If you though the Internet covered everything, I was very disappointed to find that there is not a single picture of a tap dancing cow on a tightrope across the Victoria falls whilst playing a banjo.
Can anyone supply one?
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Too many PC's, home networking and storage is getting complex....
So this can't just be me. I have a couple of PCs and all I want to do is to keep files sychronised between them and keep them backed up. Simple eh? Just dropbox it, live mesh it or something else. Well quite frankly, go jump. I have enough storage, I even have a NAS device so the last thing I want is to sync online (well actually I do but only a small propoartion of the data as I'm a cheapskate).
So here we go, what I want:
Pictures, music and docs to auto sync to my storage hub (Readynas Duo).
Operating system to understand and live with the fact I am doing this, don't tell me I should store something here or there, that's my choice.Music (FLAC format) must be DLNA accessable from Linn Sneaky
Linn must be controllable from Iphone or Android
Ideally cache PC stuff locally. I might not be the cloud with my NAS but I am a practical alternative, so just cache it a bit then everything will be hunky dorey.
Sync some stuff into the cloud, preferably all and preferably free.
After some months I have hit problems and solutions:
Problem #1
Readynas/synctoy on Win 7 64bit incompatability.
Used to work fine on Vista but no good on 7. Well it wasn't, it is now. A few steps that helped me:
1) Upgrade firmware on NAS (4.7 at the mo.)
2) Stop the readynas default DLNA stuff completely. If you don't want to then at least stop it auto-updating on directories and stuff. There's a tickbox for that - look elsewhere on the net if you can't find it.
3) Switch on Jumbo frames on NAS (network, interface, something or other like that)
4) Switch on Jumbo frames on win 7 if not already.
5) Alternatively switch off Jumbo frames on win 7 and NAS
6) Check MTU set to 1500
7) Reboot NAS
8) check your switch/hub or whatever can support 1500 byte frames (we hope so!) and jumbo frames (possibly).
9) Reinstall Windows 7!!! Ok, that's drastic but honestly, I upgraded from Win Vista and had been through all of above but no success, was prepared to quit. Bought a solid state drive for the OS (tip: have original Windows disks and reinstall - that's after a load of research), reinstalled and Synctoy 2.1 worked fine, when previously I had nothing but pain.
Problem #2
Moving the default locations for Windows user files
Important this for SSD converts - it's quite simple but be clear:
Create a random new account with admin rights, preferably have no other accounts
Login with this account
Any account you have, move the files using cut and paste from c:\Users\ to new location. (if you have any accounts, if you do, consider deleting them and creating again)
Edit registry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
Switch obvious ones to the new location.
Probably best reboot
Any new accounts should now be in the right place
Problem #3 what to sync where, when and how:
Well I want everything working quickly, well and invisibly to my missus so that she can logon wherever and get exactly the same experience (well nearly). Bearing in mind Synctoy working:
Syncing Desktop PC to NAS, trigger 1 min after logon, waiting idle time. Setup with task scheduler using Synctoycmd -R as command line. Syncing via contribution (setup via standard synctoy interface): Public pics, music, etc. Tell missus there is a 30min or so delay between ripping a disk and it appearing on DLNA source (NAS is a Twonky and Squeezebox server too).
Ditto on laptops
Problem #4 Linn - control/streaming
Well I've tried a few and succeeded with fewer but here's my 10 pence for 5th Jan 2011:
Plugplayer (Android and Iphone) - it works and it's cheap, a few issues on Android at the mo, but it does work.
2player - watch it on Android - interface is lovely just got very confused with the equipment
twonky - now when I originally set this up Twonky was the only way to go, to be honest I paid for it and it works a treat. I'm guessing now that you don't need this but who knows......
others - don't bother paying. Try them all but you'll probably come back to what works. I could be wrong, tell me if so.
Problem #5 cloud - what, how where and when
Ideally the NAS would sync with the cloud. I can't see why the PC should have to, I'm busy with it, files are for NAS's.
