My proposed NAS set up

[Adam B]

OK about to do this and current thinking is

Synology DS211J for about £160

plus 2 WD WD15EADS Caviar Green 1.5TB SATAII 32MB Cache 3.5 Inch HDD for £60 each

from what i read WD and seagate make the most reliable HDD but seagate have had problems of late

am I correct?
is this setup ok?
do I need both a power and a data cable like this for each HDD?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SATA-POWER-ADAPTER-CABLE-D...

also what kit would be best as a bose idock replacement that would access itunes on the NAS and play all my music?

thanks

[Adam B]

There does not seem to be a consistent story about discs, on the various sites I gauged that maxtor and samsung were worst, seagate were good but had issues and WD were best, all had the stories of failure though

so sounds like I should go for WD R discs from different suppliers in RAID 1 (I think, not a techie, but think this means they backup each other)

can someone point me to a WD R disc on amazon or similar?



That is storage and backup sorted, what kit do I need that is basically a speaker with a screen that access music from the NAS over wifi and play it, ideally 2 or 3 that work in different rooms in concert? Does such a thing exist or do they all combine storage and playback?

[Adam B]

thanks for all the advice so far

Skier said:

RAID 1 is a 'mirrored' RAID i.e. one disc is identical to the other and if one fails you loose no data.

I am not a techie (bet this is clear!) but that is exactly what I am after, ie 1.5tb capacity with a full back up if one fails - I thought this meant I have RAID 1 !?!?!?

'kin hell - who said R discs are an extra £5? for 1.5tb they seem to be £140 vs £60 for one I originally mentioned

I have no expensive hi-fi to speak of, been there before but now am not looking to invest in anything high quality but better than a bose idock would be preferable! I after convenience and small size really.

I looked at squeezebox but better look again as I thought they stored and played rather than just streamed and played (perhaps with a buffer memory only), I just don't want to have to pay for storage twice

ok would this do the trick:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonos-Zoneplayer-White-Sta...

plus adding one or more of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonos-ZP0S5UK1-Systems-Zon...

Edited by Adam B on Thursday 27th January 22:57

[Adam B]

thanks skier, I am really here asking for that advice, I haven't got a clue what RAID is or does but thought this is what I was after in tech speak

perhaps if I answer your questions you could suggest the best bet

I have TV etc in the living room - big sony LCD, cheap sony surround sound amp/speakers, blu-ray, sky hd, xbox 360 and a sky broadband wi-fi router

in addition:

dell laptop
gf has a ibook
both run itunes
ipods
Bose ipod dock
cheapo midi system I never use
5000+ CDs
I buy CDs but am happy to play them via the blu-ray / surround sound system. I tend to rip them straight away using 256/320 mp3 and itunes

what I think I need:

a central store of music, photos, files (videos/films in the future but don't use now)
a secure data store (currently I back up the laptop with an external USB drive)
a store can be accessed by both of us, both mac and PC

what I want to do:

have a speaker box that I can access music on central storage, choose tunes like an ipod (ideally from a remote with a screen) and play in decent (not hi-fi) quality from a fixed unit in the lounge and portable unit in the bedroom (plus expansion of another 1 or 2 units if I buy a bigger place).

budget £1000-1500

am thinking:
NAS and 2 discs 300
sonos zoneplayer S5 with zonebridge 400
extra zoneplayer 350
sonos wireless music controller 280 (ouch)

so what do you reckon? right approach?

Edited by Adam B on Thursday 27th January 23:23

[Adam B]

Skier said:

Adam B,

First, have a look at what different RAIDs offer look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Given what you're looking at doing I really would recomend the Logitech systems rather than Sonos. The Sonos systems are far more expensive and offer very little extra. For you main requirement have a look at the Squeezebox Duet. Plug this into your surround sound system amp and you're there.

What does stand out to me for your requirements description is that I don't believe your proposed NAS soltion will really be man enough. Personally I would invest a little more money here. I would be looking at either QNAP or (for convenience as Logitech support it) a Netgear Ready NAS solution. This will be quite a bit more expensive but will allow you to expand in the future.

Skier

thanks again

read the wiki, lots of whoosh ensued, its hard to know the advantages of the different types

eg
"In RAID 2 (bit-level striping with dedicated Hamming-code parity), all disk spindle rotation is synchronized, and data is striped such that each sequential bit is on a different disk. Hamming-code parity is calculated across corresponding bits on disks and stored on one or more parity disks. Extremely high data transfer rates are possible."

I only understand the last sentence and am none the wiser as to whether I need that plus, what extra it costs and what NAS will run the various RAID types

squeezebox - good to know and happy to go with you on that one, but do they come in white rather than block boxes?

can you explain how the QNAP or Netgear would be better than Synology? was originally looking at netgear but prefer the styling of the Synology (really prefer white light over black boxes given my decor) and it had a great review in What Hi-Fi and Amazon. I am sure you are right but what features should I be looking for?