in the ten-plus years I've used them. Devices for media I've used seem to always offer the option to connect to local network storage.
I need to see and access the music files (and video files although I already have a solution for that) that are in hundreds of folders on my storage hdd. No more no less.
 
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thecoolnessrune

thecoolnessrune

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tinpanalley said:
All I meant by more easily was.. without the pain that often comes with getting devices to see, interact with, and not lose connection to SMB shares which seem very finicky in the ten-plus years I've used them. Devices for media I've used seem to always offer the option to connect to local network storage.
I need to see and access the music files (and video files although I already have a solution for that) that are in hundreds of folders on my storage hdd. No more no less.
Click to expand...

SMB Shares themselves are not inherently finicky. They of course need some knowledge to set up compared to more proprietary systems, but an SMB share connected should remain connected. Your issue may not be your NAS, but rather other parts of your house setup that are causing problems. On the other hand, It could be that the SMB Server implementation you are using (if it’s currently on a NAS) may be very old, buggy, or unsupported. Certainly things like MacOS and SMB shares have had a troubled history, with every MacOS release seemingly bringing new issues with Samba shares.
 
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tinpanalley

tinpanalley

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fkoehler said:
If you just need to file share, then why not get a Rpi.
This seems to be standard, with the option to spend $3-400 on a
www.ionos.com

Using Raspberry Pi as NAS (network-attached storage)

How do you set a Raspberry Pi as NAS? And what software and hardware do you need to create your own filing system? We provide the answers.
www.ionos.com www.ionos.com

Check on Jeff Geerlings site if you want/need some serious I/O.
Click to expand...
I'll look into this, thanks. I do have a Rpi sitting around I no longer used once I got the latest model. I literally want to just have my music and some other media and files on a hdd accessible all the time, using NAS connections on devices to access all of it. I find more often than not, direct NAS access is more frequently supported by apps and devices. SMB doesn't always work smoothly and very often is an issue depending on which version of SMB is supported.
Thanks!
 
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mxnerd

mxnerd

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Text based menu installation system DietPi as media server

DietPi.com Docs - Media Systems Software Options

Description of DietPi software options related to media systems like media (streaming) servers and players
dietpi.com dietpi.com

Of course RPI is supported.

DietPi.com Docs - Supported hardware

Official documentation pages for DietPi OS
dietpi.com dietpi.com

Use DietPi as Samba/NAS server

DietPi.com Docs - File Servers Options

Description of DietPi software options related to file servers
dietpi.com dietpi.com

Tech support is free and excellent. https://dietpi.com/phpbb/
You get instant response if the tech is online.

I also don't listen to music most of the time.
So no advices can be given on which media server is better. :)
 
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tinpanalley

tinpanalley

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Ok, well I wasn't expecting something that was right under my nose to be possible.
My Sonos Connect (there is also a Move in another part of the apartment) has in its app the ability to read music from a media server. I don't have one, as we know, but I tried just putting in the IP of my computer and the media hdd I have in it and the folder that the music is in. After some syncing, it worked fine. So for 99.9 percent of my needs that solved the problem. But if I wanted to access from other devices, I'm not sure that would work the same. I'd have to try.
I do sort of like though, the idea of having a separate device with its own storage, that is accessible all the time and doesn't need to be in my computer.
 
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mxnerd

mxnerd

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OK. So you got a Sonos Connect. It specifically it supports WIndows, Mac and NAS, and it mentions that SMB is required, which Windows and Mac has that built-in. For DIY or commercial NAS unit, you just have to turn it on.

Apparently Sonos expect you manage the audio files either locally on a PC/Mac or over network through SMB (Samba on Linux, used by almost all NAS units) protocol

Sonos never reveals what other TCP/UDP protocols it uses any where in it's spec, we can only guess. So it also mentions Windows Media Player (probably RSTP - Real Time Streaming Protocol) and Sonos App for Windows & Mac. Windows Media Player Network Sharing and Sonos

Use a NAS drive with Sonos

If you don't want your PC being always on, an NAS in whatever platform (Windows, Mac, Linux based NAS with Samba (Asus, Synology, QNAP, FreeNAS, OpenMediaVault, DietPC, etc, etc.), Android TV with Samba/SMB APP) is the only way to go.

Have no idea whether only SMB/Samba is required or you need to couple it with software based media servers.
 
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mxnerd

mxnerd

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Sonos just won't tell you exactly what specific software/devices are supported. It only says UPNP servers.

en.community.sonos.com

Where to look for UPnP and Media servers? | Sonos Community

In order to get around the need to set up SMB1 on my media server (I’d prefer not to rely on this because of the probability that my server will stop supporting it) I’m trying to set up a DLNA server instead, which should (I think) broadcast the availability of the media via UPnP.The problem I...
en.community.sonos.com en.community.sonos.com

It's a long list.

List of UPnP AV media servers and clients - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

==

Configure your firewall to work with Sonos
 
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