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illin_technology
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« on: October 12, 2007, 11:15:16 pm » |
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I'm planning on getting some sort of network drive in the next couple weeks. Here's 2 lists, the first is a list of "needs", the second is a list of "wants". Needs 1. Share files to and from my iMac (and my room-mates' iBook/Macbooks) 2. Record files from the OSD and play files from the drive on the OSD Wants 1. UPNP server. Would the OSD UPnP browser be able to read the meta-data from my iTunes library?. If so, I could move my iTunes library to an ethernet drive and have it be the home iTunes library. 2. Remote accesss via ftp/http. I really have no idea about this arena of computers but it would be nice to be able to access my audio/video files from work/friends' houses/etc... I've been checking out the LaCie ethernet drives but I'm a bit confused by the wording. LaCie Ethernet Disk mini http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10844and LaCie Ethernet Disk mini - *Home Edition* http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10994It looks like the Home Edition has pretty fleshed out remote access scheme, but its through LaCie's funky server ( www.homelacie.com). The documentation keeps mentioning something about an optional "premium" service, which I'm assuming costs money while the free service probably doesn't offer enough of the functionality anyone would actually need. It also has an iTunes server function, which would be nice. But could I have the DiskMini-HomeEdition be my iTunes library and sync my iPod off it, or will iTunes only sync of an on-board library rather than a shared one........? Most alarming is that the Home Edition makes no mention of SMB/AFS, I'm worried that the sharing structure is something that might be weird for both Windows machines AND Macs and might leave OSD users in the lurch... The non-home edition looks like it should work like a charm with the OSD and my iMac but doesn't have the (possibly cool) iTunes server or (possibly crappy) remote access. I'm assuming I can set up some sort of remote access without some help from the LaCie master-minds, but baked-in-ness is always good. Does anyone have experience with these drives, or, can at least understand the available online documents better than me? |
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sadiekiller
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« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2007, 04:22:56 am » |
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I have one of the older versions on the LaCie ED Mini. It works fine with the OSD, but it's not really that good of a NAS. The main reason for this is the awful slow transfer speeds. This isn't a problem for the OSD to record to because most of the time the data is small enough that its not going to reach the max transfer speed, but it gets annoying if you want to share anything big (Music Library) on it. Hopefully the speed issue will be fixed with the new versions, but I doubt it.
Also, I don't understand what you mean by "1. Share files to and from my iMac (and my room-mates' iBook/Macbooks)". Any NAS that is actually a NAS will do this. The way you make it sound however is that your files on your computer would have to be accessible via the NAS from the OSD. As in, the OSD looks at the NAS, the NAS then points to the computer. I'm not sure that can be done, but you can just point the OSD at your computer shares. (Although I could not get Mac file-sharing to ever work properly)
I know very little about UPnP, sorry.
The ability for your NAS to be accessible to the outside internet is completely dependent upon your home network and the ISP. The ISP I had before would rotate everyone's external IP. The problem with this was that I couldn't use the NAS then to access my music away from home. If your ISP gives you a static external IP, then you would need to forward the correct ports to give the NAS priority access to the outside.(21 is ftp, 80 is http). I did manage to have one of my friends test the connection out while I sat at home and told him my current IP and it worked fine.
I'm not sure if it would be worth it to you to get the Home-server edition or not. While it might make outside access easier, there is no guarantee that they can make it work. The iTunes Server would not allow you to sync your iPod off of it. iTunes would consider it to be just like any other shared library, so taking that music would be 'illegal'.
The LaCie ED Mini uses SMB
Really the decision is yours to make in the end. I regret not doing more research before buying the ED Mini. I had bought LaCie products before, all which worked perfectly, so I really didn't do much research. Honestly I am really disappointed by its access speed and the Http interface is slow and a pain to use. But, it does work perfectly for the OSD and thats really all I use it for anymore. I store big files I don't want directly on my computer on there too, but the OSD just mounts the media share.
Also, be careful about how you format the actual internal disk. While the EXT3 Filesystem allows for bigger files and is more native to the built in linux, you cannot access it via USB on a mac, even with drivers for EXT filesystems installed. It wil still work fine over the network, but you give up all possibility of using the faster USB access on your mac.
**Remember that I have an older version of the ED Mini. Things may have changed, but I am running the newest firmware available.
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illin_technology
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« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2007, 07:01:26 pm » |
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Thanks for the thorough response! Do you have the Gigabit Ethernet version of the LaCie Ethernet Disk Mini? My current router isn't Gigabit right now but I plan on upgrading to a new Gigabit (with N wireless) router. I realize that the OSD is only Ethernet 10/100 but the Gigabitness would definitely help speed things up like copying files from my iMac's Internal HD to and from the NAS . From what I gather, you *can* hook the ED Mini to a Mac via USB but you still have to mount it as a network drive ( http://edmini). I just found out that LaCie's US operations are based just 10 miles from my house, I plan on heading out there sometime this week to talk to them about it. Maybe I'll take my OSD and an iBook with me to test stuff out (if they let me). |
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sadiekiller
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« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2007, 12:31:21 pm » |
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I'm pretty sure I have the version before Gigabit speeds. I max out at 4 MB/s or so transfer, so yeah. Also, I'm pretty sure the OSD doesn't have gigabit either, so the only advantage there is the faster transfer from your computer to the drive.
