New NAS or Music Server or What

[jglacken]

Hello All,

 

I have been happily listening along for a few years on the following system: Synology DS710+, Macmini, Pure Music,Antelope Zodiac Gold, Genesis M60 Mono Blocks, Genesis 5.2 speakers.

 

At times the Synology has been a bit funky and has seemed to lose the indexing or location of the actual music file stored and as you may know Pure Music is wrapped around iTunes and itunes still shows the songs in its library. When I click on a song to play sometimes I get a message that says the files can't be found, would you like to locate it which I can do. When I then click on get info, the path to the file has an extra word "localhost" inserted in the beginning of the path when it should just say volume/ music/ library/ etc...

 

Last time it took me hours to relocate the songs. I have over 10K songs in mostly AIFF or Flac.

 

So, I am looking for ideas on what to do...

 

I have 2 1TB drives in some form of hybrid raid in the DS710+ that Synology uses. They are approx. 80% full.

 

I can just replace the drives to 2 2TB drives and solve the storage size issue, but that probably won't solve the Synology operating system issue. BTW-this happened this time after upgrading to latest Synology operating software. I have asked Synology people what gives and have not heard back, but last time, they had no idea!

 

What would you do?

 

Just get a different NAS?

Look into something like an aurender w20?

Look into the new sony players-only 1 tb capacity

I also have a 2 tb G drive that I use to back up the Synology. Should I use that as my NAS? Not sure if it would work.

You probably want to know a budget. If I told you to keep it under 5K could I simplify the system and make it sound better at the same time?

I have also tried other player software A+ I think. It was also very good, but not way better, so I stuck with PM.

I use an IPad or iPhone and remote to control the playing and the Zodiac Gold software also allows volume control of the pre section of the Gold.

Long winded, but perhaps you have some geeat ideas for me?

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

[jglacken]

Nobody

Hello All,

 

I have been happily listening along for a few years on the following system: Synology DS710+, Macmini, Pure Music,Antelope Zodiac Gold, Genesis M60 Mono Blocks, Genesis 5.2 speakers.

 

At times the Synology has been a bit funky and has seemed to lose the indexing or location of the actual music file stored and as you may know Pure Music is wrapped around iTunes and itunes still shows the songs in its library. When I click on a song to play sometimes I get a message that says the files can't be found, would you like to locate it which I can do. When I then click on get info, the path to the file has an extra word "localhost" inserted in the beginning of the path when it should just say volume/ music/ library/ etc...

 

Last time it took me hours to relocate the songs. I have over 10K songs in mostly AIFF or Flac.

 

So, I am looking for ideas on what to do...

 

I have 2 1TB drives in some form of hybrid raid in the DS710+ that Synology uses. They are approx. 80% full.

 

I can just replace the drives to 2 2TB drives and solve the storage size issue, but that probably won't solve the Synology operating system issue. BTW-this happened this time after upgrading to latest Synology operating software. I have asked Synology people what gives and have not heard back, but last time, they had no idea!

 

What would you do?

 

Just get a different NAS?

Look into something like an aurender w20?

Look into the new sony players-only 1 tb capacity

I also have a 2 tb G drive that I use to back up the Synology. Should I use that as my NAS? Not sure if it would work.

You probably want to know a budget. If I told you to keep it under 5K could I simplify the system and make it sound better at the same time?

I have also tried other player software A+ I think. It was also very good, but not way better, so I stuck with PM.

I use an IPad or iPhone and remote to control the playing and the Zodiac Gold software also allows volume control of the pre section of the Gold.

Long winded, but perhaps you have some geeat ideas for me?

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

[Daudio]

Jeff,

 

Have you considered moving your active music files to an external disk, instead of a NAS ? I didn't see you mention any other users of music data from your NAS, and they can be problematic, as you see now. Through in this case it may be that your NAS would be fine for backups and other kinds of data. Just not music anymore.

 

I have been searching for info on iTunes Server on NAS, and noticed more then a few comments about problems with new Synology updates, so you are not alone there. Also, while 80% disk usage shouldn't be a problem, you are definatly running out of space. For some reason disks can become problematic as they get close to capacity. That could be different from a PC to a NAS, but wise to lookout for, and keep a certain amount of free storage all the time.

 

That's all I've got... Good Luck,

[phatoldsun]

Hey Jeff, you have found the infamous missing tracks issue that is far too common with iTunes. A google search will show you have company, including me. This is the single biggest pain point for me with computer audio (when files are not locally stored). You generally see this when iTunes cannot find the location of your files.

