Hi all,
Just wanted to report that my new setup is working beautifully and was more or less a plug-and-play install. Specs:
Netgear ReadyNAS Pro 2 (RNDP2000) - $440 - Dual core Intel Atom 1.8 GHz processor, 1 GB DDR3, 5 year warranty
Seagate Constellation ES 1 TB 7200RPM 6 Gb/s SATA 64MB Cache ST1000NM0011 - $130
LMS 7.7.2 for ReadyNAS x86
RAIDiator firmware 4.2.21 on the NAS, downloaded from www.readynas.com
9000 tracks in library, all uncompressed .WAV files total 364 GB (I use MediaMonkey to edit my tags; ID3 tagging of WAV files is fully supported on Squeezeboxes unlike other products)
Two Squeezebox Classic 3's and one Squeezebox Touch synced (plus a spare Classic and a spare Touch in storage for posterity). Gigabit ethernet via in-wall CAT6 wiring.
The ReadyNAS Pro 2 is the same as the consumer-grade ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus but it has a $40 price premium and comes with a 5-year warranty. Also, it did not come with any older versions of LMS pre-installed, so I didn't need to uninstall anything. I installed the hard drive, plugged in the ReadyNAS, upgraded the firmware, created one share, installed LMS, and started copying files over. A full scan of my music library takes 7 minutes. Browsing tracks is silky smooth and I can't tell any performance difference from back when I had it on a dual-core XP box. This little device is a perfect jukebox--I stick it in a basement corner, plugged in via CAT6 to a gigabit network, and it just sits there ready when needed. I'm never going to update LMS or the NAS firmware so now my SB setup is preserved in time, so to speak.
I have 5 copies of my 364 GB music folder on various backup NAS and portable hard drives so I'm not worried about RAID, drive failure, etc. If/when the drive dies I'll stick a new one in, copy some files, and two hours later I'll be back online. So for that reason I'm only using one drive even though the NAS is 2-bay. I figure with just one drive it will be cooler and there is no RAID overhead, therefore faster performance.
Two years ago I attempted this same setup with a ReadyNAS Duo but the thing was so sluggish I couldn't even use it. There was a 5-20 second delay every time you hit a button on the SB remote just to scroll between songs. That old Duo was a $600 disaster, but today with the Pro 2 the NAS processor power is finally up to speed, no pun intended.
I highly recommend the ReadyNAS Pro 2 for use as a dedicated Squeezebox jukebox. Performance might take a hit if you were to attempt to do a bunch of other stuff with it, which is why I use other NAS drives for video and backups. My device is solely dedicated to Squeezebox.
Just wanted to report that my new setup is working beautifully and was more or less a plug-and-play install. Specs:
Netgear ReadyNAS Pro 2 (RNDP2000) - $440 - Dual core Intel Atom 1.8 GHz processor, 1 GB DDR3, 5 year warranty
Seagate Constellation ES 1 TB 7200RPM 6 Gb/s SATA 64MB Cache ST1000NM0011 - $130
LMS 7.7.2 for ReadyNAS x86
RAIDiator firmware 4.2.21 on the NAS, downloaded from www.readynas.com
9000 tracks in library, all uncompressed .WAV files total 364 GB (I use MediaMonkey to edit my tags; ID3 tagging of WAV files is fully supported on Squeezeboxes unlike other products)
Two Squeezebox Classic 3's and one Squeezebox Touch synced (plus a spare Classic and a spare Touch in storage for posterity). Gigabit ethernet via in-wall CAT6 wiring.
The ReadyNAS Pro 2 is the same as the consumer-grade ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus but it has a $40 price premium and comes with a 5-year warranty. Also, it did not come with any older versions of LMS pre-installed, so I didn't need to uninstall anything. I installed the hard drive, plugged in the ReadyNAS, upgraded the firmware, created one share, installed LMS, and started copying files over. A full scan of my music library takes 7 minutes. Browsing tracks is silky smooth and I can't tell any performance difference from back when I had it on a dual-core XP box. This little device is a perfect jukebox--I stick it in a basement corner, plugged in via CAT6 to a gigabit network, and it just sits there ready when needed. I'm never going to update LMS or the NAS firmware so now my SB setup is preserved in time, so to speak.
I have 5 copies of my 364 GB music folder on various backup NAS and portable hard drives so I'm not worried about RAID, drive failure, etc. If/when the drive dies I'll stick a new one in, copy some files, and two hours later I'll be back online. So for that reason I'm only using one drive even though the NAS is 2-bay. I figure with just one drive it will be cooler and there is no RAID overhead, therefore faster performance.
Two years ago I attempted this same setup with a ReadyNAS Duo but the thing was so sluggish I couldn't even use it. There was a 5-20 second delay every time you hit a button on the SB remote just to scroll between songs. That old Duo was a $600 disaster, but today with the Pro 2 the NAS processor power is finally up to speed, no pun intended.
I highly recommend the ReadyNAS Pro 2 for use as a dedicated Squeezebox jukebox. Performance might take a hit if you were to attempt to do a bunch of other stuff with it, which is why I use other NAS drives for video and backups. My device is solely dedicated to Squeezebox.