Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i5 (Gen 3) or NAS for music storage only.

I need server storage and I considering the Small Green Computer i5 sonic Transporter or NAS. The i5 is attractive because it’s pretty much (plug & play) and I’m not very computer savvy. I’ve set up NAS with minimServer years back but I can’t recall all the required configurations. If there’s not a compromise in sound quality, I would take the simplicity of the i5. If anyone has compared a Synology NAS to a SonicTransporter, it would be great to read about a comparison.

I am not sure I understand the requirement?  Could you no just add storage to your Innuos?

If you just need storage then a NAS would be the simple solution.  I do not see why the i5 when you have a server streamer already??

The storage would be on a network, dedicated to my audio system, without a computer. I would initially connect whatever storage device I select to my computer to load my Music files, but afterward, it would be on the separate audio network.  I should have updated my profile. My new streamer is a Innuos Pulsar that is a dedicated streamer and does not have HD storage. The reason I am considering the Sonic transporter is, the lack of complexity in configuring a NAS, and a Sonic Transporter i5 sonic with the ripping feature would not require it to be returned to my computer work station to download additional files. Only reason I would consider a NAS  would be if it is sonically superior. If I would be taking a step back in sound quality with something like a Sonic Transporter, then I would be compelled to go through the learning process of how to configure NAS. 

2 hours ago, Vangelis said:

Sonic Transporter i5 sonic with the ripping feature would not require it to be returned to my computer work station to download additional files

That may be true but you’ll need your computer to maintain metadata anyway.

Moreover you could be quite constrained with space as the maximum storage for the SonicTransporter is 4TB and you don’t have any backup tool (remember that backup should be a must)

2 hours ago, Vangelis said:

The reason I am considering the Sonic transporter is, the lack of complexity in configuring a NAS

Using a nas for samba share is quite plug&play, no complexity at all and using a Innuos Pulsar you don’t need to use/configure Minimserver.

2 hours ago, Vangelis said:

If I would be taking a step back in sound quality with something like a Sonic Transporter

… using a samba share no servers have a “sound” …. neither using a mediaserver 

I went to the Samba site and I was lost in the configuration set up after the first sentence, it might as well be written in Latin to me. I’ve been told that in the near future, the Innuos will allow a USB drive to be plugged, yet, I was told that it would not sound as good as a NAS drive.  What I don’t understand some people say digital storage all sounds the same all sound the same. so I decided I will not pursue USB as a playback storage yet I need something simple. I was hoping to connected someone who has compared a SonicTransporter to a NAS drive and found no difference in sound quality. I need to check with Small green computer, but I would think if a SonicTransporter is on a network that has access to the Internet, that meta-data would be updated when I rip a CD. 

33 minutes ago, Vangelis said:

I went to the Samba site and I was lost in the configuration set up after the first sentence, it might as well be written in Latin to me.

You don’t need to have a deep knowledge about Samba, just enable it and define the shared folder/s … that’s all you need.

33 minutes ago, Vangelis said:

but I would think if a SonicTransporter is on a network that has access to the Internet, that meta-data would be updated when I rip a CD. 

Quite true … but it depends on which level of congruence/coherence you’re looking for your metadata.

In my experience the congruence/coherence isn’t absolute, mainly because the metadata databases are maintained by the community all over the world (I’m speaking about MusicBrainz and Discogs that are the most used sources for metadata) and unfortunately is very difficult to have perfect congruence/coherence on metadata: think about for example the language used for the Artists name, Tracks name, …. the original one or … which language, full name or just initials (ie Johann Sebastian Bach or J.S. Bach or Bach J.S. or JS Bach and so on, Tchaikovsky is another example where the name can be written in almost 3/4 different ways, not mentioning Cyrillic characters)? This is particularly true for classical music
That’s why in my opinion you’ll always need to manually maintain you metadata .

I’m definitely in a neophyte regarding NAS set up. Even “define the shared folder/s” regarding Samba is not something I clearly understand, but I have basic computer knowledge and an older Mac mini I can use to configure this.  I did see a NAS and a recommend 2TB drive available.:

Synology 2 bay NAS DiskStation DS220+  $299.

