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[madbrain]

It looks like it's only currently possible to make edits to a local library.

I would be very interested in the ability to do so on a remote library.

Currently, I have my library on a very high power PC that consumes about 200W idle , and 400W with the monitors on.
I cannot afford to run that PC 24/7 for the purpose of sharing the music library.

I have experimented with WOL, but Media Center does not not behave very well when the remote server is unavailable.
I'm not sure this can ever be a viable solution. An option in MC might be added to start a WOL wake-up script when connecting to the library.
But ultimately, in case MC is already started and the Media Server has gone to sleep, things will go bad.

So, I'm looking to stop using the high power PC and WOL for my library.

I have a Raspberry Pi which would seem to be suitable for a low-power server. Throughput is low - both disk and Ethernet - but it should be adequate for purpose of running Media Server.

The problems are :
1) is that there is no optical drive on a Raspberry Pi, and it would seem silly to add one. I suppose it would be possible to physically attach an external USB optical drive in theory. But I still wouldn't want to do all the encoding on the Pi when I have an overclocked i7 5820k.
2) other edits to the library (such as renaming, organizing) etc. can't be made remotely from an MC client
I suppose I could use VNC to the Pi to do those. But it still seems less than ideal given the speed of the device.

Is there any possibility that JRiver might consider adding this capability in the future ?

[marko]

If you set a username and password on the server, edits from the client should propagate back to the server without a problem. The only area where this can get a bit flaky is if you do a lot of playlist editing, it doesn't like that for some reason and results on the server can be, somewhat, shall we say, unexpected.

Aside from playlists, everything else works peachy.

[madbrain]

If you set a username and password on the server, edits from the client should propagate back to the server without a problem. The only area where this can get a bit flaky is if you do a lot of playlist editing, it doesn't like that for some reason and results on the server can be, somewhat, shall we say, unexpected.

Aside from playlists, everything else works peachy.

Thank you very much ! I didn't realize the user/password option would enable edits. Seems to work - edits (just a track rename) were propagated to the server after the client exited, appparently, but I can certainly live with that.

I don't use playlists currently. Would a client be able to maintain its own playlist separate for server playlists ?

Looks like I can go ahead and start moving my library over to a low-power device.
I assume many people are doing that already. Any idea of what to use for backups ?
Seems like the low bandwidth would be an issue for a full backup of the library, not an issue for incremental backups.
I'm not too sure what software to use also. On PC, I use Acronis for backups. Any recommendation for the Pi ?
My collection is currently 1TB so at 100 Mbit ethernet, assuming 90 Mbit effective, a full backup over network would take 22 hours - clearly too much.
Backup done locally from Pi would probably only be twice as fast at most given USB limitation.

[aviateur]

Hi:

I've been using SyncBack Free (see photo) for a couple of years with no issues whatsoever. You are correct. The initial full backup will take some time but after that, the incremental backups only take as much time is required to backup any changes since the last incremental backup occurred. I backup approximately once per week, which on average, takes about 20 minutes. That time value, once again, is dependent on the number of library updates in between backups. My library resides on an internal 4TB, which I backup to an external 4TB drive. Again, the product is free and I have had no issues.

Cheers,
Lawrence

[madbrain]

Hi:

I've been using SyncBack Free (see photo) for a couple of years with no issues whatsoever. You are correct. The initial full backup will take some time but after that, the incremental backups only take as much time is required to backup any changes since the last incremental backup occurred. I backup approximately once per week, which on average, takes about 20 minutes. That time value, once again, is dependent on the number of library updates in between backups. My library resides on an internal 4TB, which I backup to an external 4TB drive. Again, the product is free and I have had no issues.

Cheers,
Lawrence

Thanks. Looks like Syncback free is a Windows program, not Pi based. So how are you using it ? Sharing a file system via SMB from the Pi , and backing it up weekly from your Windows machine using Syncback ? If so, it seems I could do the same with Acronis or any other Windows backup program, right?

[aviateur]

Hi:

SyncBack Free is a Windows program. I use it as local application on my server, the same Windows 7 PC where MC resides. I do not use a Pi component. My audio files reside on a local (not NAS) 4TB HD (the D: drive in the attached image), which is accessible on my home network. All of my HDs are local Western Digital RED 5400RPM drives, which are whisper-quiet. I use a docking station to mount the same type of drives for backup purposes. After backup, these devices can be easily removed and taken off site for secure storage purposes.

Regarding Acronis, I am unfamiliar with this application. I use SyncBack because of the incremental options it provides. I am able to choose in a selective manner, files, folders, and sub-folders. Also, the 'type' of backup was of great importance. I can choose the following options: 'Backup', 'Mirror' or 'Synchronize'. I also can choose selective deleting based on the 'From' or "To' side. The bottom line is that this product gives me all the flexibility I require. I use it for all of my backup needs as you can see in the images below. If Windows backup or Acronis provides these capabilities, then the answer to your question is yes, you should be able to use them for your backup purposes. If not, once again, SyncBack is free.

Regarding my audio listening approach, I use a Linn Akurate DSM, a DAC, to receive the audio files from MC via the network. MC manages the Linn Akurate DSM as a zone. After network settings within MC were chosen, the process became quite transparent. It only takes minimal navigation (pull-down menu, Player > Zone or the toggle keystroke combination Ctrl-T) to switch zones from Server (local PC) to Linn Akurate DSM (remote audio system). I wanted simple. This approach helped me to achieve my goal.

Cheers,
Lawrence

[glynor]

Thank you very much ! I didn't realize the user/password option would enable edits. Seems to work - edits (just a track rename) were propagated to the server after the client exited, appparently, but I can certainly live with that.

It happens automatically when the client exits, or after a short delay (I'm not sure what the timer is, it might depend on a variety of factors). It does not happen ONLY when you exit, though. It is not instantaneous though.