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presales questions

JustSomeGuy1
Aspirant

presales questions

Sorry for the LONG post.

I am considering a NetGear ReadyNAS. I am leaning toward RN102 but would consider the RN104 or the RN312. I have a little technical knowledge.

My immediate desire is to consolidate audio files to a single device and to stream them to an amplifier. The files are primarily flac and mp3 formats. I do not foresee storing and streaming any video content and thus do not foresee any transcoding issues. Once moved to the ReadyNAS, files would rarely be edited, only streamed. Planning for reasonable future music file growth, 2 TB likely will be sufficient over the next few years. I plan to use an external drive to back up the ReadyNAS device.

The ReadyNAS will reside on a wired Cat5e network with a half dozen or more computers and one Smart TV. The router cascades to several unmanaged switches and then throughout the house. Typically, only two users are on the network at any given time and network traffic is usually light with occasional massive uploads and downloads. A BlueRay player or A/V receiver might join the network eventually.

Non-music data files occupy several terabytes. Currently I backup at the client level with monthly disk imaging and grandfather-father-son weekly full backups with daily differential backups to removable disks and offsite storage. Backups take from a few minutes to a number of hours, depending upon the client, the work load and the day. It’s fairly much a belt-and-suspenders scheme.

I likely will use a SONOS Connect device to provide streaming service to a legacy stereo amplifier. The SONOS dedicated network might expand over time, but likely would not have more than two program streams playing at any given time and only a few hard-wired network connections.

Questions:
1. I’m inclined to use Red WD_0EFRX drives in Raid 0 for increased throughput. Does the ARM processor throttle the throughput enough to negate a RAID 0 scheme, making RAID 1 a better choice?
2. Is there a compelling reason to use either the RN104 or the RN312 for this limited application?
3. Assuming no segment faults, am I correct in believing the ReadyNAS can reside anywhere on the network or must it be directly connected to the router?
4. The ReadyNAS will be UPS-protected, as are all other clients and network components. I live in an area with frequent electrical storms and occasional outages. Customarily I shutdown and unplug electronics (including network infrastructure) during storms. Is there any significant issue at restart (for example, extended reboot process, etc.)?
5. Am I right in assuming adding data backup (other than the resident music files) would demand too much of a single RN102 if it also provides audio streaming?

I’ve got more backup-related questions, but I think those are outside the scope of this post and this post already is too long. Thanks for any pointers offered.

- John
Message 1 of 4
StephenB
Guru

Re: presales questions

JustSomeGuy wrote:
1. I’m inclined to use Red WD_0EFRX drives in Raid 0 for increased throughput. Does the ARM processor throttle the throughput enough to negate a RAID 0 scheme, making RAID 1 a better choice?
There is no benefit for audio streaming with RAID-0. Data rates are pretty low even with flac or pcm. And with the RN100 series, the processor does limit throughput. All RAID-0 does is make the array more fragile. If you don't want RAID redundancy, you are better off with jbod than raid-0.
JustSomeGuy wrote:
2. Is there a compelling reason to use either the RN104 or the RN312 for this limited application?
The RN104 performance is the same as the RN102 - it just adds two more bays. However, with some equipment you will need to transcode flac to PCM when streaming (there's no fidelity loss of course, since both are lossless). Compute costs are modest, but the Plex module on the RN100 series won't transcode anything. That is perhaps a reason for the RN312. The RN202 is also worth a look, but its not out yet. Network performance is about the same as the RN300 series. Not sure if it will transcode flac.
JustSomeGuy wrote:
3. Assuming no segment faults, am I correct in believing the ReadyNAS can reside anywhere on the network or must it be directly connected to the router?
Not sure what you mean be "segment fault". The NAS is best connected to a gigabit router or a gigabit switch. Mine are connected to switches, not the main router.
JustSomeGuy wrote:
4. The ReadyNAS will be UPS-protected, as are all other clients and network components. I live in an area with frequent electrical storms and occasional outages. Customarily I shutdown and unplug electronics (including network infrastructure) during storms. Is there any significant issue at restart (for example, extended reboot process, etc.)?
You should connect the UPS USB port to the NAS for monitoring/clean shutdown. Otherwise there is a risk of volume corruption when you restart it. If it does shut down when the UPS battery drains you will need to restart it manually.
JustSomeGuy wrote:
5. Am I right in assuming adding data backup (other than the resident music files) would demand too much of a single RN102 if it also provides audio streaming?
No. Audio streaming (particularly with no transcoding) is not demanding. Backup is certainly possible, and you can schedule it for off-hours.
Message 2 of 4
JustSomeGuy1
Aspirant

Re: presales questions

SB -

Thank you for your quick and thoughtful reply.

Since RN202 is not yet available, I'll likely go with an RN102 as RAID 1. Unless I misunderstand, transcoding is already a non-issue for me.

Equipment is all gigabyte (Asus & NetGear).

I typically set clients to auto shutdown after backup, although i imagine i could fiddle with the schedule & incorporate the RN102. Not a pressing issue at this time.

Regards,

J
Message 3 of 4
StephenB
Guru

Re: presales questions

JustSomeGuy wrote:
...Unless I misunderstand, transcoding is already a non-issue for me.
You could well be correct.

But there are some people here with RN102s who have discovered that they couldn't stream flac to some clients when they are using DLNA. There is a fallback, you can convert the flac back to pcm.
Message 4 of 4
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