unitiserve 2tb back up to a q nap n.a.s.

To all , i think once again i will go for the core, my local dealer can transfer files for me and advise on backing up (hopefully easier than the unitiserve) and i can have more storage, and my sanity back ! appreciate all your help, cheers carl.

Carl
Backup of the Core to a USB drive is trivially easy to do, although you have to remember to do it. You can also back up to a NAS if you want, but you have the choice anyway.

If you need any help with the Core, start a new thread and explain the issue. One of us regular Core users will probably be able to help.

Best

David

If my Unitiserve dies, I will not be replacing it with a Core! It may be simpler to manage with an iOS/Android only interface, but it seems to have too many limitations for my liking.

Hi chris, apart from all my other problems ive found the uniti serve to be a bit problematic, the main one being it sometimes switches itself off for no reason, the core sounds easier to back up and presumably more user friendly? cheers.

Hi david, im hoping i can just plug it into the back of the qnap n.a.s. (which i keep upstairs) when ive physically finished ripping all my cd,s (downstairs) then anything else i add will be file transfer, thus having loads of back ups, it can’t be any more difficult than the uniti serve surely?!! cheers

You can import files from anywhere quite simply. Or you can leave them where they are and tell the Core that is a Music Share, in which case the Core will index all those files. An important thing to know is that you have one Music Store, which is where the Core puts its own rips and a number of Music Shares. Normally people make the internal HD or SSD the one Music Store, but you could have anything else as the one Music Store if you want. Also if you have one HD as the Music Store and it gets full, you can demote that to a Music Share and define something else as the Music Store.

One point to bear in mind though is that Naim use a different system for metadata for WAV files than anyone else. If you or your dealer import the music from a Unitiserve, the metadata will be handled fine but if you have copies of Naim rips in WAV and you import them from a NAS say, or just index the NAS as a Share, the metadata probably won’t work and will require work later. The Core is cautious about accepting imports as genuine Naim rips, so it would be good to let your dealer do this for you if they are willing. It is often recommended that if you have rips saved as WAVs in a Unitiserve, then it is worth getting the Unitiserve to transcode them to FLACs before you let it go. That helps a lot with metadata outside the Music Store, but the Core doesn’t provide a way to transcode from FLAC back to WAV on the fly and many people prefer the sound quality of WAV over FLAC.

Anyway I wiuldn’t let this put you off. I just leave everything in WAV and it just works for me.

Best

David

Hi, I had similar problems when I had a unitiserve. I got Naim support to sort out the back-up. Phil Harris connected to my network and sorted it all out. Worked perfectly for years until I sold the u-serve.

Hi, thanks for suggestion, its been mentioned before that phil harris may no longer be with naim, i have not tried contacting them yet as im trying to work out why my downloads music has disappeared from uniti serve, all my ripped cds are there but no downloads, i can see the folder in my iMac finder and play the music streams from unitiserve to my naim nova but they are missing from the uniti serve data base! i would like to get all my music back on the unitiserve so then if i do decide to get a core (and its looking that way) i can just copy over to the core, ive given up trying to work out the backup myself at this point. many thanks carl.

Hi doncarlos,

If you have accidentally deleted the downloads share, please see the following thread on how to reinstate it:

Regards
Neil.

Once you have managed to get the files onto the Qnap you don’t need a Core. Load Asset onto the Qnap and it will sound as good if not better than the Serve.

hi thanks for the info, the uniti serve has now gone into re building data base , into its second day now , how long will it take ? maybe forever who knows. i have never known such a troublesome piece of equipment ever.

hi just before the uniti serve decided to rebuild the data base i did try putting some files into a different folder, these were from a copy i had made of the mq folder , they copied over ok and i thought i was on to something BUT they were in alphabetical order not album order so ok but not great , still thinking about the core, cheers.

If you get the Serve to convert wav to flac they will get the right metadata and work as you want. The Core is great for convenient ripping but won’t sound better than the Qnap. It’s whether that’s worth £2,000.

I think you must have hit the “Rebuild DB” button via DTC - I don’t think the unit itself decides to do it. It will schedule a rebuild on the next boot. How long it will take depends on how large the library is.

Two days does seem excessive, even for a maxed out HDD.
You may need to reboot it - always try from the touch logo or remote before resorting to pulling the plug.

Regards
Neil.

Hi all, i ripped my cds in flac with the us (before it decided to play up) as i said in a previous post i was able to make a copy of the mq folder (the downloads folder still lost but not a problem as i still have them on my iMac) but when i copied and pasted a couple of the mq files into a qnap nas folder the tracks were all in alphabetical order and not cd running order, not a major problem i admit but not ideal either, i could (as has been suggested) not use the us /core and just rip the cds on a lap top i have with a cd drive and use something like db power amp ? im actually thinking this might be easier but would there be any degradation in sound quality as im presuming the us/core has much better electronics than my humble windows 7 lap top? i could then copy them over to my nas quite easily via an external hard drive and have two backups (the nas is set up to mirror raid 1 i think it is) Anyway the us data base rebuild still goes on, but im now suspecting the cmos battery, i could quite easily change this and i could connect my laptop to us via a vga cable and could plug in a usb mouse and keyboard as i understand the process is quite easy having read some helpful posts elsewhere on the forums. However if i can get the us working again i will still be left with the original backing up problem i had in the first place, i suppose its worth a try, anyone know what type of battery the cmos is ? im guessing its a larger version of a hearing aid type? as always thanks to you all for your help, cheers carl.

If the unit is telling you it is rebuilding the database, then it will be nothing to do with the CMOS battery.

Sounds like it is struggling to do the rebuild.

Perhaps @Stevesky might be able to help you out remotely?

Regards
Neil.

Try putting a free trial version of Asset on your Qnap. As the files are already in flac they should work fine and you will see the tracks in the right order. Ripping CDs with a laptop using dbpoweramp will provide results as good as using the Serve.

When accessing the files via a computer, have you made any changes to them at all, other than taking copies?

Hi all, thanks for all your advice, the naim logo is still flashing, i won’t be able to do anything for a few days as im on holiday but rest assured when i get back im right on the case again, many thanks carl.

Hi @doncarlos

Contact our helpdesk regarding your problematic Unitiserve. If its a heavy weight one to resolve, then I have no problems taking on the case, logging in to the server and (hopefully) sorting it out. No Unitiserve has beaten me yet… :slight_smile:

Best regards

Steve Harris
Software Director

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