I recently purchased a Uniti Core & NDX2. I ordered a 2TB SSD drive to be used in said Core. I also use an Apple iMac at home.
I managed to get the Core up, running and ripping in no time but I fear I missed an important step - the disk formatting step (Im sure I don’t recall being given the option to choose which format).
My problem is as follows - my iMac can see the Uniti Core as part of my network but I can’t seem to view what’s on the Core from my iMac. It says it won’t allow me to connect.
So after some playing around I see the Core has formatted in NFTS (I’m sure the instructions said it would format to match the computer it attaches to). I’m no IT technician so I’m not sure if this [format] is the reason I can’t see the files or not.
Also I have a vast iTunes library which the app is unable to see.
As it stands I have both my iMac and Core plugged into the same Apple Extreme router via Cat6 cables.
So I am thinking I may need to start afresh - backup what I have already ripped, then reformat the Core to an Apple recognised format, then import my library from the back up.
Does anyone have either a similar experience or the expertise to help? If I do need to reformat the Core can I import a library from a drive formatted in NFTS into a mac format? Or am I simply missing something else?
I was under the impression the Core would be able to find all music files on my network (my network only consists of the Core & my iMac) and stream them as required but as it stands my library is limited to what I have currently ripped.
There are others far better qualified to answer this but I would have thought the disk format should be irrelevant if you are running the Core over a network. It would only be relevant if connected directly to the iMac.
I am not an Apple user so can’t help on why the iMac will not see the Core.
If you can save data (rips) to the disk, the disk has been formatted or did not need to be formatted. You do not need to reformat the disk unless something is wrong with the Core’s software.
Have you ripped to the Music folder (using Naim’s proprietary database for metadata, you shouldn’t do so, in my view) or to the Downloads folder? I have no first-hand knowledge of the Core’s software but I would expect the data in the Downloads folder to be accessible and editable from a Mac and the data from both folders to be accessible for the NDX2.
No, it is not. NTFS is fine.
This is a different issue. Where is your iTunes lib and which app doesn’t see it? For the NDX2 (or the Naim app) to see the files of your iTunes lib, these files have to be server by a UPnP server: either the one running on the Core or another one (like Asset, MinimServer) running elsewhere.
No, restarting from scratch is not going to help if you repeat the same steps.
Have you bought the Core from a dealer? In this case, ask the dealer to setup your Core and your iMac in such a way that the Core can serve the files that are stored on the Mac and that the Mac can access the files that are stored in the Core. This should be very straightforward.
Unfortunately, the Core comes with no proper user guide and thus it is very difficult for not-owners to provide sound advice. Try to get in touch with @davidhendon, he has a lot of experience with the Core and is very supportive.
When you first set up a Core, you select the music store (where the Core saves its own rips). This is normally the internal SSD or HDD, although it doesn’t need to be. When you select the drive you want to use, the next question is something like “This drive will now be formatted. Do you want to proceed?” If you say yes, the formatting happens almost instantly. The main thing that happens then is that the Core installs a downloads folder and music folder. The music folder has LQ, MQ and HQ sub-folders for historical reasons but the MQ folder is used for rips.
I think at this stage you are offered a choice of format type, but the only significance of this would be if you wanted to take the store out of the Core and connect it to a computer directly. If something is addressing it over the network, it’s files that are moved, not the actual bits in whatever format they on the disc!
Can your NDX2 see the Core over the network ok? And can you see the Core and it’s rips with your phone or tablet ok?
@nbpf mentions the decision of ripping in FLAC or WAV. You can tell your Core which to use. It can be changed now if you want, but the existing rips will stay in the format you ripped in. The Core has no capability to transcode on the fly. The dilemma is that some people think WAV sounds better than FLAC (and I think no-one thinks FLAC sounds better than WAV), but WAVs are much larger files (say twice as big) and also Naim uses a proprietary metadata system for WAVs that is fine if you stay inside the Naim environment, but if you want to move your files to another location, like a NAS for example, the metadata isn’t going to make much sense. So FLAC is preferred in terms of portability.
You should be able to see your Core’s music and downloads folders from your Mac and PC. But this can sometimes be a struggle and I don’t know why. I don’t use Mac myself but a mate told me a couple of days ago that he had to restart his Mac and his Core for them to see each other. Restarting your router too is often worth a try. If you do that, turn everything off, let the router completely restart and settle, then turn on the Core and NDX2 and then your PC (or do PC before Core and NDX2, but don’t rush anything).
Regarding iTunes files, the Core should see them, but you will need to define the place they are kept as a Music Share in the Core setup. It’s under Manage Music under the gearwheel icon in the Core page of the app.
Thanks all for your comments, they’re really appreciated.
OK - so it looks like a reboot of iMac, router & Core has done the trick. I can now see a d/l folder and music folder on my iMac.
However what I can’t seem to do is perform a music share. When I ask the Naim app to ‘Share scanning’ the response is ‘No drives found’
Also when I try to perform a back up it also suggests the same ie ‘No drives found’. This is why I thought the differing drive formats might be the problem.
I have a spare external HDD that I can attach via USB to allow a back up but I was hoping to put that back up on a different drive (I have a large back up drive for my iMac (attached directly to my iMac via thunderbolt) that has various volumes and is RAID’ed for all of my back ups) via the network but the Core doesn’t appear to find anything.
So if anyone has an ideas as to why the Core may not be seeing anything else would be appreciated.
