My Windows based NAS using Flexraid - haisaikat

[haisaikat]

Received 2 new 2TB drives last week, one is the WD 2TB Green from Flipkart for Rs 6100 and the other is the Toshiba 2TB drive from The ITDepot for Rs 6700 shipped. In terms of shipping of course flipkart delivered first but ITDepot delivered the next day so not that behind of flipkart. Also received a free mousepad and wrist band from the it depot since I ordered on the eve of Republic Day.

Anyways coming back to the drives, I had to fit them inside my existing Cooler Master Drive Cage that was already housing 2 Seagate 1TB Sata 2 drives bought 2 years back. I intended to use the Toshiba 2TB Drive as Data drive along with the 2 other 1TB Seagate drives and the WD Green 2Tb Drive as the Parity Drive.

Before I added the new drives to the pool I had to delete the old pool (pretty easy, 2 mins) so that the pooled drives start shopwing up normally in My Computer ( I had to delete since I was going to reuse my 1TB existing Parity Drive as Data Drive going forward).

However before recreating the pool I did some experiments with data transfer and found the following

When copying data to one of the 2years old Seagate 1TB drives the max write speed I could get was around 80 - 85 MB/s. Now when I copied something from these old 1TB Seagate drives to the new 2TB drives (anyone) the max speed was around 98 - 101 MB/s. So I assumed that the max read speed of the old drives have been reached.

Now I did the same test between the 2 new 2TB drives and found that the Toshiba 2TB drive had the maximum write speed of 112 MB/s and the WD Green 2TB Drive had the max write speed as 101 MB/s. So to conclude, the Toshiba outperforms the WD Green drives by 10% margin in terms of throughput. However I did notice that the Toshiba Drive runs 2 (two) degree Celcius hotter than the Western Digital Green Drives during peak read / write which is around 38 C for the Toshiba and 36 -37 for the WD Green. Again at idle I found that the both new drives stays at around 31 C during day and 27 C around night.

Nevertheless adding the external Seagate FreeAgent 1TB external drive via USB, the new capacity of my NAS is now 5TB (usable would be around 4.5 TB) which is pleasing to see :yahoo:

Overall I am happy with the decision of buying the Toshiba drives for 600 INR more and for the additional 1 year warranty (making overall 3 years for the Toshiba) over the WD Green (2 yrs)

 

[haisaikat]

Started using Plex Media Server on my NAS after following its rank 1 in this link Five Best Desktop Media Servers and I am truly amazed by the features it offers. I was already using Serviio but recently the bug to access my NAS from elsewhere bit me. In this zeal I checked the similar feature of Serviio and found that it is available in the pro version only that costs 25 USD. Otherwise they have dedicated andriod app Servii-Go which can take care of this, moroever in the pro version only it allowed the web based media browser with built in player. On the other hand Plex came free with full features including its web based Plex Web media browser in fact Plex-s UI is entireley web based and using the MyPlex account (does similar work as DynDNS) you can access your media from anywhere, what more you can also give selective share to your friends. I only had to buy the Plex for Android phone for Rs 268 and thats all (some port forwarding needs to be setup in your router but that is the free of cost part ). The Plex Web Client and also the Android app allows you to set the video bitrate for different scenarios (3G, Wifi, etc) to allow optimum network usage.

However when I compare PQ with Serviio I think Serviio wins on the PQ front over Plex for on-the-fly transcoding and also the fact that Serviio scans files faster. So I have decided to keep both, Serviio for in house viewing when PQ matters and Plex for media organizing including metadata tagging and also for those on the go needs and also for sharing with friends. Now my friends can exatcly tell me what I need to copy in their HDDs and avoid double copying of something they already had. Some reference Pics below

Servii-Go Android app (works with the pro version only for 25 USD, android app is free)

Serviio Web MediaBrowser

Plex Web Media Browser

Plex Android App

 

[sam9s]

I used Plex, but for some reason, from out side my LAN, it was a pain to get it working. inside my LAN it worked as it supposed to, but from internet, I was not impressed by Plex. Serviio on the other hand was still better from internet. Though I hardly ever stream videos from my NAS from internet, but still kept serviio for its features.
For Audio nothing can beat Logitech Media Server and Synology's own Audio Station. ...

 

[haisaikat]

I used Plex, but for some reason, from out side my LAN, it was a pain to get it working. inside my LAN it worked as it supposed to, but from internet, I was not impressed by Plex. Serviio on the other hand was still better from internet. Though I hardly ever stream videos from my NAS from internet, but still kept serviio for its features.
For Audio nothing can beat Logitech Media Server and Synology's own Audio Station. ...