Western Digital 2TB WD Red SA500 NAS 3D NAND Internal SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s, 2.5"/7mm $159.

I would never have over 2 TB of CD rips and this modest combination would more than suffice, unless I’m missing something . This would be less expensive, almost $1000 less than a SonicTransporter and possibly perform just as well, leaving money for an upgraded Ethernet cable and power supply. I just would have to figure out how to configure Samba and assemble the NAS but I could probably find some YouTube videos. 
Is Samba a preferable simplicity wise, to minimServer?

14 minutes ago, Vangelis said:

Is Samba a preferable simplicity wise, to minimServer?

They are … apples and oranges … totally different beasts:

• Samba is a way to share a folder on the network, in other words is like having an hdd connected to you player
• Minimserver is a UPNP mediaserver that is able to extract metadata from the files tags, these metadata are then exposed as indexes thanks to a control point app and can be browsed like subsequent filters that help you to narrow your search in the library.

I suppose that Minimserver cannot be useful using Innuos Pulsar as Sense, its own app, can index the library by metadata itself.

Usually nas has by default a Public folder that is already shared using samba protocol, all you need is to fill that Public folder with your music folders.

Of course you can access that Public shared folder from a pc too (any OS, Windows, macOS or Linux) allowing you to add albums and to modify metadata very easily.

Just remember to rescan the library from Sense app every time you add/change something and all will be available in Sense.

28 minutes ago, Vangelis said:

Synology 2 bay NAS DiskStation DS220+ 

It seems a very entry level nas but if you are going to use it for music library only and just for sharing folders it should be enough.

As it is a two bay nas I suggest to get to identical hdd and to activate Raid1 protection.

Raid1 protection is a way to protect your data automatically mirroring the content of the first hdd to the second, for this reason the two hdd must be identical, should one hdd break all your data will be safely available on the second hdd, Raid protection is not to be considered a backup that is always strongly recommended, therefore a third hdd for a backup copy should be fine.

5 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

Raid protection is not to be considered a backup.

True and very important. RAID provides redundancy should one of the drives fail, allowing the system to continue with the duplicate. OTOH, a NAS failure or other catastrophic event can impact both drives in the RAID array. In addition, if files or folders are accidentally deleted, they will be deleted on both drives of the array, requiring a separate backup to restore them..

On 8/15/2023 at 2:09 PM, Vangelis said:

I need server storage and I considering the Small Green Computer i5 sonic Transporter or NAS. The i5 is attractive because it’s pretty much (plug & play) and I’m not very computer savvy. I’ve set up NAS with minimServer years back but I can’t recall all the required configurations. If there’s not a compromise in sound quality, I would take the simplicity of the i5. If anyone has compared a Synology NAS to a SonicTransporter, it would be great to read about a comparison.

You only need minimserver if you are doing a full UpnP solution. Most other media player applications that allow a network drive add to library use SMB protocol. Synology NAS makes that easy, just enable the media server app, create login credentials  thats are read only to your music directory and add music to your music directory. NAS's last, don't obsolesce like media player  servers. So buy a NAS once, it will last through whatever upgrade path of media player servers you use through the years.

I’m ready to pull the trigger on this Synology NAS and the SS drives. Is this adequate performance for music files? I appreciate all the help.   The specs on the NAS. 

2 x 3.5/2.5" SATA HDD/SSD Drive Bays

2.0 GHz Intel Celeron J4025 Dual-Core

2GB DDR4 RAM

On 8/21/2023 at 4:04 PM, Vangelis said:

I’m ready to pull the trigger on this Synology NAS and the SS drives. Is this adequate performance for music files? I appreciate all the help.   The specs on the NAS. 

2 x 3.5/2.5" SATA HDD/SSD Drive Bays

2.0 GHz Intel Celeron J4025 Dual-Core

2GB DDR4 RAM

Should work well. Some thoughts

1) full size 3.5 drives will run hotter/noisier than 2.5 drives because there is less space for cooling between drives. But the 3.5 drives can offer more storage if you want

 more than 2 TB with simple mirror/RAID

2) a dual Ethernet port NAS can make file transfers faster