sam9s NEXT NAS Project! powered by Synology DS413j!!

[manniraj]

Synology is a great storage device as well with SHR and all, so its not like if we are using it just for storage we are loosing out something. For movies and videos even I use my HTPC/Media player to playback (not the NAS even thought it has this amazing Video Station) only for Audio I am using my synology USB audio out with E10 DAC. I am also using my rasp pi as my logitech media server even though synology also has it own built in Logitech Server.

When NAS feeds the stream to the playback device all processing is done at the player end. The only thing used and to be of some concern is the network bandwidth, which is good enough for casual videos and FLACS. Only for full HD ISO you might want to keep a gigabit network.

SO I guess you are pretty safe all departments .....

Thanks Sam, with your clarifications I should be safe enough with the 214se NAS. Not sure whether the external DAC feature is enabled in my NAS model but anyway I have a dedicated music-pc along with the Pi, so no issues with the same. Initially I am going to use the NAS for storage and Torrent downloads with feeding to my different players. Will explore more on other features.
I have a Netgear gigabit ethernet port hub along with the TP-Link wifi router which also has gigabit ports. In fact I am at present using the TP-Link powerline adapter (500Mbps) connected to the gigabit port and my Pi in the other room with Openelec plays a 16gb movie file without any stuttering and also a 20gb movie with HD audio plays smoothly but some initial buffering.

 

[manniraj]

Synology Inc. Online Community Forum • View topic - Compatible USB Speakers, based on this forum it looks like the DS214se model is compatible with external USB DACs :licklips:. I can use this feature as well.

 

[manniraj]

It almost a week of setting up my DS214se NAS. I have a total of 3TB*2 and still copying all the files from my HTPC. On an average I am getting a speed of around 50 MB/s for writing over gigabit LAN and I think its a great speed considering that the given speeds are 58 MB/s as per the synology site. Its a great NAS for storage and torrent downloads, awesome interface and I am loving it. I am yet to play the movies over LAN on my HTPC, will do that over the weekend once everything is setup and report back the results.

One more update is that my electrician was able to get the rewiring done for the switch boards for my TP-Link power LAN adapter kit. Now I get a healthy 350 mbps speed and even a 40gb file plays smoothly on my Pi over the LAN.

Thanks Sam once again to make aware of a super VFM NAS setup :clapping:.

 

[manniraj]

....

Hi Sam

Encountered a problem with the NFS share on my NAS. I have mapped the NFS on XBMC and it was able to pull all the details of the videos. I have MPC-HC as external player with XBMC and now when I play any movie I am getting an error message "Failed to render the movie" on the MPC-HC but plays on XBMC. Looked at the net and it seems that the NFS shares cannot be rendered on MPC-HC and it does not look like there is a work around. I would like to use the NFS rather than Samba because of NFS ability to stream high bit rate files without any hiccup. Any idea how to play files on NFS thru MPC-HC.

Thanks in advance.

 

[sam9s]

No Bro ... I dont use MPC-HC to play videos, if I am in xbmc, majorly coz I didnt find much of a PQ difference, even with all said hifi filters ... , Plus I use OpenELEC not windows...

Plus xbmc plays all videos (including SBS/TB 3D) just fine ..... yes in XBMC I also use NFS. But frankly I have not much noticed any difference in streaming even if I use SMB, but coz its said NFS is better I keep using it ...

I cannot even try as an experiment, as I use OpenELEC and not windows and hence no MPC HC ....

 

[manniraj]

No Bro ... I dont use MPC-HC to play videos, if I am in xbmc, majorly coz I didnt find much of a PQ difference, even with all said hifi filters ... , Plus I use OpenELEC not windows...

Plus xbmc plays all videos (including SBS/TB 3D) just fine ..... yes in XBMC I also use NFS. But frankly I have not much noticed any difference in streaming even if I use SMB, but coz its said NFS is better I keep using it ...

I cannot even try as an experiment, as I use OpenELEC and not windows and hence no MPC HC ....

Thanks sam, yes even I am using NFS in my Openelec on Pi and it plays smoothly over LAN. Yet to figure out the NFS issues with MPC-HC but I think I will fall back on Samba as I am hard wired in gigabit across the LAN network.

 

[hitechah]

thats an amazing guide sam, but is it possible to build a htpc with plex for around 18k with more features and it essentially does all of the above. considering it can be used on literally any device is simple intuitive

 

[sam9s]

Plex is a server, XBMC is a front end, that says it all. Plex as a media server is pretty good, but as a front end its just ok, even though it also downloads metadata and all. XBMC purely concentrates on front end features, look n feel and playing capabilities and it excels in that. I have not seen any front end media player, (that might also be a server like Plex) which has better movie jukebox library as elegant, polished as XBMC.

Plus XBMC can also be used on literally any device, including Android as well.

 

[sud98]

Regarding HDD, is it a good idea to spend the extra $ on WD reds over the green. Also, the fact that I dont see WD Red in India available.?

 

[manniraj]

I think Synology has launched the new DSxx5 range of NAS servers. I got a mail from them today.

 

[sam9s]

Regarding HDD, is it a good idea to spend the extra $ on WD reds over the green. Also, the fact that I dont see WD Red in India available.?

I have been using WD Green on my Synology NAS form day one and I have not faced any issues. Yes WD Red is said to be better but is it worth inventing ???? Not sure ......entirely your call..

 

[GeorgeO]

Yes indeed. I invested a little more on better WD drives-maybe 15-20% dont recall, these were "server type" drives. Having had a catastrophic failure once I figured it was worth the little extra( x4 units). I also have all of my audio on my 2 Bay Synology 213j backed up on an external drive, since I cannot replicate the effort to build it all uo again.