“Regarding iTunes files, the Core should see them, but you will need to define the place they are kept as a Music Share in the Core setup. It’s under Manage Music under the gearwheel icon in the Core page of the app”
in the Core setup? If you do not tell the Core where the files are stored first, re-scanning will not bring anything new!
My Core doesn’t see any drives ie when I try to configure a music share it doesn’t see any drives - just gives the response ‘No drives found’.
Just for info the Core is attached to an Apple router via ethernet cable , my iMac is also connected to the same Apple router via Ethernet cable and I have a storage drive attached to my iMac via thunderbolt cable. The only other thing on my network now is the NDX2.
So as it stands Im unable to configure a music share, back up or or see any other drives via the Naim app.
@PeteB: I have no experience with the Naim app but I am not sure that what you are doing is what David has recommended. I might be wrong, of course. What if you go up one level? Are you in the "Manage Music under the gearwheel icon in the Core page of the app” menu mentioned by David? Cannot you get your dealer to setup the Core according to your needs? I am not a fan of the Core but setting up the device should actually be very straightforward: do you have another device with a file browser around? Can you check that from that other device you can actually see the files on the iMac?
I think Pete is in the right place. When you set up a share, the Core scans first for all available shares and then you select what you want. This isn’t the same as scanning for music, which Naim call indexing.
I suspect the problem is indeed that the relevant folder or drive has to be shared. But I’m not a Mac user so I can’t help on that myself. The one thing I would suggest is that after telling the Mac to share the folder or drive, you should restart the Core and the Mac again. I know it’s a pain to do, but it does sometimes help with these Core networking foibles.
On backup, the fact you can’t see any destination drives kind of supports the networking question mark. I just back up to a USB hard drive every few weeks. It’s very easy to do and it works. They are cheap to buy so I have one just for Core backups and it’s kept outside the house somewhere dry and non obvious.
Hello again - I have as far as I can tell I’ve allowed file sharing and done as suggested ie shut down everything again and rebooted but unfortunately the Core still isn’t seeing any network drives.
At least my Mac is able to see the folders now on the Core so that’s some improvement.
I have also attached a Hdd to the front of the Core and it see that drive so at least I can do a back up. I think I’d be divorced if I had to rip my library again!
To be honest I’m not that fussed if I can’t access my iTunes library as its all in 256 which sounds dull now compared to streamed CD’s or Tidal etc - but it would be nice to be able to if you know what I mean.
So Im guessing there’s some permissions somewhere that need altering to allow the Core & Mac to see each other (or at least see the iTunes library).
If I do perform a back up and reformat the Core’s SSD to an apple format will I be able to safely import my library again even if the back up is on a differently formatted HDD? Im guessing the file structures are the same for Windoze and Mac?
I do have a 3rd party fire wall and antivirus which I have been through carefully but can’t see that I have clicked anything that would interfere with network communications (I assume that as I can see the folders on the Core on my Mac).
The next sentence should be completely and utterly irrelevant but, since this is what I have to do to my NAS for the Core to see it when backing up, it may give some clues.
The two things I do when I want to backup to the NAS is a) enable Guest user and b) set SMB status to allow SMB1.
No don’t do this! You are not understanding what I am saying about file formats! The format is just about how the file is translated to bits on the disc. As soon as it’s off the disc, it’s the same file. Think of it as passengers in a car. The car may be diesel (Windows NTFS) or petrol (Apple file format) but the passengers (your music files) can be transported the same in either and can move unaffected from one to the other.
Whether the Core can recognise your Apple files is nothing to do with the disc format at all. It will recognise the file formats that its firmware is written to recognise, which is all of the common ones.
It’s a network, permissions, etc issue you have, not that you haven’t formatted the Core disc in one format or another. As I said before the Core disc format only matters if you intend to take that disc out and put it inside a machine that runs a particular operating system. In the Core it can be anything and it makes no difference at all!
Best
The Core (unlike the US/HDX) is happy to use SMB 1, 2 or 3 but if the NAS needs SMB1 turning on then that would explain the problem. If the NAS has an up to date OS then SMB1 ought to be irrelevant. Not sure that this is applicable to a Core seeing a Mac though.
My question about reformatting the core was purely academic. I appreciate that’s how I started the thread but I did think it may need prove to be easier in the future. I will however leave things as they are.
One question about the back ups you may be able to help with. Does the Core allow incremental back ups? I’m approx 2/3rds through ripping a 900-1000 disc library. I have asked the Core to back up to the drive attached via USB on the front, which its doing as wel speak. I did however manage to press cancel on my first attempt. So I started it again and it then wanted to format the drive again - which makes me think it will want to do this again when I want to make my next back up.
I will continue to research the networking issues and I will report back if I do manage to find the solution.
On the backups, yes they are incremental. So you do the first backup, it completes (it takes a long time, so hours not minutes).
Then a week or month or whatever later, you plug the same disc in, Tell it to do a backup, it should offer you the existing backup disc and then you tell it to start the backup. If it offers to reformat the backup disc, decline, because it’s not working right. (You might need to restart the Core again…)
It should think for a minute or so and then tell you how many files it needs to back up, one file per track obviously, then it plods through them. Each file will take between 10 secs and a couple of minutes, depending on the length.
Once it has finished, you can see a report in the backup monitor in the app. Once the backup has finished, you can just unplug the USB HDD. No need to unplug safely or anything, but I always do these things slowly to make sure the computer inside is ahead of me, as it were.