The newer Plex version is very smooth for over the internet access may be I can even give you a share for you to try out playing part of my media (send me your myplex user-id- free signup). Not sure if this has to do with any peculiarities that you faced w.r.t to Windows and Linux versions.

I do not do much of streaming videos over internet but it is a nice to have feature. One key difference between Serviio and Plex online web access is that Serviio allowed specifying only 3 resolution of video while Plex allowed actual bitrate specifying to as low as 64 kbps to as high as 3 mbps over web. One key observation here is that how the streaming video will run on your mobile device depends on the hardware capability of the device as well and does not always mean that a lower bitrate will ensure smooth playback.

Audio is mostly what I see as using over internet but neither plex nor serviio allows for specifying audio bitrate. Does Logitech Media Server for windows allow sharing with other UPNP clients as well apart from Squeezebox?

 

[sam9s]

Does Logitech Media Server for windows allow sharing with other UPNP clients as well apart from Squeezebox?

Yes absolutely, any UPnP client sees LMS running as far as you are on the same network. Plus LMS allows runtime encoding of any file to MP3, with an option to define the bitrate from 32 to 320,(with a level of quality from 1 to 10) and it works really good.

I do not even use Audio Station on my Mobile when I am driving or out side my LAN, coz AS does not encode media to compress MP3.(It encodes from XYZ to WAV, but not MP3) LMS does this job wonderfully and thats what I use when I have to listen to some music from my NAS.

 

[haisaikat]

Yes absolutely, any UPnP client sees LMS running as far as you are on the same network. Plus LMS allows runtime encoding of any file to MP3, with an option to define the bitrate from 32 to 320,(with a level of quality from 1 to 10) and it works really good.

I do not even use Audio Station on my Mobile when I am driving or out side my LAN, coz AS does not encode media to compress MP3.(It encodes from XYZ to WAV, but not MP3) LMS does this job wonderfully and thats what I use when I have to listen to some music from my NAS.

Just checked out Logitech Media Server, one problem I see is that lack of freely available apps for android to facilitate listening of songs over 3G from home. If I use a 3rd party upnp audio player will that allow specifying bitrate from the abdroid

 

[sam9s]

^^ Nope you have not searched hard enough, lots of available apps for android, else how am I listening my music collection over 3G.

First :: A question why would you use 3G to listen music from home .??? Shouldn't it be Wifi.
Second :: I dont use LMS as an UPnP server, but that is not what LMS is used for. LMS can read other UPnP servers running and yes if you play using LMS via any UPnP server running it would allow to specify the bitrate.
I however use it to directly stream my music collection from my NAS

I presume you have not yet played with LMS, hence so many doubts. I would suggest first install LMS on to your NAS, access it via browser and configure it. Then try to access it via Android.

If you face any issue let me know I will guide you with specific steps in detail.

 

[haisaikat]

^^ Nope you have not searched hard enough, lots of available apps for android, else how am I listening my music collection over 3G.

First :: A question why would you use 3G to listen music from home .??? Shouldn't it be Wifi.
Second :: I dont use LMS as an UPnP server, but that is not what LMS is used for. LMS can read other UPnP servers running and yes if you play using LMS via any UPnP server running it would allow to specify the bitrate.
I however use it to directly stream my music collection from my NAS

I presume you have not yet played with LMS, hence so many doubts. I would suggest first install LMS on to your NAS, access it via browser and configure it. Then try to access it via Android.

If you face any issue let me know I will guide you with specific steps in detail.

Hi sam, I use 3G when I am on the move and not at home. Going to office via bus for 1 hr is boring

I tried installing LMS but somehow it would not pick Serviio which also uses LAME encoder. Nevertheless I installed Bubble UPNP and it is the most buggy piece of code I ever saw with so many glitches, selected it since it had a nice android client. What client do you use to access LMS from android?

Trying out Squeezeplayer in the meantime

 

[sam9s]

Ok .... i will address this properly ....

The thing with LMS is that its a bit unconventional to understand how it works. Instead of 2 parts of the mechanism (server + client), LMS works on 3 (Server+client+player). In the two steps procedure, we have the server and we have the client, which itself is a player or has a player embedded to play content from the server. With LMS, we have the server then we have the client that streams from the server and we need a player to plays that streamed content. The logic behind LMS is, All players can be connected to logitech server (running LMS) via that client, and can be controlled from any where.