As Sam said-your call.

 

[sud98]

Thanks all esp. Sam9 for this wonderful review/manual. I just bought the DS213j, will buy the disks locally once the NAS arrives.

 

[sud98]

Sam, waiting for the other parts. Waiting your other parts to make sure I get it working for NFS for my XBMC.

Got it working after adding nfs specific permission in diskstation.

 

[manniraj]

Sam, waiting for the other parts. Waiting your other parts to make sure I get it working for NFS for my XBMC.

I use the DS214se model and NFS is a feature built-in and you just need to enable it. I am using this to stream for my htpc, music-pc and Pi. Its there as part of the settings.

 

[Ben10]

I am planning to buy netgear rn104 (4 bay NAS) , will not use raid but will simply keep data redundant on 2 drives , will buy 2 drivers later whe current one space is exhausted , main purpose would be to stream movies over my home network.

Don't wanna spent much on synology , Do you guys suggest any good reason to buy synology over Netgear.

 

[jsmithe]

I am planning to buy netgear rn104 (4 bay NAS) , will not use raid but will simply keep data redundant on 2 drives , will buy 2 drivers later whe current one space is exhausted , main purpose would be to stream movies over my home network.

AFAIK, JBOD on the RN104 with XRAID is only supported with one drive. With two drives and Netgear's XRAID mode on the RN104 RAID-1 is automatically setup by the RN104 so you can't not use RAID unless you mean you want to go RAID-0.

Not sure whether FlexRAID mode on the RN104 will allow JBOD with multiple drives.

 

[saketb]

I am planning to buy netgear rn104 (4 bay NAS) , will not use raid but will simply keep data redundant on 2 drives , will buy 2 drivers later whe current one space is exhausted , main purpose would be to stream movies over my home network.

Don't wanna spent much on synology , Do you guys suggest any good reason to buy synology over Netgear.

AFAIK, JBOD on the RN104 with XRAID is only supported with one drive. With two drives and Netgear's XRAID mode on the RN104 RAID-1 is automatically setup by the RN104 so you can't not use RAID unless you mean you want to go RAID-0.

Not sure whether FlexRAID mode on the RN104 will allow JBOD with multiple drives.

I've been using Netgear RN104 from the past 1.5 years and have not faced any major issues whatsoever. Only issue faced was heating where the in built fan was spinning way to slowly, so had to make some changes and add a few config files for increasing the fan speed.

As jsmithe, pointed he is right that when 1 disk is used, it defaults to JBOD, ie.. no protection. When more than 1 disk is used by default it goes in Netgear's XRAID format, but the user has an option to change the mode to Flex-Raid ie., JBOD for each disk (with multiple volumes), RAID 0 (2 or more disks), 1 (2 disks), 5 (3 or more disks).

The default X-RAID, which when used with 2 disks is redundant and when more disks are added (unit should be powered on) the extra space is provided after self formatting. The best part is that when its self formatting the data is usable. When I bought my ReadyNAS I had only 1 disk and it went in JBOD, then added another disk it went in X-RAID with redundancy. With another disk it was in X-RAID 5. Basically, it gives me (4x4TB)-(1x4TB)=12TB space.

Synology, on the other hand is a marvellous product and commands a premium price for what it provides. Its backed with a host of rich applications and usability. The ReadyNAS is also on the similar lines, so no complaints here. Even it has plenty of applications that is quite useful. I use the NAS server for 24/7 downloads, xbmc library, streaming audios and videos to multiple devices simultaneously, backing up data from portable devices, etc without any hiccups. Even transcoding of FLAC's to mp3 is possible with SERVIIO media server for devices that do not support lossless audio - FLAC.

Only disadvantage I found recently after upgrading my A/V receiver, is that the ReadyNAS does not support DSD format music and that it cannot stream in DLNA mode. Now I stream DSD formats from my PC (JRiver media centre) and store backups in ReadyNAS.

The recent firmware upgrade to 6.2.2 even supports disk spin down if not used for a specific period of time. The forum for ReadyNAS is also very supportive, active and updated frequently. The forum can be accessed here NETGEAR ReadyNAS Forum

You can even read posts regarding ReadyNAS by fellow members here... http://www.hifivision.com/computer-audio/46758-cheapest-4-bay-hdd-enclosure-alternatives.html

 

[jsmithe]

Flex-Raid ie., JBOD for each disk (with multiple volumes), RAID 0 (2 or more disks), 1 (2 disks), 5 (3 or more disks)

Useful info' there. Thanks.

Only disadvantage I found recently after upgrading my A/V receiver, is that the ReadyNAS does not support DSD format music and that it cannot stream in DLNA mode. Now I stream DSD formats from my PC (JRiver media centre) and store backups in ReadyNAS.

I've found that Minimserver DLNA streams hi-res audio(atleast upto 192-bit from what I've tested) without transcoding. I think it supports DSD but not sure if it will stream that format without transcoding.

A Google search for "minimserver archlinux" brings up a few interesting posts that from a quick glance, indicate it is possible to get it to work with arch. Getting it onto the RN104 is probably a different can of worms altogether.

 

[sud98]

I have been using 213j and am really happy with the choice.

However, I have one nagging issue which is irritating the heck out of me.

The system refuses to hibernate or do an auto shutdown and after I manually shutdown, it refuses to WOL.

I use WD red 2TB drives.

I went through the Synology forum and realised that there are many others in the same boat.

I removed the network cable (thinking there may be some client which is sending network packets to prevent hibernation), but it still doesnt hibernate.

I enabled hibernation logs, but then I dont get any, as it doesnt hibernate.

As this is the most active Synology thread, I thought I would get the best advise here. If you think its OT, I will move it.