Also, you can use the ED Mini fine via USB with their login app fine if it is Fat 32. I only encountered problems because I have it linux formated for bigger files. Also, I noticed a small increase in copy speed with the Linux formating. I'm not sure how you would go about mounting a USB connection to an Http port. I'm pretty sure the Http interface is only activated when it register's an IP address with a network.
If you can I would go chat with them. I love love to live near LaCie or any other tech headquarters. I'm not sure LaCie is small enough to really bother with letting you test out your stuff with one of their drives. By that I mean that they are probably too corporate to really allow something like that to happen. But then again, Big tech companies don't need to really get that big to make money, so you might as well try.
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illin_technology
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« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2007, 01:03:26 pm » |
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I'm pretty sure the OSD doesn't have gigabit either, so the only advantage there is the faster transfer from your computer to the drive.
Yeah, I know that, but I don't need the OSD to transfer at Gigabit speeds since it already does fine with the 10/100 for the files it deals with. The Gigabitness will help when I'm moving the 300GB of files on my iMac and FW HD to the NAS. If you can I would go chat with them. I love love to live near LaCie or any other tech headquarters. I'm not sure LaCie is small enough to really bother with letting you test out your stuff with one of their drives. By that I mean that they are probably too corporate to really allow something like that to happen. But then again, Big tech companies don't need to really get that big to make money, so you might as well try.
"It never hurts to ask" has always been a personal motto of mine. As well as, "you rarely get what you want if you don't ask for it". I called LaCie tech support today and asked them a few questions, unfortunately since the Home Edition ED Mini hasn't been released yet he didn't have complete tech notes on it. He recommended calling/emailing the sales line to see if they had any details on a ship date, possibility of a local pick-up, etc... |
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nashienet
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« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2007, 02:32:11 pm » |
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I have the LaCie Ethernet Mini Disk (500gig) and its fantastic. Its exactly what I wanted from a NAS drive.
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budwzr
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« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2007, 04:04:12 pm » |
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WMP11 has the most advanced UPnP server on the market, and it's free. OOps, sorry, I see you have a Mac. UPnP servers (that I'm aware of) don't support Mac AAC DRM, and few clients support AAC either.
If you're talking about mp3, then that's doable on a NAS w/UPnP built in. I don't think Apple even has a UPnP server do they?
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illin_technology
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« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2007, 05:56:52 pm » |
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I couldn't find much information when searching for Mac related UPnP stuff but while checking out the UPnPness of the LaCie drive I found out it has Twonky. I did some research on Twonky and it made it seem that Twonky has the ability of harvesting the meta-data from iTunes. Does that sound right?
I really don't know anything about UPnP or really how much I (or my house-mates) would use it, but I'm interested.
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budwzr
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« Reply #8 on: October 16, 2007, 07:52:33 pm » |
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Yes, Twonky does support iTunes to some extent, not sure how much. You should download the 30 day trial and see what it can do for you. Also, Twonky comes preinstalled on some NAS drives. They have a list at their site. Twonky is pretty good, they are going to add video metadata support too maybe next year.
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greyback
Moderator
Sr. Member
Posts: 356
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« Reply #9 on: October 17, 2007, 05:19:23 am » |
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I can't be certain for iTunes, but from the below link, uPnP does use meta data information when displaying music from Windows Media 11. http://open.neurostechnology.com/node/924-G |
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FJ
Neuros Team
Hero Member
Posts: 545
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« Reply #10 on: October 17, 2007, 01:21:16 pm » |
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We use the Lacie Ethernet Disk Mini in the office and it works well. Configuration is a breeze and as fas as we can tell, it is very reliable to use. I will see if our guys can do some test with the uPnP feature and post updates here.
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FJ
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budwzr
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« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2007, 06:13:48 pm » |
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Right, but "illi" is on a MAC, and uses iTunes DRM. Yes, WMP11 has implemented metadata support for audio AND video, Twonky has not for video. So WMP11 would be the first choice in UPnP server for WinTel users and Twonky would be first choice (perhaps only choice) for Mac / iTunes users IMHO. |
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illin_technology
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« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2007, 12:54:30 am » |
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Preface: I don't really know what I'm talking about.
I do use iTunes on my Mac, but 99% of the content of my iTunes library is DRM free. Almost all of the audio in my library is stuff I've ripped from my CD collection, downloaded from MySpace, podcasts, etc. etc. etc. So, that should all be, and is, playable by browsing to it with the OSD browser (the regular one, not the UPnP one). The video content in my iTunes library is all HandBrake encoded DVDs from my library or recordings I've made with the OSD.
The LaCie drives I'm considering getting have UPnP server software (Twonky in the Ethernet Disk Mini and HipServ in the Ethernet Disk Mini - Home Edition) built in and can also serve as an iTunes servers. Although I don't understand all the workings of it I'm pretty sure it should all work (except for the $25 worth of iTunes GiftCard purchases I have made of course).
Fingers crossed of course. LaCie says I have a 30 day no-questions-asked return window if it doesn't work out.
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illin_technology
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« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2007, 02:21:40 pm » |
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I am waiting for the HomeEdition one to come out (mid November). LaCie has said, that yes, it will do shares via SMB. I'm hoping its the NAS of my dreams, but I'm aware its probably not.
I would like to enter that contest but I just don't think my schedule would allow for me to make some sort of halloween prop.
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