Step One :: Install LMS on the server and you can access it via browser by http://192.168.x.y:9000 URL on any machine on the same network

Step Two :: When LMS opens for the first time on the client machine, its configues itself by asking your squeezebox account credentials, and then asking you to set up the directory where your music is installed and where you want to save the playlist.

After that is done LMS starts to index the media files.

When the LMS is fully loaded you can navigate to your music director form the left pannel and also you will notice at the top right corner there is a drop down menu, that will say "no player was found". You have to add a player. You can add, S/W players like winamp. foobar or hardware player like SBT.

Step Three ::: How to add a player. Simply open winamp, open add location and put in http://192.169.0.x.y:9000/stream.mp3 and click ok. Winamp will connect to LMS

Now refresh the URL page on client machine and check the same top right hand corner and you will see winamp as the player available... choose it

Step Four :; Navigate to your music location from the left panel and add songs to the queue. Double click on the song to play AND SIMULTANEOUSLY click on the winamp play button, and song should start to play.

At this point you can close the LMS browser window and winamp will continue to play the songs you added to the play list.

================================

NOW FOR ANDROID..

For android its the same concept, you have the server (where we have installed LMS), now you have to install the client apk on android and then a player that can play the song via that client.

Android Client I user is :: Squeeze Player
Android Player I use is ::Squeeze Commander.

First you install both these apks from Google play. Then open Squeeze player and add the server details. The Squeeze Player will recognize that you have a player called Squeeze Commander installed and will show its icon. When SP is connected just click on the icon and it will launch SC. There you can see all other players connected to LMS (including the winamp that we connect earlier). Just click on the top right corner of the app to go to folder list, navigate to your music collection and start playing ......

On 3G connection you just have to change the local address that you added to SP to DDNS name that will be mapped to your external IP.

Try this and let me know if you succeeded ....

regards
Sammy

 

[haisaikat]

Great sam. Thanks for the detailed reply. Lms was not recognizing lame encoder first but post that transcoding to lower bitrate is now happening with smooth playback on 3g. Thanks for the app android suggestions using those only. However from commander I cannot select any other media server even if the lms server web page shows them like plex or serviio that exists on the same nas box. Any idea?

Sent from my Galaxy Pro Duos via Tapatalk

 

[sam9s]

If you are talking about UPnP servers, no you can not see them from Squeeze Commander, (you can only view and use them via web browser client) its not made that way. Infact LMS is not made to play using UPnP, thought it has the ability to read UPnP servers. LMS should be used as a stand alone server,client player to listen to music. If you want UPnP then there are other alternatives.

One thing you have to manually install LAME code for LMS to recognized, Once that is done, go to setting by clicking on it at the bottom right corner of the web page. Then click on the "Player" tab. Under that you will see two new tabs, left one is to select the player, click on the right one and select "Audio" from the drop down. If LAME is properly installed you will have bitrate limiting enabled with a message saying "The LAME encoder appears to correctly installed on your system" Just select the birtare value you want (for 3G I keep it to 128kbps) Lame quality level I keep to 5 and thats it. Click ok and now all your FLACS will be transcoaded to 128kbps MP3 while being played through the player you selected on the other tab.

 

[haisaikat]

If you are talking about UPnP servers, no you can not see them from Squeeze Commander, (you can only view and use them via web browser client) its not made that way. Infact LMS is not made to play using UPnP, thought it has the ability to read UPnP servers. LMS should be used as a stand alone server,client player to listen to music. If you want UPnP then there are other alternatives.

One thing you have to manually install LAME code for LMS to recognized, Once that is done, go to setting by clicking on it at the bottom right corner of the web page. Then click on the "Player" tab. Under that you will see two new tabs, left one is to select the player, click on the right one and select "Audio" from the drop down. If LAME is properly installed you will have bitrate limiting enabled with a message saying "The LAME encoder appears to correctly installed on your system" Just select the birtare value you want (for 3G I keep it to 128kbps) Lame quality level I keep to 5 and thats it. Click ok and now all your FLACS will be transcoaded to 128kbps MP3 while being played through the player you selected on the other tab.

You were right about LAME, I had to install in specifically in LMS bin folder or else LAME was not getting recognized. But one put down is that LMS is not allowing to have any bitrate below 64 kbps. On my 3G this streams just fine but problem is edge where it still gets stuck (on my wife-s phone) and also in place of my office it is such a remote place that many a time speed drops from 3G to EDGE

You know I tried Bubble UPNP server for some time, it could read other UPNP servers and also could downmix to as low as 32KBPS but problem was with its buggy playback, if it works for a song then you are lucky, tried several ways to fix it but no use. But LMS works fine though at least on 3G, thanks for your suggestion.

