I was an early adopter of the UnitiServe, which has, bar one return to HQ about 8 years ago, has served me well (excuse the pun).
Sadly, after a recent power cut, and the subsequent flashing light on the front panel, investigation and replacement of the little internal battery (which I have done a couple of times before ), the hard drive refuses to boot and I have accepted it is the end.
Thankfully, everything was backed up on a NAS drive and so all is not lost.
I have already sourced a s/h Innuous Zen Mini Mk3 and LPS and, apart from some serious faffing about, have managed to import all of my files and am sitting listening to my new toy as I type.
Only drawback is that the naim app cannot ‘see’ and effect control over the new server, save control the volume once a track is playing. However, the Innuous Sense app is a doddle to use and I am one happier chap that I was a week or so ago.
Sorry to hear about your Unitiserve. A few years back I suffered a similar failure of my Naim HDX. Like you I enjoyed using the Naim app. The solution for me was to get the Innuos Zenith mk3 together with a Chord Qutest DAC. I very quickly got on top of the Innuos Sense control and never had an issue with it. Best thing was that we noticed an improvement in the SQ straightaway with the new setup. Enjoy your Innuos.
I was happy to start with the UnitiServe, as it introduced me to the world of in-home streaming and taught me a lot about home networking. It actually taught me MORE than I really wanted to know as it was occasionally pretty frustrating to get backups working or find ‘lost’ files when there was an inhospitable character in the name of a file.
My journey was UServe…then on to a Synology nas running Asset . . . then on to a Roon Nucleus. Touch wood – the NUC has been flawless for years and years now (since late 2018). I do automatic backups of it to Dropbox..so if/when a drive fails I have a backup!
I’ve seen some with Rpi or mini ITX connected to slot loading drives. They have had new back plates fitted though which is non trivial. And unlike the US, their power supply was relocated internally. Let’s face it, the US looks way nicer than the Core.
You do know that after you change the UnitiServe CMOS battery, you have to connect a keyboard and screen so that you can reload the Naim BIOS rather than the generic BIOS that loads by default? It’s trivially easy to do and if you don’t do it then the UnitiServe won’t work.
This has been discussed several times in the forum so you should be able to find those threads. But otherwise take it to a good Naim dealer and they should be able to do it while you wait.