Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Sooloos Backup Strategy

I can also confirm that the 3Tb drives (Hitachi) do not work in the Ensemble either (It just repeatedly gives 4 short beeps - different to the formatting ones)


I'm just about to add a TwinStore to my system (to replace the Ensemble) and I understand that I have to do a full backup from the ensemble, switch it off, restart the Core and then restore to the TwinStore. Is that really the only way?

Couple of future questions:-

If I have 3 storage devices (say a C15, a TwinStore and an Ensemble) which one will it save newly imported media to? I'm guessing it's the one with the most free space or can you set a 'Primary'?

If I have 2 storage devices (a c15 & a TwinStore) both full of music; can you backup each one separately? or can you only just backup all the music in the system? If that is the case will it split backups across disks?

Is the restore clever enough to only restore missing albums from the failed unit?

I guess if that is the case a work around is to switch off all other storage units when doing a backup?

Thanks
Duncan

Hi Duncan, Answers / comments below.

My C15 storage is presently turned off; however at some point in time I may need it again. In which case I think I would like to use it for just Hi-Def downloads and keep the TwinStore for CDs, but this would mean powering off the TwinStore before importing the Hi-Def files and possibly (depending on priority of storage selection) disabling the C15 storage before ripping a CD which is a right PITA.

I just tried directly copying my HDD, working in an Ensemble, but my PC could not recognize it at all. It seems the most easy way to have an exact copy without any loss of any kind of info.

Any experiences/solutions?

Sooloos format is incompatible with PC format that is why you can't see it, you could use Duncan's Sooloos interrogator program to to read the copied disk and check what is backed up, or you can run the Sooloos backup program from Control:PC.
Personally I moved to Roon where all files are kept in native format and so can be read by PC or Mac, Sooloos encrypts the files.

Russ

Look on Control:PC to find out the IP Address of your Ensemble.

Then on your computer, map to the Ensemble drive using

"smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/Music/music2"... where XXX.XXX is the IP address of your Ensemble.

Then use FreeFileSync [or similar] to Sync what's on your Ensemble drive to another Drive or NAS.

You can also use FreeFileSync to set up a nightly / weekly Sync.

Thanks, I'll try this out. Very curious if it works for me. Somehow an exact copy of the disk and putting it elsewhere out of the house seemed the safest option to me.

Probably one of the worst options - if you create an exact copy of the disc, in the event that Ensemble failing, you would not be able to restore it to anything other than an Ensemble (or another device with compatible disc format to ensemble).

This is especially true with RAID devices where sometimes, even RAID firmware differences is enough to make a physical device become incompatible.

What you want is a copy of the disc contents (or a Sooloos backup although some people seem to have issues with this) stored on media with the most compatible disc format. That way, if you decide to change hardware or OS, you can still read the backup contents.

This device and similar has also been used by a number of people on here

Take Disk out of Ensemble and put into Slot A

Put new 3.5" Drive into Slot B

Press Clone button on the side

2-3 hours later, you have a cloned drive

FreeFileSync [and similar] creates a copy of the Files, which in turn can be copied back onto ANY Sooloos Store

Inaddition, I was wondering whether exporting as FLAC is an option?

BTW, thanks for your contribution.

It's an option but it's not a substitute Sooloos backup, with an export you would have to import each album again back into Sooloos again ... all metadata corrections, play counts, import date would be reset.

Now a native export is just what you need if moving to another music streamer like Roon for example.

Apologies for reviving an old thread but I'm trying to understand the usefulness of a Sooloos backup in a time where the cores are no longer made or supported at hardware level.

Case in point is my C15 has failed and although I have an up to date backup on an external drive there seems to be no way of accessing the music on it. I'm hoping the issue was limited to the power brick which I am in the process of replacing but if my unit is truly dead and beyond repair am I completely stuck and have to reimport every CD again into my computer if I want an electronic library?

I have a feeling a bit perfect export is the safest way to go in these times and might be worth baring in mind for all current Sooloos users. Please correct me if I'm wrong!?