 

[haisaikat]

Figured out what was the problem with Bubble UPNP. Actually in my zeal to save bandwidth in 3G I had set the Mobile Bitrate to 32KBPS and in Bubble UPnP server the minimum available bitrate was 64kbps and that was causing the problem with playback not starting unless the source bitrate was 32kbps by default (very rare).

Now when I tried with 64 kbps it worked perfectly. Today was my first trial with Squeezecommander and over 3G for 30 mins of listening at 64 kbps (and LAM quality to 9) the usage was around 20 MB. Will try Bubble UPNP tomorrow and update the respective bandwidth usage.

 

[sam9s]

With 64kbps. you should not loose more than 15MB for 30 minutes. Try reducing the quality to 5.

 

[haisaikat]

Sam.. ytried today with quality at 5. The SQ improved but bandwidth consumed in 33 MB so on higher side. My underdtanding is that 9 gives lowest bandwidth usage

Will try with bubbleup tomorrrow

Sent from my Galaxy Pro Duos via Tapatalk

 

[digitalv]

Does FlexRAID spin-down drives which are not in use? And spin then up again when needed?

I know UnRaid does that quite efficiently and the only time it spins multiple drives is during Parity generation/recalculation or multi-stream accesses. With 24+ drives, I'm a bit too concerned on power consumption but would like the additional flexibility offered by Windows and FlexRAID.

 

[haisaikat]

Yes flexraid does spin down the drives. I have personally experianced this when I try to access some file on a drive not accessed for some time, first there is 5 sec delay within which I hear sound of drives spinning up.

Sent from my Galaxy Pro Duos via Tapatalk

 

[koushik]

I just found that flexraid has gone commercial and now it is no more a free software. Do people who already using it have to pay for it?

Any free alternative to flexraid? I don't want solution like freeNAS. A software on Windows is more flexible to use.

 

[haisaikat]

I just found that flexraid has gone commercial and now it is no more a free software. Do people who already using it have to pay for it?

Any free alternative to flexraid? I don't want solution like freeNAS. A software on Windows is more flexible to use.

Even I paid for Flexraid 2 years back and it is still running strong and very stable. for me and many on this forum the inspiration is sam9s NAs thread http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-pc-htpc-media-pc/20232-sam9s-nas-project-powered-unraid.html which you may check but would suggest check the updates on each products from respective websites since lot of new features have been added after SAM made the comparison. I would recommend definitely going by FlexRaid since it does not block your PC hardware from being used for any other purpose and also makes no modification to NTFS filesystem on hard drives, so anytime your Flexraid goes away, the hard drives are easily readable by Windows.

 

[haisaikat]

A recent update, for a long time the 2002 Pentium 3 PC cabinet worked fine but started becoming clumsy with more HDDs and the inside became very very dusty. So I started looking for a better and more airy cabinet and on budget. I was fine to buy a used cabinet and found the right match on OLX. Some of the hard drive rails were having slightly worn out rubber and other than that 1 mess filter was missing, i was more than okay with that and felt that at Rs 2500 this is a pure steal.

Here are some of the photos

The front of the cabinet, 2 fans are preinstalled to cool the HDDs, comes with mesh dust filter too


The top of the cabinet, comes with mesh filter but no fan , has provisions to install 2 x 120 mm fans. The USB connectors have to be connected to headers on motherboard and the button on left is for LED on/off for Fan LEDs, i have not used it, its annoying to me


A 2.5 external Sata drive connector, hot swap. Its presently unused since i do not have any unused sata ports available on motherboard. May be for future expansion when i buy a SATA card for additional ports


The backside, the two rubber guarded holes are for wire / liquid cooler pipes in case we use as gaming cabinet. The PCI slot guards are also toolless, I have put a thin sponge to cover up the open area for preventing dust particles from going inside.


The inside of the cabinet


locks on 3.5 bays which is presently empty. I can install by older Drive Cage from CM here if i want to


The OS Drive on 2.5 Sata HDD placed using the 3.5 to 2.5 drive bay converter


All drives placed, ready to lock in


The reverse side after all cable management options being used. Note one thing very closely, the drive bays end up in manually connected wires and is not terminated at sata / power tower cage static connectors, hence if you have to install / uninstalled HDD you have to open both sides. For the price, i am fine


The final state with all cables hidden behind.


It runs really cool and average HDD temperature remains less than 40 degrees. Of course no change in streaming / sound qualities. I must say that Flexraid is still running strong and NAS has completed 5 years.