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[Samson]

Hi Guys

I bought a seagate wireless plus drive and placed music on it. I pointed MC to the files on the the new mapped network drive. All good when streaming wirelessly. When I want to connect the drive phyically via USB a new drive letter is required and the music files are no longer seen/playable within MC.

Is there a way to easily play files from a NAS [edit-using just one MC Library] whether physically connected or connected by WiFi mapped drive eg have same drive letter or some workaround ?

Thanks
David

[connersw]

Have you tried using a UNC network path instead of a Drive letter?

[Samson]

Have you tried using a UNC network path instead of a Drive letter?

No, IIRC Jmone uses UNC paths but not sure why. Im not familiar with them but will explore,thanks

[Samson]

read about unc paths but still confused how to implement in MC.

 does the physical drive get mounted as a drive (drive letter M in this case) when physically connected.....and when wireless, use the UNC path ?  So instead of mapping to the M drive I added it as a network location with UNC path which shows it as a letterless folder under the mounted drives in "My Computer".Not sure how to point MC to the files unless you maintain two separate libraries, one for the mounted drive and one for the UNC path ??

My ideal is to have one MC library whether the NAS was wirelessly or physically connected ?

Thanks for any thoughts

[Samson]

The reason for wanting to connect a NAS via usb is that sometimes I have found the wireless connection is less well behaved. However, when connected it is a whole new filepath and dictates a separate Library for MC to play it from within MC. The workaround for when directly connected is just play files from within windows explorer.

I was hoping UNC paths may magically solve the problem but AFAIK it does not. To change to a UNC path in MC you can use library tools > Rename,Move & Copy > Find & Replace and change the local file system path to a UNC path. In JRiver the Filepath will reflect this new path eg \\Drivename\sharename\artistname\albumname\track. You can also use a UNC path to a local folder if you want but it will still have a different filepath to that of the shared filepath. For JRiver this means the music files on a NAS will need a separate library when connected wirelessly vs directly via USB. In other words the same deal as using a mapped drive letter for the share and different drive letter when drive is mounted. Either way, 2 libraries. You would need a 3rd party sync program to sync these libraries [EDIT- come to think of it syncing wouldnt work as you would need to maintain separate filepaths not synced to same path]. As above,The workaround for when directly connected is just play files from within windows explorer.

[JimH]

Did you try to "assign" a drive letter to the path?

[Samson]

Did you try to "assign" a drive letter to the path?

Hi Jim, not sure i understand you, but assigning a drive letter to the USB path requires a different drive letter for the mapped network path, thus 2 separate drive letters and two separate libraries required in MC...which is where I started.

Using UNC paths still require two distinct paths whether both UNC paths (no drive letters) or one UNC and one Mounted drive (with assigned drive letter). All paths 'lead to Rome' so to speak ie the same destination but have different filepaths to get there.

Pure speculation on my part, but the only way it would work is if MC sees the same filepath when USB or network connected. Since there are so many NAS users out there I was hoping for a clear answer,either no can do or yes and here's how.

(hope you are well and great to see Matt back)
David

[Carcajou]

Bonjour Samson,

I faced a relatively similar situation with a NAS drive and a USB drive containing the same JRiver library media content - this post may be relevant:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=86123.0

Regards

Carcajou

[Samson]

Bonjour Samson,

I faced a relatively similar situation with a NAS drive and a USB drive containing the same JRiver library media content - this post may be relevant:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=86123.0

Regards

Carcajou

Bonjour Carcajou,
thanks so much for the link.It reinforces to me that what we are trying to achieve is not possible. Like you, on my laptop, I wanted one MC library which would point to media on the same physical external hard drive whether network (UNC paths or mapped drive letter) or usb (drive letter) connected.I also considered the various workarounds prior to reading the link. I agree repeatedly reassigning the drive letter in computer management when changing connections is the easiest workaround.

Even easier, for me, was just to to stick with a permanent USB connection.This overcame some dropout problems using my little seagate NAS drive. The downside is using "dirty" usb power (instead of battery option on the seagate) and sharing the same bus for hard drive and external dac. The latter are "audiophile" concerns unrelated to MC.

Thanks again
David

[Carcajou]

Bonjour Samson,

As for drive letters - my NAS drive is always mapped to Z:\ - when I disconnect it - the USB drive I connect for "away from home" usage to the laptop is mapped, by default, to Z:\ also - so it is seamless to JRiver.  When both NAS and USB drive are connected - I make sure the NAS drive connects first and gets mapped to Z:\ and then the USB drive is connected and mapped to an available letter in the E to G range (this for copy from NAS to USB drive - the folder structure and file content of the USB drive is a perfect copy of the NAS drive content). But - like you - my preference would be to have a parameter in JRiver to set the Drive letter the library should point to. I could then have JRiver to point to any drive letter....as required

As for Audiophile music transfer -  I have never tried to connect JRiver to a Wifi NAS - My laptop and NAS drive are connected to a 1Gb (802.11AC) router via Cat 6 cabling I had installed a year ago in each rooms during the construction of my new condo. I have always preferred TCP protocols for data streaming over Structured Cabling (Cat 5 or 6) for music. I will probably stream wirelessly when Network Audio Player will be equipped by 802.11AC Wifi adapters....few are available now....I will wait...

