I’ve had a Squeezebox Duet for a couple of years, using it mainly for internet radio, and then turning on a little netbook if I wanted to play something from my library. I’m the only person in the house with any tech knowledge, so a NAS seemed overkill.

But I’ve just added another SB to the house, and am starting to lean towards running everything through a NAS – to centralise my files, plus run things like the iPlayer applet for the SB and so on.

So, really, talk to me about NASes. Where should I start in terms of something fairly simple, able to run Logitech Media Server, etc? Dumb question too, but do any of them come with the ability to power down and power up at preset times? Anything I should be aware of before buying one?

Cheers

I set up a netgear readynas which supports squeezebox server.
It’s a faff tbh, I mainly just turn in the lap top when I want to play off the library.
The main reason is it takes ages to boot up, and I don’t like keeping it on all the time.
I would imagine a modern NAS will be better.

May be worth long at the HP Microserver – basically a very cheap server with great cashback offers. Can do everything a comparably priced NAS can and more. Mine runs VMware and a selection or virtual machines. Servers Plus have good bundle deals

A server will be much faster. I have a Duet and a Buffalo NAS, whenever I want to use the remote to play anything, it scans the itunes library for a good 10 mins before it’s ready to play. Itunes library is 90Gb. I’ve stopped using it tbh, I have an Apple Airport express now, which works really well (if you have Apple stuff!)

My synology NAS does exactly what you are looking for, with zero hassle.

Mine is the ds211j, I think there is a newer version out now. The ongoing support from synology is excellent.

I run a Squeezebox touch via a ReadyNas duo V2 and it works well. Logitech say they only support Readynas but haven’t properly written the software for the V2 yet, it’s a beta version but still O.K. I have hard wired throughout rather than use wi-fi as I found the internet radio used to drop out & buffer occasionally. I also use an Audiolab M.dac as the Squeezebox Dac is not as god as my old CD player. The ReadyNas can be powered down on a timer so it is only on when you need it. Only Criticism is that the redyNas is a bit noisy when the hard disc is chuntering away. Sound is superb if you rip to FLAC.

Cletus – Member

May be worth long at the HP Microserver – basically a very cheap server with great cashback offers. Can do everything a comparably priced NAS can and more. Mine runs VMware and a selection or virtual machines. Servers Plus have good bundle deals

Yep, superb bits of kit, although I think the cashback deal might have expired now.

I have Linux installed to a USB stick (which is plugged in internally), giving me 4 or 5 bays to use for storage discs. Very nice bit of kit – low enough power and quiet enough to leave it on 24/7.

I run 3 Squeezebox Touches through a QNAP NAS – very easy to set up and use – just install the Logitech package to the NAS and off you go.

I use WI-FI and that is fine for streaming FLAC tracks or internet radio.

The same unit also runs Twonky Media for my TV/ streaming of films, and a small photo website.

I run the same as reluctantwrinkly – works ok, only occasional drop-outs for me.

NAS could be overkill, depending on your circumstances. I decided it would be for me. I have 2 SqueezeBoxes, plus a couple of Android devices running SqueezePlay in combination with Orange Squeeze, and just run everything off the PC. It hibernates when not in use, and Wake-on-LAN (from the SB or Orange Squeeze) wakes it up when required.

Easy peasy.

HP Microserver here running Squeezebox on linux; works superbly.

One thing to bear in mind (potentially) is that the Triode semi-official Spotify plugin needs an x86 compatible box (you need to use this if you want to use spotify on an older device; e.g. a SB2 / Classic or Duet)* – this pretty much ruled out any kind of mini-nas for me.

*unless things have changed since I last set this up. ..

My main data store is a RAID 5 ReadyNas Ultra 6. Defo overkill for a few docs and music streaming but I’ve got a few TB of raw photos on it so need the space and reliability.

Also have a Duo which is painfully slow with file copies, probably because the disks are mirrored.

Not had any issues with Squeezebox on either device.

probably because the disks are mirrored.

Wouldn’t have thought so, probably it is underspecced on CPU or memory for running Samba which is surprisingly CPU heavy. Mirroring usually gives you a minimum performance slightly worse than using a single disk. Depending on how clever the setup is, it can be twice as fast as a single disk on reads by distributing the reads over both spindles.
RAID 5 is usually slow on these devices due to the parity calculations which are quite expensive of CPU time.

NAS could be overkill, depending on your circumstances. I decided it would be for me. I have 2 SqueezeBoxes, plus a couple of Android devices running SqueezePlay in combination with Orange Squeeze, and just run everything off the PC. It hibernates when not in use, and Wake-on-LAN (from the SB or Orange Squeeze) wakes it up when required.

Interesting – this could be the most realistic solution for me in the short term, or at least worth exploring before buying a NAS. Tbh the idea of having a central repository for files does interest me, but at the moment it’d just be more stuff for when I move house.

For Wake-on-LAN, how do you get the SB to send the signal to wake?

One thing to bear in mind (potentially) is that the Triode semi-official Spotify plugin needs an x86 compatible box (you need to use this if you want to use spotify on an older device

I only use free Spotify, so not an issue for me, but it does raise a point – are there any other major plugins that need x86 hardware to run? I’m thinking iPlayer or similar.