I thought I’d have a spring clean of my Unitiserve, which is something I’ve never done before. I bought it used quite a few years ago and it failed and went back to Naim and all the internals were replaced. Only thing that survived was the case. However, Naim managed to retrieve all the music off the old disk and put it onto the new disk. On hindsight I should have asked them not to bother.
There’s a horrendous amount of stuff on there that I will never bother playing. It’s upsetting me because it has stuff by Robbie Williams, Beyonce and Kylie etc on there and it just doesn’t feel right having that kind of thing sullying my UnitiServe. n-Serve was a thing back then so I suspect that file management was done through that but I’m not sure how to delete stuff off it through Windows. It’ll have a proprietary disk format/file system so if I just delete willy nilly I’ll risk messing up the database on it and not being able to access anything. I should back it up first but not sure how best to do that in a way that I can run a restore if I need to. Any help would be much appreciated.
N-Serve is still available.
(Mac only? I run it on my iPad)
The Desktop Client is probably what you’re after for these tasks?
(I believe it is Windows only, but may be wrong?)
If you search “Unitiserve manual” and select the Naim Audio website link, you’ll find access to the various downloads - software/firmware/manual etc.
As for backup, is your unit the type with built in storage, i.e. 2Tb hard drive? If so, backup would be configured within a browser, using the IP address of your Unitiserve, or the Desktop Client app, to a location on a NAS drive.
Ah. I don’t have a Mac. Linux and Windows only. Yes it’s a 2TB hard drive I think. I’m not even sure how I can interrogate the drive to see how much space is on it. I’ve no problem backing up as I have a 32TB server (16TB in reality through RAID config). I’ll get and sort the backup first and foremost. The only longer term problem with that is if I do the restore (however I do that) it will re-install Michael Buble and Barry Manilow on it again. I just want my stuff on there.
Right, I’ve downloaded the Desktop Client and it cannot find any drives on the network (of which there are many). I’ll need to go away and RTFM. This obviously isn’t as straightforward as it ought to be.
Regarding the (unwanted) contents within a future restore operation, ideally you’ll have deleted any unwanted material before making the backup!
I understand your comments on operating system availability!
It always struck me as odd that Naim appeared to favour Mac only, but then produced a Windows desktop client program, afaik without any Mac counterpart?
I use primarily Linux and, occasionally, a little Windows (usually relegated to a forgotten partition!) and bought an iPad Air solely to access the n-serve app!
I use the iPad almost exclusively as a Naim “remote control” for the Focal/Naim app and n-serve. Oh, and Discourse for this forum….
You will need to turn on SMB1 in your computer as that is what the UnitiServe expects. No later version of SMB will work unfortunately.
Also don’t forget that the operating system is stored on the HDD too and if you delete that by mistake, you will have to send the UnitiServe back to Naim for the OS to be re-loaded. They won’t send you a copy so you can do it yourself and anyway it’s non-trivial to pair the HDD to the mother board in the UnitiServe. The charge for doing this is approximately £500 (I am not joking).
I’m almost certain to be using a newer SMB so I’ll get and sort that.
Yes, the fact that the operating system sits on the disk is also the reason why I’m being cautious. If I brick the unit then it’ll end up as a very expensive door stop because it’s not economically viable to send it back to Naim. It was the first time it went back to them because, as I’ve already said, the only thing that survived was the case and the power lead. Got my money’s worth on that particular visit. It’s operated flawlessly since despite having music by Cliff Richard and Chas and Dave on it.
I might be able to get hold of an iphone off my mate who’s just bought a new phone. What do I do? Install nServe. Is it self explanatory after that? Been a long time since I used an apple device. I don’t know why Naim made such basic functionality as deleting content so bloody difficult for the end user.
Nothing I rip on my Unitiserve includes the album artwork and just has the Naim logo. I thought that was normal. All the stuff that isn’t mine has the album artwork so assumed it had all been downloaded from elsewhere.
Then on your rips, in “edits”, go to Change Cover and hit Web Search. A Google search will probably appear, then find your specific cover. If it doesn’t, you can alter the search to find yours. Touch it until “Use Image” and “Open” appear. Try “Use Image” by itself first. Then “Save”. I’ve done it recently.
Are you talking about editing from within the n-Serve app? I don’t have access to this yet. Probably be Saturday when I can get access to an Apple device.
Yes, it should look similar to the picture above. Also, it would be a good opportunity to fill in the Genre field if missing. I’m just starting with the UServe, and I think I’ll go for the basic “Jazz”, “Classical”, “Rock”, etc. but you’ll see many others to choose from.
For CDs ripped on a Unitiserve this is your only option. Don’t attempt to edit them using a non-Naim interface as this will break the database. You can view these CD rips on a computer, and it might be useful for you to do this so that you can open files and see what artwork and other metadata is there. Then you can decide how properly to deal with any albums that don’t show metadata in the Naim app.
Thanks chaps. I’ve borrowed an ipad and I’m on it now. Freeing disk space up and editing file info now. Finding it quite therapeutic deleting all the crap off there. Of course it now means I’m going to have to buy myself an iOS device of some sort for future edits unless I can do so from within Linux, which is my preferred operating system.
There was a a MacOS version of N-serve and the Windows DTC for PC, but Naim did not ever make a Linux version. I have no idea whether you might be able to run one of those in an emulator on your Linux PC, but just buying an old iPad is undoubtedly the easy way to go.
If you want to free up actual disc space, you’ll need to empty the Recycle Bin, which you can’t access on the iOS app. You’ll need N-Serve on a Mac, the browser interface, or the DTC (I assume, but I don’t use Windows.
Got my money’s worth on that particular visit. It’s operated flawlessly since despite having music by Cliff Richard and Chas and Dave on it.