External hard drive, nas and other such stuff....

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stevewestern

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I need help, yet again.
Please.
I used to have a nas that stored a copy of my photos, documents and most relevantly my music collection, which is what this is all about.
The music files were sent to my streamer (Bluesound Node 2i if anyone cares) and were always instantly available to play.
I now use a 1tb SSD in a caddy that plugs via usb into my streamer.
Trouble is it seems to go to sleep when unused, meaning I have to turn it off and on, then it has to re-index the music files which takes several minutes - not ideal.
So....... I'd like to solve this, and to my tiny mind the possible solutions are -
Put a spare WD red (nas-type) hard drive into the caddy - will that stop it going to sleep ?
Buy a WD mycloud external hard drive which I THINK works much like a simple nas?

I could plug either into the usb socket on my BT homehub router and point my node towards it if that makes any difference, although I don't need to access or update the music files so can't see any reason to.

A third option is to buy a 1tb memory stick which may or may not be supported (there seems to be no definite answer to this) and I don't want to spend £100 or more if it doesn't work. A WD mycloud is another expense I'd be happy to live without if it can be avoided. Even more expensive is to buy another nas, which appeals even less....

So, any advice and help would be much appreciated - thank you !

As may be obvious, I'm not the best computer genius so little words for a little mind and all that.:thinking:
 
oddly enough i have a lot of what you have going on in my house, nice streamer by the way.
I have a yamaha music streamer and a few other digital gadgets and the only thing i have found that works well is a central always on server/service.

i use an old pc i have built with a low power xeon procesors and a few SSDs which when ticking along runs at 20watts so like 10p a day on the leccy
it also stores my files, photos and runs plex etc. the service i run is a DLNA service called TWONKEY which monitors and indexes my digital files, all FLACS from CDs.

look at a low power PC/NUC maybe it depends how geeky you are as well?
 
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something like this, you will need to up the ram and replace the disk etc, but you can connect external usb disks to these and if the OS neeeds the data it will wake them up for you, so maybe just a small pause at the streamer end.

I have an old T630 low power terminal which I used for a while they are pretty decent for this kind of work.

www.stonerefurb.co.uk

Intel NUC D54250WYK - i5-4250U 1.30GHz - 4GB RAM - 120GB SSD

Intel NUC D54250WYK - i5-4250U 1.30GHz - 4GB Memory - 120GB Solid State Drive - Grade B
www.stonerefurb.co.uk www.stonerefurb.co.uk
 
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Mr Bump said:
oddly enough i have a lot of what you have going on in my house, nice streamer by the way.
I have a yamaha music streamer and a few other digital gadgets and the only thing i have found that works well is a central always on server/service.

i use an old pc i have built with a low power xeon procesors and a few SSDs which when ticking along runs at 20watts so like 10p a day on the leccy
it also stores my files, photos and runs plex etc. the service i run is a DLNA service called TWONKEY which monitors and indexes my digital files, all FLACS from CDs.

look at a low power PC/NUC maybe it depends how geeky you are as well?
Click to expand...
Mr Bump. Given our similar interests in music I'm wondering if I should change my name to Mr Grind so we could form a double act..!
OK, the streamer - I've 'pimped' mine by replacing the interface and power supply, effectively doubling the cost and giving excellent VFM in terms of sound quantity whilst keeping the user interface that the family understands. There was a massive thread on the Wam if it appeals, or I'd be happy to chat via pm etc..
Anyway thank you for taking the time to help.
I've actually now ordered a new nas - Synology DS120j 1 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YVF3Q5G/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_RFCJJ82F67HWMNBT7X46 at what was clearly a bargain black Tuesday price of £93 and will be fitting a spare WD red hard drive as, like you, it's the only way to go that I know will work and I've got a few gathering dust!
I'm dreading the set up - my last Qnap nas left me utterly baffled as it was was more than I needed and understood. Thanks for the link though which I'll look into just in case this nas is too much for me too..
 

yeah seems reasonable and a good use of an existing disk.
my main sound setup is limited at the moment as i am downsizing pending retirement next year so my big conventional hifi has gone.
i am currently using my laptop using foobar2000 with all my files, an IFI ZEN DAC connected using balanced cables to a pair of Yamaha HS8 studio monitors on stands, very simple but very effective. I use the yamaha musicast with a set of TIBO Active speakers as well.

As long as the synology runs a DLNA compliant server you should be fine and as you well know its all about the metadata tagging of your files.
Are you into Hi def?
 
Mr Bump said:

yeah seems reasonable and a good use of an existing disk.
my main sound setup is limited at the moment as i am downsizing pending retirement next year so my big conventional hifi has gone.
i am currently using my laptop using foobar2000 with all my files, an IFI ZEN DAC connected using balanced cables to a pair of Yamaha HS8 studio monitors on stands, very simple but very effective. I use the yamaha musicast with a set of TIBO Active speakers as well.

As long as the synology runs a DLNA compliant server you should be fine and as you well know its all about the metadata tagging of your files.
Are you into Hi def?
Click to expand...
Hi-def - well, yes, although I'm not totally convinced by it improving every album as it can reveal flaws in the mastering or remastering, and hey, who needs 15 different versions of Rumours or whatever.. I stream via Tidal and Qobuz along with all my ripped cd's.
I seem to be heading the other way from you - when the kids were young and we had no money my racks of Naim etc got sold off for a basic-but-fun system. Now they are older, we've still got no money (too many operations and months recovering after a motorbike op - had a second op on my shoulder last week, bringing up the tally to 18..) and with covid and too much cancer around us I'm spending whatever my flexible friend allows on silly stuff. A big pair of Tannoys arriving soon, silly-money cables etc.
Boys will be and all that.
 
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