networked drives with Music

[flang]

MP3,1 has 4 int drives running High Sierra via dosdude. 2 drives have the music on them.
The MP3,1 is networked to a MM8,1 on a 5 port unmanaged TP switch.
Music runs on the MM on Big Sur.
Music intermittently drops or freezes the stream. I've checked the drives and no mechanical or other error comes up.
They are the same drives that are my Emby server, which has no issues streaming video.
The Emby server runs on the MP3,1
So I'm thinking there is some LAN or permission issue that I haven't found that is affecting Music.
Any ideas?

 

[Brian33]

MP3,1 has 4 int drives running High Sierra via dosdude. 2 drives have the music on them.
The MP3,1 is networked to a MM8,1 on a 5 port unmanaged TP switch.
Music runs on the MM on Big Sur.

Neat setup!

Music intermittently drops or freezes the stream. I've checked the drives and no mechanical or other error comes up.
They are the same drives that are my Emby server, which has no issues streaming video.
The Emby server runs on the MP3,1
So I'm thinking there is some LAN or permission issue that I haven't found that is affecting Music.

I can't see how a permission issue could be the culprit for drops or freezes. And I would certainly think even 100 Mbps LAN connection would be plenty enough for music.

If you're sending the music to an Airplay or Airplay2 destination, and if the Airplay2 device is connected via WiFi, I'd suspect the WiFi connection first. I've experienced plenty of dropouts even with a seemingly solid WiFI connection, and they were solved with an Ethernet cable. If you're using WiFi, perhaps you could try a test with a temporary Ethernet cable to the Airplay device...

I guess High Sierra is not the problem -- I'm running that on a MM 6,2 as a "itunes music server" (my music library is on the internal Fusion drive of the MM). Hope you get it sorted.

 

[flang]

no wifi involved. the music come off the MM that is Tbolt to UA Apollo I/O.
And it ain't the UA. I mix from Pro Tools all the time with no issue, but that drive is direct to the MM via USB-C.

 

[Slartibart]

You can try to run it with a larger MTU set to e.g. 9000 - besides checking wether the cable/connectors are okay.

 

[flang]

would I change the MTU on the MP3,1 or the MM or both? I assume that Automatic, where they are set now, is the greyed out 1500.
Cables seem not be an issue. But I'll swap for s&g.
I did just notice that DHCP on the MM is set manual rather than automatic. I can't remember why I did that.
But I'll go to Automatic, jic.

 

[arw]

Could it be the disks spinning down? Is “put disks to sleep“ disabled in energy settings on the MP?
How are the drives/folders shared - SMB or AFP?
Do other devices access the MP or create large network traffic at the same time?

 

[flang]

"sleep discs" was on. My bad.
Disks are shared SMB.
No other devices.

 

[arw]

"sleep discs" was on. My bad.

If that doesn't solve it, I would try a direct LAN connection.
For that I would configure the MP's 2nd LAN port so the MP is still accessible in your normal network as before.

 

[flang]

OK. I also tuned off WiFi on the MM, even though nothing is using WiFi.
See how the day goes.
Thanks,

 

[flang]

OH well. Just froze. How do you mean direct LAN?
From the MM to the MP p2?

 

[arw]

OH well. Just froze. How do you mean direct LAN?
From the MM to the MP p2?

Yes, to rule out your router / switch.
I suggested the 2nd port of the MP so it can stay connected to your normal network via the 1st port.

 

[flang]

k.

 

[flang]

installed SMART Utility on someones suggestion. Both of my media drives are destined for bye bye very soon.
As to why the vids seem to play, thus far, without issues, dunno. But both drives have many bad sectors and high use hours.
One (OEM Apple, prolly Seagate, 2TB) has 13k hours, 10k errors, & 1664 bad sectors. The other (Seagate 1.5) has 8500 hours & 826 bad sectors, no errors. Both are 2nd hand , <5 years ago.
A 3rd, WD 1TB bought new 12 years ago, has 25k hours, no erros or bad sectors.

Think I'll replace both with WD Blue 5400 2TB. That'll still leave me with 1/2 TB of space.
5400 should be fine for what I'm streaming, ALAC music & video 95% 720, no 4k.
Hopefully the speed reducing will make less heat and a longer life til SSD comes down some more.

 

[satcomer]

If you convert media audio files then download the free X losses Decoder. If you find it useful then donate what you consider it's worth!

 

[DoFoT9]

installed SMART Utility on someones suggestion. Both of my media drives are destined for bye bye very soon.
As to why the vids seem to play, thus far, without issues, dunno. But both drives have many bad sectors and high use hours.
One (OEM Apple, prolly Seagate, 2TB) has 13k hours, 10k errors, & 1664 bad sectors. The other (Seagate 1.5) has 8500 hours & 826 bad sectors, no errors. Both are 2nd hand , <5 years ago.
A 3rd, WD 1TB bought new 12 years ago, has 25k hours, no erros or bad sectors.