Regards

Carcajou

[Samson]

Bonjour Samson,

As for drive letters - my NAS drive is always mapped to Z:\ - when I disconnect it - the USB drive I connect for "away from home" usage to the laptop is mapped, by default, to Z:\ also - so it is seamless to JRiver.  When both NAS and USB drive are connected - I make sure the NAS drive connects first and gets mapped to Z:\ and then the USB drive is connected and mapped to an available letter in the E to G range (this for copy from NAS to USB drive - the folder structure and file content of the USB drive is a perfect copy of the NAS drive content).

As I understand it, you have two physical external drives,one the NAS and the other one ,USB. If so, yes, your arrangement should and as you have confirmed, does work. My problem is because the NAS drive and USB drive are one and the same, just one drive sometimes connected via network and sometimes connected by USB.

But - like you - my preference would be to have a parameter in JRiver to set the Drive letter the library should point to. I could then have JRiver to point to any drive letter....as required

This confuses me.In your case,with 2 drives, windows would still need different drive letters when both connected at the same time. When you copy your NAS to USB drive library it works fine because the USB drive will end up with the updated library still pointing to Z, irrespective of what drive letter used to mount the USB drive.

MC does have the relatively simple "parameter" to set the drive letter the library should point to. It is the "find and replace" tool.....it finds one drive letter and changes for another drive letter, thus changing the filepath MC points to. It is relatively quick and painless most times.However for me, when connected wirelessly, it could 'choke', freezing the operation only half completed, needing a few repeats to get it right. For you, this process isnt required.

As for Audiophile music transfer -  I have never tried to connect JRiver to a Wifi NAS - My laptop and NAS drive are connected to a 1Gb (802.11AC) router via Cat 6 cabling I had installed a year ago in each rooms during the construction of my new condo. I have always preferred TCP protocols for data streaming over Structured Cabling (Cat 5 or 6) for music. I will probably stream wirelessly when Network Audio Player will be equipped by 802.11AC Wifi adapters....few are available now....I will wait...

Yes, I agree. This is my first try with a NAS or wireless connection to my main HiFi gear. I will eventually build my own server,linear power supply, and place music on SSD drives connected with SATA and any external drives with eSATA. This was always the plan.

Regards

David

[Carcajou]

Bonjour Samson,

My library counts nearly 20000 files - I prefer not to use the library tools to massively replace the drive letter in JRiver - this is invasive and not elegant - and as you said - what happens to the library integrity if the replace process is stopped before completion?  - I prefer to leave the library stable...it is easier for me to play with windows and letter drive mapping. The only time I use library tools is if I rip or acquire media that I put into a "landing zone" - I will then later use the "move & copy files" function to put the media files in the right folder and have JRiver to point to it. 

Your future server will be a no compromise one. Very interesting.

Regards

Carcajou

[Carcajou]

Samsons,

I realized I have not answered one of you question.  Here it is

Operation at home (One drive only)
In normal operation mode (at home) only the NAS drive is connected and mapped to Z:\

Operation away from home (One drive only)
During away from home operation only the USB drive is connected and mapped to Z:\

Content update of the USB drive operation (Two drives)
The only time I have both the NAS drive and the USB drive connected is right after I have acquired some media by ripping or download onto the NAS drive. Then the NAS drive is mapped to Z:\ and the USB drive is mapped with a letter from the E:\ to G:\ range. The media are then copied from the NAS drive to the USB drive to keep it in perfect content sync with the NAS drive.  I also have a daily automated backup process that backs up the NAS drive and my Laptop disk drive to other USB drives...not discussed here. And these drives are kept in a secure location away from home. I could then use these backups to rebuild the content of my NAS drive. The JRiver library is back up along with the Laptop backup.

Regards

Carcajou

[Samson]

Hi Carcajou,
Yes, your last two posts elaborates on how I already understood your situation with the two drives. I agree with your approach and would not use the Library find and replace tool.

Yes the new server will be a fanless case design using internal SSD's  (no electrical or acoustic noise) using a HDPlex case and LPSU based on modifying the CAPS design ( see computer audiophile website for details of CAPS). I also have a large number of files and my more 'archive' (seldom played) stuff will be on external eSATA spinners so at least not share the same USB bus as the external DAC. JRiver forum isnt for discussing audiophile issues so if interested have a look on Computer audiophile forum and HDPlex forum.

Cheers
David