So that's my task for tomorrow, need Android and IPhone compatability and preferably access via a very well tied down Internet front end at work, must also be free. So that'll be a challenege. I'll sacrifice the work one if necessary as I do have a DSL to my desk that I can always use....
All happy, for the moment.
So here we go, what I want:
Pictures, music and docs to auto sync to my storage hub (Readynas Duo).
Operating system to understand and live with the fact I am doing this, don't tell me I should store something here or there, that's my choice.Music (FLAC format) must be DLNA accessable from Linn Sneaky
Linn must be controllable from Iphone or Android
Ideally cache PC stuff locally. I might not be the cloud with my NAS but I am a practical alternative, so just cache it a bit then everything will be hunky dorey.
Sync some stuff into the cloud, preferably all and preferably free.
After some months I have hit problems and solutions:
Problem #1
Readynas/synctoy on Win 7 64bit incompatability.
Used to work fine on Vista but no good on 7. Well it wasn't, it is now. A few steps that helped me:
1) Upgrade firmware on NAS (4.7 at the mo.)
2) Stop the readynas default DLNA stuff completely. If you don't want to then at least stop it auto-updating on directories and stuff. There's a tickbox for that - look elsewhere on the net if you can't find it.
3) Switch on Jumbo frames on NAS (network, interface, something or other like that)
4) Switch on Jumbo frames on win 7 if not already.
5) Alternatively switch off Jumbo frames on win 7 and NAS
6) Check MTU set to 1500
7) Reboot NAS
8) check your switch/hub or whatever can support 1500 byte frames (we hope so!) and jumbo frames (possibly).
9) Reinstall Windows 7!!! Ok, that's drastic but honestly, I upgraded from Win Vista and had been through all of above but no success, was prepared to quit. Bought a solid state drive for the OS (tip: have original Windows disks and reinstall - that's after a load of research), reinstalled and Synctoy 2.1 worked fine, when previously I had nothing but pain.
Problem #2
Moving the default locations for Windows user files
Important this for SSD converts - it's quite simple but be clear:
Create a random new account with admin rights, preferably have no other accounts
Login with this account
Any account you have, move the files using cut and paste from c:\Users\ to new location. (if you have any accounts, if you do, consider deleting them and creating again)
Edit registry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
Switch obvious ones to the new location.
Probably best reboot
Any new accounts should now be in the right place
Problem #3 what to sync where, when and how:
Well I want everything working quickly, well and invisibly to my missus so that she can logon wherever and get exactly the same experience (well nearly). Bearing in mind Synctoy working:
Syncing Desktop PC to NAS, trigger 1 min after logon, waiting idle time. Setup with task scheduler using Synctoycmd -R as command line. Syncing via contribution (setup via standard synctoy interface): Public pics, music, etc. Tell missus there is a 30min or so delay between ripping a disk and it appearing on DLNA source (NAS is a Twonky and Squeezebox server too).
Ditto on laptops
Problem #4 Linn - control/streaming
Well I've tried a few and succeeded with fewer but here's my 10 pence for 5th Jan 2011:
Plugplayer (Android and Iphone) - it works and it's cheap, a few issues on Android at the mo, but it does work.
2player - watch it on Android - interface is lovely just got very confused with the equipment
twonky - now when I originally set this up Twonky was the only way to go, to be honest I paid for it and it works a treat. I'm guessing now that you don't need this but who knows......
others - don't bother paying. Try them all but you'll probably come back to what works. I could be wrong, tell me if so.
Problem #5 cloud - what, how where and when
Ideally the NAS would sync with the cloud. I can't see why the PC should have to, I'm busy with it, files are for NAS's.
So that's my task for tomorrow, need Android and IPhone compatability and preferably access via a very well tied down Internet front end at work, must also be free. So that'll be a challenege. I'll sacrifice the work one if necessary as I do have a DSL to my desk that I can always use....
All happy, for the moment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)