 

I don't think the issue has anything to do with the Synology. It happens to me on 2 different NAS, including a Synology DS 213. It may seem like it happens due to a Synology firmware update, but it probably is not. When you update the software, the network connection terminates. You have to manually reconnect your Mac to your Synology after an update so iTunes can connect to the place where your music files are located (on the NAS). So if iTunes is open and looks for the location of the files but your NAS is not connected, it will show the missing files message and an exclamation point next to the tracks. the actual new firmware has helped incrementally in my experience.

 

Other things to consider:

I see you have a Mach2 Mini in your sig. I'm wondering if the customizations removed a file or script needed to connect to network storage reliably?

How exactly are you using iTunes with the NAS? For example, is your entire iTunes folder on the NAS (including the .itl and .xml files) or you just have the Media Library on the NAS (iTunes>Preferences>Advanced)?

What OSX version are you using? OSX 10.8 uses .afp as the default network protocol, while 10.9 uses SMB2. Changing these settings in the DSM may help.

Do you have your Mac set to auto-connect to your NAS at log in? You can set this at System Preferences>Users&Groups> login items.

Check you sleep settings. If you NAS sleeps or hibernates it may not be able to reconnect to your Mac/iTunes.

 

I'm using a Mac Book Pro so I'm determined to make the NAS work better so I can roam around the home. Since you are using a Mac Mini, you may want to just store your library on a directly connected external drive and switch the NAS to Time Machine back up duties.

You could also ditch iTunes and try JRiver. The user interface is ugly and there are a lot of settings to find and understand, but when I used the trail, i never had issues with missing files. This would mean giving up Pure Music.

[jglacken]

Hi folks,

 

It is at it again. Updated Synology DSM and not only does the sign for file not found appear in the iTunes library, but the songs are there and I just have to click on them to play. But now a new deal, if I play the first song on the list for a particular artist, after it is finished, it then jumps to another artist. Also the updates seem to create many duplicates.

 

I understand that the NAS gets disconnected from the network when updating software, but it seems to reattach once update is complete. What is causing itunes/pure music to get funky?

 

Jeff

 

Hey Jeff, you have found the infamous missing tracks issue that is far too common with iTunes. A google search will show you have company, including me. This is the single biggest pain point for me with computer audio (when files are not locally stored). You generally see this when iTunes cannot find the location of your files.

 

I don't think the issue has anything to do with the Synology. It happens to me on 2 different NAS, including a Synology DS 213. It may seem like it happens due to a Synology firmware update, but it probably is not. When you update the software, the network connection terminates. You have to manually reconnect your Mac to your Synology after an update so iTunes can connect to the place where your music files are located (on the NAS). So if iTunes is open and looks for the location of the files but your NAS is not connected, it will show the missing files message and an exclamation point next to the tracks. the actual new firmware has helped incrementally in my experience.

 

Other things to consider:

I see you have a Mach2 Mini in your sig. I'm wondering if the customizations removed a file or script needed to connect to network storage reliably?

How exactly are you using iTunes with the NAS? For example, is your entire iTunes folder on the NAS (including the .itl and .xml files) or you just have the Media Library on the NAS (iTunes>Preferences>Advanced)?

What OSX version are you using? OSX 10.8 uses .afp as the default network protocol, while 10.9 uses SMB2. Changing these settings in the DSM may help.

Do you have your Mac set to auto-connect to your NAS at log in? You can set this at System Preferences>Users&Groups> login items.

Check you sleep settings. If you NAS sleeps or hibernates it may not be able to reconnect to your Mac/iTunes.

 

I'm using a Mac Book Pro so I'm determined to make the NAS work better so I can roam around the home. Since you are using a Mac Mini, you may want to just store your library on a directly connected external drive and switch the NAS to Time Machine back up duties.

You could also ditch iTunes and try JRiver. The user interface is ugly and there are a lot of settings to find and understand, but when I used the trail, i never had issues with missing files. This would mean giving up Pure Music.

[bellcasert]

Right,it then jumps to another artist. Also the updates seem to create many duplicates.thanks

[DavidL]

My experience may possibly be relevant:

I have a Synology DS412+ NAS on which I store my iTunes library complete with .itl and .xml files etc. Thus it is a self-contained iTunes library that could be accessed by any computer on our home network. I suspect your problems arise from the .itl file being available on your computer when your NAS with the music media isn't for whatever reason (e.g. when doing system updates). The resulting disconnect could result in corruption of the .tl file and hence your 'loss' of music tracks.

I do not use iTunes for music playback, only for curating the library. I point server software to the iTunes media location (MinimServer or JRiverMC) but only use this for playback (via ethernet and renderer).

I've only had this setup for 9 months but so far no problems at all, and I've done several system updates for the NAS.

Hope this is of some help.