Time for a NAS upgrade!

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TomDac

former MLO owner/operator
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OK.. my first foray into NAS (Network Attached Storage) unit taught me a lot. The NAS I bought about 5 years ago is a NetGear ReadyNAS NV+ with 4 slots. I got the diskless enclosure really cheap and then bought 5 750G Seagate hard drives - 4 for the NAS and 1 as a backup - then a good friend said he had an extra 750G seagate that he gave me... Same model number.. refurb'ed and never used, so I have 2 spare drives.

Setup and config was easy, but I soon learned that the NAS was too slow to be used as a media server, so I figured I'd just use it as a storage device, and since I configured it with xRAID (NetGear's version of RAID), my data would be protected. Pictures, GoPro videos of my motorcycle trips, music and movie collection, etc.

The ReadyNAS is kinda loud too, but since I'm using just as a backup device, I keep it turned off unless I'm using it.

So.... it's time to upgrade... I'm not out of space or anything, and I just re-ripped my entire CD collection into FLAC and am keeping both the FLAC versions and VBR MP3 versions on my NAS and portable USB drive (redunancy), so I started looking at different NAS offerings and Synology seems to be the big player at the moment... A good friend of mine just bought the 8 bay unit and loves it, so I ordered the 5 bay unit (DS 1515+) and my plan is to use 5 of the 6 750G drives that I currently have, keeping one as a spare for hot-swaps and then gradually phase those out and get larger drives down the road, as my storage needs change.

I'll throw the ReadyNAS up on fleabay when i get the new one up and running... or if anyone here is interested, let me know..... It's great for a backup device, just slow as molasses..

And my plan also includes buying more hi res titles from HDTracks and getting my SACD collection (20 discs) ripped, so the extra space will be nice.
 
Qnap is a strong player in this space. I bought the TS451 last year. Compares very favorably with Synology units, less expensive, but Synology is reported to have slightly better build quality.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk
 
hey Tom ...................what's that foreign language you're speaking ???
 
I know how you feel Dave. I am just starting to realize HARD physical music is a old format that is cumbersome and space consuming.. Im going that route also.. Its confusing to me to as you need storage ,DACS, and servers as well as renderers Earthnet,wireless....Funny thing is when it works you hold a Ipad or tablet, even you phone and type in thousands titles songs at your fingertips .. Never moving from your sweet spot
 
...Funny thing is when it works you hold a Ipad or tablet, even you phone and type in thousands titles songs at your fingertips .. Never moving from your sweet spot

Nice, concept! Soon to be part of my system..... The never moving part could be dangerous to my waistline...it's getting tougher and tougher as it is to keep the weight off as I am getting older.... I think I am up for the challenge..

Dan
 
And my plan also includes ... getting my SACD collection (20 discs) ripped, so the extra space will be nice.

What's your plan for this? I would so love to get the high res files ripped off my SACDs and onto my NAS.
 
Hey Rich,
ripping SACD's is possible, but very difficult, so I never did it. Most of my SACD's were available online from HDTRACKS and the ones I really wanted, I bought on there.
 
Hey Rich,
ripping SACD's is possible, but very difficult, so I never did it. Most of my SACD's were available online from HDTRACKS and the ones I really wanted, I bought on there.
Tom, I have no SACDs, all my discs are standard CDs. Would you be willing to give a shot to see if EAC can manage them? I'm not even sure if a SACD would be readable in a PC/Mac drive, so I'm clueless on this account but interested to find out.

What's your plan for this? I would so love to get the high res files ripped off my SACDs and onto my NAS.
Rich, my apologies. I didn't see that you were after SACD only. But again - it would be very helpful if one of you guys would give EAC a shot to see if it can deal with SACD formats.
 
I've been down this rabbit hole... SACD's can be ripped using an early PS3 that's been modified.. I read tons of info about doing this online and it seemed too painful..
 
I've been down this rabbit hole... SACD's can be ripped using an early PS3 that's been modified.. I read tons of info about doing this online and it seemed too painful..

Same here. And I have an old PS3 but I haven't checked to see what software version it's running. The process just seemed too cumbersome to want to spend the effort on it. I have a friend that owns a recording studio and I've often wondered if he has equipment that could rip them. I need to remember to ask him next time I see him.
 
Rich, my apologies. I didn't see that you were after SACD only. But again - it would be very helpful if one of you guys would give EAC a shot to see if it can deal with SACD formats.

I don't have EAC. I own a Mac and use XLD for ripping. But I'm pretty sure EAC cannot rip the high resolution layer off an SACD.
 
I second the QNAP drives. I am using the TS-431+ with 4 2TB drives in Raid 5. If your data is REALLY important to you, you can run RAID 6 which allows for 2 drives to fail at the same time but it will use 2 drives for parity.
 
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I don't know if anyone here other than myself uses PlayBack Designs equipment. They now have a new USB-X-III clocking control unit.

The new USB along with an download update to the Gate Arrays used as its DAC you can rip the SACD layer now. I am going to see if I can get it on to my Christmas list or at least Birthday list in the spring.
 
Been using QNAP TS-431+ for over a year now, no issues. It's pretty quiet as well, could be bit faster if need lots of processing. Does good job as files backup system and sharing my photo archives between various computers. Installed with WD RED 3TB drives in RAID 5 configuration.
 
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