Best >8TB music collection server setup.

[Harryup]

When having a collection of the size >8TB most server setups are rather slow in browsing mode via a player.
I have access to Mac, PC or NAS. Workstations and server software, sql software etc. etc. Player setup could be either a MacMini (OSX or WIN), Oppo 95 or 105, Squeezeboxes, or maybe a Linn or Naim. The sound quality is of course most important but the browsing folder speed must be rather high as well.
According to my experiences what is working for a couple of 2TB could be like syrup if the collections is a bit bigger.
Any suggestions and experiences are welcome.
Thanks in advance

Harry

 

[Old Listener]

J River player software on Windows works well for very large collections ( > 300,000 tracks). I don't know how the Mac version works for very large collections.

Browsing by tags might be faster than browsing by folders.

Using locally attached hard drives rather than network storage might help with speed.

 

[Harryup]

Having the hard drives in the listening room is not an option and the case is just browsing folders. For my personal use I might be a bit old fashioned but I'm not so comfortable with tags. Finding looking at folder names or covers are closer to looking thru my record collection. But thanks anyway.

Harryup

 

[Sauerball]

I use both 4TB drives on my Mac Pro (you can have up to four) and a QNAP NAS. I rip and tag files to a drive on the Mac and have the folders cloned to the NAS - so I have two copies of everything. In my listening room I am currently using a CAPS v3 PC running Windows Server 2012. The Windows PC is connected to the NAS by ethernet.

You are really asking two distinct questions: how to store and how to play. I personally agree, I don't want the big spinning drives in my listening room. While I am currently using a Windows based playback machine, I have used a Mac Mini in the past as well as a Linn DS.

I am currently using Jriver on my Windows machine as Old Listener suggests. It does handle the large library with no problem (I've got around 2TB at the moment) and I usually browse by album, using cover art.

You can really go a lot of ways here. Unless you have a big PC, a NAS probably makes the most sense. Just get a four or six bay QNAP or Synology and you'll have plenty of room.

 

[Harryup]

I do have MacMinis, 3psc 6-bay ReadyNas Ultra, pc running Server 2012 and other Win 7 and 8's. So I already have the storage of the files but not as speedy presentation in folder view or cover view. According to my findings when the database grows the speed is really slowing down, 2TB are not comparable to what happens when you have 8TB. I will try more of the JRiver which I like but for now I don't find it as speedy as I would like. The format is Flac and resolution mostly 44/16 but I'm buying more and more of highrez.
Working as system administrator I feel like having the hardware under control, just a more of an optimization for speedier browsing of 8TB is the main problem without loosing quality.

/Harry

 

[DonH50]

Don't forget the drives themselves... For a collection of that size I would be using a RAID 10 array or similar to optimize speed and safety (data backup). HW solutions using a ROC (RAID on chip) based HBA (host based adapter) from LSI or other company are much faster than SW-based or most MB (motherboard) solutions. You can use SATA drives with the HBA; SAS would be more reliable but more costly. You could even go SSD but that would be way more costly (though much faster, natch).

 

[Sauerball]

Also the server software matters. As said, I have had no speed issues with Jriver, but I know others like Asset and Mimim. Maybe give those a try?

 

[Harryup]

SSD is for the moment not an option
But I will look into the server softwares.
Of course there is always faster hardware to buy but it is not the case that I would like to spend a fortune on that certainly not if the software can't benefit from that.
Is there any software "out there" that are building up a SQL database that will be possible to run in a more professional way for instance?

/Harry

 

[rrr]

You could consider a 4 disc ReadyNas server from Linksys. Set up with RAID 5 and using 4 TB drives you would be able to accommodate your 8T collection with the safety of the RAID 5. I don't particularly care for Jriver media center but it would work OK for you and the database handling would probably be OK.

 

[Harryup]

I do have access to Nas and servers already.
"I do have MacMinis, 3psc 6-bay ReadyNas Ultra, pc running Server 2012 and other Win 7 and 8's"

I will try the recommended server software.

Harrryup

 

[tboooe]

Here is my setup which works great for my streaming both my large music and movie collection:

8tb NAS upstairs with my wireless N router. The NAS is set up as raid 5 with another raid used as backup.
Downstairs I have several low powered Atom 525 based pcs running Windows Server 2012
Both pcs stream wirelessly
On the music PC I have Jriver running
I use my iPad running Jremote to access my music.
Browsing my 30k + collection is no problem and there is hardly ever any dropouts.

Using this set up I can even stream 1080p movies. No need for any high powered pcs. Atoms with hardware acceleration work great. Good luck.

In the near future I intend to build a better music PC with improved power supply and audiophile USB card.

 

[radicalsteve]

I have a 5TB library duplicated on two systems, feeding a) mac mini / exasound Dac via USB or b) macbook / MDHT havana Dac directly via usb. The storage is a) LaCie 5big thunderbolt 5x2TB drives in raid0 mode b) an older 4 bay Drobo using their beyondRAID configuration 3+3+2+2 TB drives . Itunes struggled with the size of the library and since so many of my files are in flac so I went with the new, still beta, JRiver for OS Mavericks 10.9.2

Both storage systems are quiet, fast no dropouts. Haven't tried NAS yet and that will be my next step for my home system a)

 

[Audioseduction]

Here is my setup which works great for my streaming both my large music and movie collection:

8tb NAS upstairs with my wireless N router. The NAS is set up as raid 5 with another raid used as backup.
Downstairs I have several low powered Atom 525 based pcs running Windows Server 2012
Both pcs stream wirelessly
On the music PC I have Jriver running
I use my iPad running Jremote to access my music.
Browsing my 30k + collection is no problem and there is hardly ever any dropouts.

Using this set up I can even stream 1080p movies. No need for any high powered pcs. Atoms with hardware acceleration work great. Good luck.

In the near future I intend to build a better music PC with improved power supply and audiophile USB card.

Are you able to use Red October HQ for video with your Atom 525 based pc for best video playback?