This afternoon I bit the bullet, inserted my 1TB drive into my Nova, switched on server mode, and waited over 90 minutes for it to index my 1965 albums. However, once done, my testing showed no problems listing and playing the 20 or so tracks I selected randomly.
Now, if the software requires frequent re-indexing, this is a non-starter. But in theory, it did work on my system.
I should add that when testing the 1TB drive in non-server mode, access to the tracks through navigation of the file system was pretty much instantaneous - and that test was done with a Muso.
jegreenwod, thank you! I took your message as a prompt to have another try before deciding on the future of my Atomā¦
I attached my Samsung T7 SSD (with the ~1200 albums in question, 130Gb) - which (the albums) seem to present these indexing difficulties to my Uniti Atom - and left the appliance in Server mode for an extended time period. After ~1hour, ~50% of the albums seemed to have been indexed and were visible and playable in both, server mode and non-server (USB) mode.
After ~5 hours, apparently all albums had been indexed, were visible and playable in server mode. Similarly, all albums seemed to be registered in non-server (USB) mode, when accessed via a Tablet with the Naim Focal App. HOWEVER, after ~5 and ~7 hours only 50% of the albums were registered and visible in USB mode, when accessed via the Atom remote.
As to your suggestion, SiBrighton, I should contact the dealer and/or Naim support asking for advice. Of course I did. The former understandably directed me to Naim support. After a lively exchange of emails with Naim support (which reacted promptly and efficiently), Naim support eventually seemed to be cognizant and aware of a weakness as far as the indexing of music from USB drives is concerned, and they strongly advised me to install a NAS drive.
You donāt really need an NAS - I use a regular external hard drive (large enough for my complete 2TB music collection). I have no problem with JRiver and I tested the free version of Minim, which seemed to work.
With only 130GB, you probably could use a 256GB USB stick.
Edit - to be clear, the hard drive is connected to my computer.
Reminder: as long as you only access attached media on the very device you have connected them to: you donāt need to enable āserver modeā.
Browsing the drive via the server view should work without. (It does for me.)
To be clear, @AndyGe has been in touch with Naim support, who recommended he get an NAS after his repeated difficulties with attaching a USB stick and/or SSD drive.
My recommendation was to simply attach a drive or a high capacity USB stick to his computer, thus avoiding the need for a separate NAS. This has worked for me for many years, both before and after purchasing Naim streamers.
Of course, this would require the purchase of media server software. I have been happy with JRiver (other than some hiccups with album covers), but I know there are other options - indeed I tried the free version of Minim and it seemed to work.
Thanks again for your suggestions allround.
Note that my aim - guided by my experience with other streamers over the past 15 years - was to avoid using the computer with suitable media software (which would require switching on the computer every time one wants to listen to music in another room) or acquisition of a NAS device etc etc.
I intimated in my last post that it has now finally been possible to - indeed - access my whole music library (~1200 albums, 130 Gb) on a USB linked carrier (1 Tb capacity) in āserverā mode, BUT - and this I had not expected - the indexing process took several hours (I waited for 5hr) instead of several minutes!!!
The only problem remaining is that when accessed by the remote controller (in āUSBā mode) only half the music library is shown. Accessed by a tablet via the NaimFocal app, both modes, āserverā and āUSBā, show the whole collection.
So the suggestion would be that Naim might consider adding to its stipulations and recommendations as to how to access music libraries via USB-linked sticks/drives something like the following: āā¦ music library indexing time required by the appliance for larger libraries on USB-linked carriers (more than several hundred albums with extensive metadata) may require several hours (3+) waiting in āserverā modeā¦ā Nobody made this suggestion to meā¦
IIRC Andy this has been covered a number of times in threads and posts here on the forum, regarding time taken to index. Again iirc, the conclusion has been that the streamers are not designed with extensive processing power, which would be the remit of any storage device with its own processor, which is why the NAS is perhaps being suggested.
With NAS, US or Core there is no issue, (or computer with storage), simply that it does require another box, which it is understandable isnāt always desirable, but simplicity sometimes comes with an overhead.
It would require a search here, but I seem to think that there have been posts suggesting re-indexing on other storage devices can take many hours.
Correct. And apparently the USB drive will be re-indexed every time itās unplugged, for example to add discs to it (you canāt add over the network as you can with a NAS or the UnitiCore).
Thank you David, you did spring to mind, but aware of your recent other posts, didnāt wish to intrude so hoping that the relative improves and recovers, ATB.
It was my understanding from the former post that Naim did suggest to you that you use an NAS.
As for turning a computer off and on, I am retired and at home frequently during the day, so I leave my computer on from morning to night. The screen, however, set to go into sleep mode after 5 minutes.
When you mention āthe remote controller (in āUSBā mode),ā are you referring to the remote that came with the unit? To be honest, when I opened the box I tested the remote to confirm it was functional and then left it in a drawer. I took it out once, and Iām darned if I know how to access a USB device with it. I even posted that as a question here and was told that you canāt. So back in the drawer it went.
However, as I mentioned above, when using the app, and my 1TB drive, the list populates very quickly, and I donāt notice any omissions. My music 1TB music library is all located in a single tree using the following organization music\[genre]\[album artist]\[album]\[file name], where I have modified the file name to begin with the track number. This mimics the way I generally choose music in an indexed list.
When I first tried this it did indeed re-index every time, but more recently it hasnāt always done a full re-index and the files have been browsable straight away. I wonder if this has been improved by firmware update.
Chris how the very latest streamers act, may possibly not be the same for the Uniti streamers, with I think their different firmware. My NSC222 is on version 5.0* likely the same as your NSS333, while my Nova and ND are on version 3.* - Iāve used 3.*, for reasons you and @davidhendon will appreciate.
Iāve mostly used a USB drive on my Atom, but the 333 certainly doesnāt seem to scan any faster, and I havenāt noticed any differences in the way the server input performs.
jegreenwood: What I meant was that I did not see anywhere the suggestion to wait for a multi-hour period in order to allow the appliance with attached usb carrier to undergo indexing ā¦.
But I realise now there has been another blog on this forum where a closely related issue has been discussed in 2021. I missed thatā¦
I have a drive with over 500 albums, mostly FLAC CD rips, which takes about 20 minutes to scan. I suspect it a larger collection takes hours itās either close to the limit the streamer can handle, or possibly there is an issue with the format that makes it harder to scan the metadata.
Question: as much as I remember, I have to select front/back port, when accessing drives via the USB option - Iāve used the app only, so farā¦
Is there a chance, you only access 1 of your 2 drives via the remote? (I never so far tried attaching 2 drives, and what happens then.)
As I mentioned above, my Nova scanned close to 2,000 albums, taking up about 90% of a 1TB drive, in roughly 90 minutes, maybe a little longer. A few thoughts.
My drive was organized strictly in the manner I described above.
Files were either FLAC or ALAC
Is the Novaās indexing capability superior to that of an Atom?
Finally, if indexing is a non-starter, why not just use the USB option? It appears that using the App works with that choice. And actually itās always an option simply by choosing the USB input with the App.
USB playback is limited in functionality. As much as I remember, the whole management of a playqueue is missing. So itās okay for playing a whole album, but less so for mixing playlists, etc. And you cannot browse by different meta data.
Still, sometimes when I want to listen to something quickly, I plug in my drive amd select something via the USB input - after that, usually the indexing for my drive has been done and I switch to the other view.
I think you are correct. But I very rarely create playlists from my own collection. Most of my playlist - and I donāt have very many - are sourced from Tidal and now Qobuz.
However @AndyGe seemed open to the idea of using USB playback.