NAS for Music Servers

[Bob from Florida]

Currently using 2 separate Raspberry Pi 4's in different rooms - Volumio as the application. I rip to 3 hard drives via dbpoweramp - a drive for each Pi plus a backup. Since Volumio supports NAS I am looking at implementing that for convenience for ripping new CD's.
Currently looking at the below solution.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08ZCMY13M/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=A37KBTT8S5G52Y&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07YFGG261/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

SSD's chosen for no mechanical noise. Looking for "tales from the dark side" implementations of NAS's. Somehow, no matter how easy these things are made out to be, never seems to be that "easy".

 

[Madeintooting]

Just use one of your Pis as the NAS for the other, seems a lot of expense to go to, to get not much more.

 

[Berwhale]

You might want to check this out... https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TBS-464-8G-US-NASbook-Connectivity-Diskless/dp/B09KMLSXGR

Review: https://www.storagereview.com/review/qnap-tbs-464-mini-all-flash-nas-review

 

[Digby]

Consider using the 2.5" portable USB hard drives by WD or Seagate, unless you are sitting within about 40cm of them, you are highly unlikely to hear any noise whatever. You can get refurb 2Tb drives for something like 1/10 the cost of the SSD you linked.

 

[PatentLawyer]

I have a NAS and regret it. I should have bought a Thunderbolt RAID box and connected it locally.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I have a couple of NAS boxes, all located remotely from the system(s) and from each other. No significant problems. They just work.

 

[Bob from Florida]

I have a couple of NAS boxes, all located remotely from the system(s) and from each other. No significant problems. They just work.

May I inquire what hardware did you choose?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

QNAP TVS-873

 

[Bob from Florida]

QNAP TVS-873

Thanks - replaced by newer model "A" .

From the QNAP site. Damn supply chain!

TS-873A hardware is backordered indefinitely and cannot be purchased, please check SMB Storage for a viable in-stock replacement, please contact us for further assistance.​

On the other hand Amazon seems to have stock.

 

[Digby]

I have a NAS and regret it. I should have bought a Thunderbolt RAID box and connected it locally.

Why?

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Synology 918+ with 4 Seagate Ironwolf HDs in a RAID configuration and Nvme read buffer.

Runs since ca 3 years without a glitch and any major maintenance and handles all my data incl music.

Edit. Made a mistake. It’s been 3 years since I set it up and I forgotten some of the details.

 

[Bob from Florida]

Synology 918+ with 4 Seagate Ironwolf HDs in a RAID configuration and an SSD for even quicker access.

Runs since ca 3 years without a glitch and any major maintenance and handles all my data incl music.

How difficult to set up. Years ago I did not mind doing the "bug and play". Now, I just want it to work.

 

[Berwhale]

I run two Synology NAS...

Primary: Synology DS920+, 8GB RAM, 6TB, 4TB & 6TB HDDs+ 500GB Nvme configured as data volume for apps, etc.
Secondary: Synology DS420+, 6GB RAM, 6TB, 4TB & 3TB HDDs + 250GB Nvme configured as data volume for apps, etc.

Shared folders on (non-RAIDed) disks are replicated between the devices using Synology 'Shared Folder Sync'. Important stuff is also replicated to cloud storage (iDrive) and I occasionally make off-line copies on USB disks. Avoiding the use of RAID allows me to purchase the cheapest possible disks (usually shucked from USB enclosures) and maximize capacity.

 

[Berwhale]

How difficult to set up. Years ago I did not mind doing the "bug and play". Now, I just want it to work.

It's very simple to setup. You plug the disks in, boot up the NAS and then do a guided setup from a web browser, it takes about 10 minutes.

Once the NAS is setup, it is controlled from a GUI running in a browser. You can see what the GUI looks like and have a play here:

https://demo.synology.com/en-uk/dsm

(note the demo is quite laggy, the UI is much more snappy on a local device)

QNAP NASes run a similar OS call QTS, I think there's a live demo for that somewhere as well.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Thanks - replaced by newer model "A" .

From the QNAP site. Damn supply chain!

TS-873A hardware is backordered indefinitely and cannot be purchased, please check SMB Storage for a viable in-stock replacement, please contact us for further assistance.​

On the other hand Amazon seems to have stock.

But do you need the 8-bay box? Perhaps a smaller one will do and may be available.

 

[Bob from Florida]

But do you need the 8-bay box? Perhaps a smaller one will do and may be available.

The one I linked is 4 bay and my idea was eventually 2 pairs of mirrored arrays for more than music. So, yes 8 would be overkill.

 

[PatentLawyer]

Why?

Because ethernet is really slow, so file management is a bear. And I can just as easily share a local volume on my network.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

How difficult to set up. Years ago I did not mind doing the "bug and play". Now, I just want it to work.

Very easy. Look at some YouTube to get a feel, as easy is always relative. Meaning what seems easy to one person might not for another person. It is how Berwhale described it.

 

[Bob from Florida]

Consider using the 2.5" portable USB hard drives by WD or Seagate, unless you are sitting within about 40cm of them, you are highly unlikely to hear any noise whatever. You can get refurb 2Tb drives for something like 1/10 the cost of the SSD you linked.

Appreciate the suggestion, however, I have had the cheap drives fail used with the Pi's before. I would get drives rated for 24/7 duty in a NAS. Ironically the 2 TB drives I linked were the same price as the last 1TB SSD I purchased a few years ago. I remember paying $600 for a Maxtor 250 MB drive to use in a 286 system I built with DOS 6 .......

 

[restorer-john]

I have a four bay Synology NAS that is gathering dust not used. Too many fans, too much noise. Just not worth it running. So I use a single bay fanless NAS. Have done for years.