Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Sooloos import4 minimal configuration

Robert,

You don't have to use the standard 1TB drives any more in Sooloos.

I am running two TwinStores with 2TB Seagate Black Caviar series enterprise class drives giving me a total of 4TB or mirrored storage.

M

Could you also put such a drive in an Ensemble?

Thanks, that very interesting, how do you do this,
is there any "special" knowledge or HD-manufacturer necassary?
Dit you install it by yourself?
So you also can go to 2x4TB?
Sorry, Iam not familiar with PC very well.

Robert

Hi Chenko,
I have been trying some 2TB drives in our TwinStore so would be interested how the drives you are using perform.
Do you get any problems with your drives, however minor please let me know. Any 'media loading too slowly' messages on a Control:10, any albums showing 'corrupt media'?
Also could you clarify exactly what drives you use... I may be wrong but I thought that 'Black Caviar' was a Western Digital drive, whereas the Seagate's enterprise drives that size are 'Constellation'
Seagate Constellation Drives
Is it these you are using?

or a Western Digital One
Western Digital Enterprise Drive

The precise make and model number would be very useful to know.
Many thanks ,
Rick

A further question about discs. I know if you have an Ensemble you manually backup using the Control software on your computer; and with TwinStore you are backed-up locally through the RAID.

Rick said that if you add a TwinStore it just looks like a larger Ensemble. Is it after that point still possible manually to backup all the data which is on the Ensemble's unmirrored disc? Or do you have no choice but to back it all up together.

Raid is not a substitute for a backup solution. If your Raid controller fails, both of your disks could well be inaccessible without an identical raid controller, ie, another TwinStore, possibly even running an identical software and/or hardware version of the Sooloos system if you are really unlucky.

I personally don't think raid is particularly beneficial to media storage where content is quite static and a controlled backup/snapshot at a known point in time is easier to manage - assuming you have the discipline to take regular backups or snapshots - don't know if Sooloos has automated this like some PC solutions. Keeping the data on a separate, but simpler device may well be a more cost effective and more reliable solution.

+1

Interesting info-thanks.
So what you suggest, when you have a single drive like the ensemble?
Best but expensive way to buy TwinStore or make manuals backup with the pc-control sw and an Pc ?

Robert

As far as I am aware it's not an either-or question: a TwinStore can't backup an Ensemble (as far as I have been able to work out).

If you are planning to start with an Ensemble, you will need to back it up through your PC to another "normal" backup disc.

Which leads me to another conclusion: as a second box after an ensemble, another ensemble elsewhere in the house might be the most interesting solution: it doubles your storage (no less than a TwinStore) but also gives you a whole extra digital zone. Negatives: costs more, and doubles your external backup needs.

Re: Wireless. I had good but not flawless results with a 802.11n network with gigabit ports on the routers. If traffic was to high, my "remote" Control:10 would freeze up. Importing discs was painfully slow. I decided to run a wire to the room and all is good now.

Re: Backup. Affirming the need for additional backup through Control:PC or Mac. Get a NAS or hard drive, backup Sooloos and then turn off the backup storage.

Rick,

Sorry about my late response, but I was out of the country for a few days.

You are obviously right, these are Western Digital drives.

No problems at all since early April, never had any "slow" or "corrupt" messages. I have at the moment fed my Sooloos with over 3,500 CDs in lossless, around 150 hi-rez albums and over 1,500 Rhapsody titles.

I am using a bog standard UK ISP, with Cisco 1800 doing the network routing. TwinStores are in the rack, the two C10s and Source are using my LAN. The only change in the set up from standard was giving each Sooloos component a fixed IP address, so it doesn't begin searching the whole LAN each time it is communicating.

aha - to get Rhapsody working in the UK you need to initially set up an account on PC/Mac hidden behind US proxy.

M

Hi Chenko,
Thanks for the info and its great to hear that its all working well for you, do you have an exact model number of the Western Digitals you are using?
I believe the Caviar Black you refer to are 'standard' desktop drives rather than Enterprise ones?
Sorry to be a pain!
Rick