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[TristanG]

I am searching for a new storage solution based on M.2 SSDs.
Asustor has a new NAS with 4 x M.2 SSD slots, but of course no Windows on it.
In the Asus app store there is Roon as Media Server available, but not JRiver Media Center.
You would have much more custumers, if there would be NAS-support.

Tristan

[JimH]

I'm not convinced that NAS storage works well.  There are lots of problems.

People sometimes use them because they think they're eliminating a computer and that might sound better, but they are computers, and worse, they're not standardized like mainstream OS's.

If you're looking for low powered devices, consider a Raspberry Pi or Intel NUC.

[zybex]

You can build a regular PC and then add one or 2 of these 4xM2 PCIe cards, they even support PCIe 4:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09XSY3JVS?th=1

Using it as a NAS though... you'll have a storage pool capable of 30 GB/sec connected to a Gigabit link (110 MB/sec), complete waste. Even with 10Gbps LAN, that's only ~ 1.1 GB/sec. It's only worth it if you're storing millions of very small files due to latency advantage of SSD/M2.

[TristanG]

Thanks for the quick answers.
Indeed, I use a NUC already in my home office. Since it still has a fan, I'm looking for a silent PC in my living room.
An alternative to a NAS would be a storage box with M.2 SSDs like this:

https://www.alternate.de/html/product/1467733?partner=goadwoPLA

Unfortunately, there is no NAS nor PC like this available on the hole market. Therefore, I would still have two devices 24/7 with costs, which are much higher in Germany than in the US - also one device would be much more, what our government - and Bill Gates also, I assume - wants: Green-IT.

Furthermore, the abovementioned M.2-box is almost the price of the Asustor:

https://www.asustor.com/de/product?p_id=76

Unfortunately, it seems not possible to install Windows on it, despite the fact, that it has a Quad Core CPU. Once more: It' possible to install Roon Server from Asus, why not MC?

I really love MC and am customer since decades with a huge collection of ripped CDs, mainly classical  (what a pity that you are so far away to have a personal look - and hear - what a classical music nerd does with computer audio and what are the special requirements).

By the way: All the best for 2023! And Jim, you are warm heartly invited to visit me and my Stereo!

Tristan

[EnglishTiger]

Unfortunately, there is no NAS nor PC like this available on the hole market. Therefore, I would still have two devices 24/7 with costs, which are much higher in Germany than in the US - also one device would be much more, what our government - and Bill Gates also, I assume - wants: Green-IT.

Tristan

Don't forget that no matter which box you purchase neither of them have any M2 Cards in them and those things tend to cost 2 x the price of the same sized SSD's

[Awesome Donkey]

Once more: It' possible to install Roon Server from Asus, why not MC?

It's simple, they don't support installing MC on NASes nor do they develop MC to do so. They were burned years ago when they had a QNAP version for awhile, which due to various issues got pulled and discontinued. So once bitten, twice shy. You can do a search of the forums for QNAP to read more about that one.

You might be able to use Docker, not sure with an Asustor, but that's a configuration not officially supported by JRiver so you'd be on your own there if anything happens.

IMO, it'd be easier to use a NUC and install Windows or Linux on that. Or even a small form factor PC with ITX motherboard in a small case. Or if it's audio only (which looks like is the case here) a Raspberry Pi would work fantastic. Honestly? I wouldn't buy a pre-built NAS chassis either (Synology, QNAP, Asustor, etc.), I'd instead opt to building my own NAS using TrueNAS or unRAID running on it, it'd be cheaper and likely more reliable. I'm also with zybex of the opinion that using SSDs would be a complete waste, as you'd get nowhere close to the advertised SSD speeds due to LAN speed limitations. That's where one of the benefits to building your own NAS would be allowing a Mellanox 40 gig network card to be used. Of course you'd have to upgrade your local network to take advantage of 40 gig too. But even then I'd find it to be a waste. *shrugs*

If you're just looking to playback audio, I find with my NAS, MC30 server on a Raspberry Pi 4 running Ubuntu 64-bit and my overall network (which both the NAS and Pi are connected via 1 gig direct ethernet to my 2 1 gig ports on my router) that playing back FLAC files (even 24-bit/192 kHz) on devices (especially devices that use Wi-Fi 6 and better) is almost instantaneous, using nothing but simple 7200 RPM hard drives. So yeah, for just audio it's even harder to justify using SSDs because the majority of the performance is going to be wasted.