Think I'll replace both with WD Blue 5400 2TB. That'll still leave me with 1/2 TB of space.
5400 should be fine for what I'm streaming, ALAC music & video 95% 720, no 4k.
Hopefully the speed reducing will make less heat and a longer life til SSD comes down some more.

I would suggest that you consider an SSD. They can be had for quite cheap these days, and the reliability will be excellent (probably 10 years+ given the low write cycles that you will put on the drives).

Also, I note you don't mention anything about backups. Please consider a secondary drive, RAID array, or cloud backup service. I hate hearing when people lose their beloved data! Goodluck

 

[flang]

I bought a WD Blue 5400 that will more than suffice for the time being and price.

I put WD 120G in my brothers fruity iMac, prolly a decade ago. Still working fine.
I think the drive that failed came out of someones server as it was used. My bad. I won't do that again for the $5 I saved. I have the ST320G that was the boot in my MP1,1 c2006, still fine.
And a 1TB WD that is 12 yo. No issues. It has been a streamer for media. First in my MP1,1, then MP3,1.

OBTW, the failed and other failing drives are Seagates.

Hopefully, my media server will change this year to a 2014 MM with a 2 or 4 seater OWC Merc or Thunder attached.

I'm backed up with Backblaze. Back-ups are good, but the BB interface leaves a lot to be desired. And judging from their support emails, I don't think they give a ...

 

[DoFoT9]

I bought a WD Blue 5400 that will more than suffice for the time being and price.

I put WD 120G in my brothers fruity iMac, prolly a decade ago. Still working fine.
I think the drive that failed came out of someones server as it was used. My bad. I won't do that again for the $5 I saved. I have the ST320G that was the boot in my MP1,1 c2006, still fine.
And a 1TB WD that is 12 yo. No issues. It has been a streamer for media. First in my MP1,1, then MP3,1.

OBTW, the failed and other failing drives are Seagates.

Hopefully, my media server will change this year to a 2014 MM with a 2 or 4 seater OWC Merc or Thunder attached.

I'm backed up with Backblaze. Back-ups are good, but the BB interface leaves a lot to be desired. And judging from their support emails, I don't think they give a ...

Never say never when it comes to spinning drives. Fine one day, dead the next. (Trust me).

Agreed with Backblaze! Last year I subscribed to a lifetime membership, one time fee. This year I’m being asked to hand over money again. No thanks - not what I was promised.

 

[flang]

yes, next day was last week. but I hope to be good for another couple. Long enough for SSDs to drop more and make a change.

 

[DoFoT9]

yes, next day was last week. but I hope to be good for another couple. Long enough for SSDs to drop more and make a change.

Fair enough!

By the way - have you considered a NAS of sorts to store your media? They are likely to use considerably less power than an actual machine, and functionality could be more or less identical. They can also benefit from better storage management vs Apple’s implementation which is…. Not.

 

[flang]

haven't looked into them. any you suggest looking at?

 

[DoFoT9]

haven't looked into them. any you suggest looking at?

Synology is my go to brand for the last decade, so I would start there. They are Linux based so you can theoretically install anything on the sub-system, but I still to their supported App Stores.

 

[flang]

Thanks,

 

[hobowankenobi]

Synology is my go to brand for the last decade, so I would start there. They are Linux based so you can theoretically install anything on the sub-system, but I still to their supported App Stores.

+1.

 

[HDFan]

They are likely to use considerably less power than an actual machine, and functionality could be more or less identical.

Depending on the machine. A older machine such as a MacPro 3,1 probably uses quite a bit of power. NAS units CPUs tend to be rather weak so probably use less power.

Synology is my go to brand for the last decade, so I would start there.

My preference is QNAP. Better processors, network (10G), thunderbolt support, voice warnings, OLED status, etc. for the same or a bit more $. QNAP software also is more configurable which can be significant for something like RAID scrubbing. They also don't require you use their RAM, SSDs or Hard Disks as Synology does, depending on the model. Synology just gives you messages for now and other vendor products do work but they can decline to support you. Upgrading my unit with Synology memory cost 3x what it would have cost to upgrade my QNAP.

Synology software is probably easier to use as it is less configurable.

 

[hobowankenobi]

While not officially supported...I have never used Synology branded RAM or drives for upgrades, and never had any issues or problems.

Pretty much the same as Apple (back when you could upgrade RAM on most Macs): Other brands of RAM are unsupported. But good quality RAM, properly handled and installed rarely caused any issues.