File Higherarchy for NAS Storage

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Folder heirarchy is a matter of preference. I used to keep it like you suggest, by sorting the music into different folders based on their file/container type, like this:

C:\Music\Multichannel\
Subfolder: \SACD ISO
\DVDA ISO
\FLAC
C:\Music\Stereo
Subfolder: \FLAC
\DSD
etc, etc....

This is a good system for when you want to listen to your multichannel music and want to easily browse all multichannel in one folder. However, after some time, I found that instead of audio type, I'd be more interested in listening to a specific type of music, such as Jazz, Blues, etc. Doesn't matter if it's stereo, hi-rez, or 16 bit, I just want some good Blues! I later changed everything and catagorized into genre:

C:\Music\Blues
C:\Music\Jazz
C:\Music\Rock
etc....

All blues goes into one folder, whether it's ISO, FLAC, multichannel, etc. I find this much more convenient for "mood" listening.

On a side note: I always extract the FLAC files from DVD-Audio ISO while I don't extract SACD ISO (not even in to DSD such as dsf). Both Jriver and Foobar will read both DVDA and SACD ISO, so neither needs to be extracted, but I extract DVD-A ISO due to meta tags! Here is the explanation:

Metadata on both SACD and DVDA are written to a separate file. For SACD, this metadata (which is in a text file) is placed in the SAME DIRECTORY as the ISO. They reside together. However, in a DVD-A ISO, the metadata is loaded in a separate directory and given a name that's not comprehensible. And all DVDA metadata is written under the same directory that is part of the Foobar root (so it's not in your music folder). Trying to find which folder contains the metadata for a specific album is impossible. And why should this matter since you will never have to look it up manually? Because if you use two different computers and each has it's own Foobar, they won't share this DVDA directory! So you take the time to tag all of your DVD-A ISO files properly, and then find it's only that way when using one computer. And if you decided to copy/paste an album (in it's entire directory) to a USB so you can take it with you, the metadata isn't included. But if you copy/past an SACD ISO directory to a memory stick and move it to another computer, the metadata text file will go with it since it resided in the same directory!

I hope the above makes sense. I use multiple computers to access the files on my NAS, so it's really important to have the metadata within the album directory rather than the foobar root directory (so multiple computers can see and use the metadata). Of course, you could always copy/paste the DVDA metadata directory to multiple computers, but as you make changes to one, you have to copy the entire directory to the other computers as well. Or set up some kind of synch. Kind of a pain.

Therefore I have learned to just extract the FLAC from DVDA ISO and then delete the ISO.
 
...

This is a good system for when you want to listen to your multichannel music and want to easily browse all multichannel in one folder. However, after some time, I found that instead of audio type, I'd be more interested in listening to a specific type of music, such as Jazz, Blues, etc. Doesn't matter if it's stereo, hi-rez, or 16 bit, I just want some good Blues! I later changed everything and catagorized into genre:

C:\Music\Blues
C:\Music\Jazz
C:\Music\Rock
etc....

All blues goes into one folder, whether it's ISO, FLAC, multichannel, etc. I find this much more convenient for "mood" listening.

I'm using Kodi which scans the music file tagged data into a database. So I can do an instant search for 'blues', 'Jazz' etc. which then displays (instantly) the albums that match that genre. (Also search by artist, year etc).

Actually that works well since many albums have multiple genres, so typing in: 'Jazz' would return 'Jazz' plus 'Jazz-Rock' 'Jazz Fusion' etc.

I just have four NAS folders:

\Music\Audio (Surround)
\Music\Audio (Stereo)
\Music\Audio (Classical)

Also videos:
\Music\Concerts

Under each of those categorized folder above, I always use this sub-folder layout:

Artist\Album

(which is a requirement for some Kodi add-on features like automated artist fanart slideshow - using your own images, display of artist logos - using your own logos and display of your own artist meta data - biography, discography etc)

The next version of Kodi supports the filtering by Moods - an emotional style (in addition to Genre - a traditional musical style):
 
Again, I'm not 100% sure (other than capacity) what else the NAS gives me over my current portable hard drives I use.
Data redundancy and recovery with a Raid configuration. You still need a back-up.
 
On the landing next to the internet router I've got a Zyxel 1TB twin HDD NAS, which is noisy, and I just bought a twin HDD Synology DS216j and two 4TB Western Digital Red HDDs which will go next to it use with surround FLACs, doesn't seem as noisy. They've wired into my home 1Gbit Ethernet network - in a fit of madness a few years ago I channelled out the walls and put in twin Gigabit Ethernet, plus twin Satellite, DAB/FM, and Digital TV cabling into every room! I'm using the Panasonic Blu-ray player as a 5.1 streamer from the NAS to the Amp.

My NAS is on a shelf in my equipment rack. I also use WD Red drives, two 4TB. They are quieter than I thought they would be. I can generally hear them when they write, but when playing music the seek frequency is extremely low and its a rare occurrence when I can hear them at all during a listening session. I would recommend the WD reds for NAS use based on my experience.
 
I'm using Kodi which scans the music file tagged data into a database. So I can do an instant search for 'blues', 'Jazz' etc. which then displays (instantly) the albums that match that genre. (Also search by artist, year etc).

Actually that works well since many albums have multiple genres, so typing in: 'Jazz' would return 'Jazz' plus 'Jazz-Rock' 'Jazz Fusion' etc.

That works well if the music is tagged properly with genre. Unfortunately, mine isn't. It's taken me years to accumulate over 5TB of music, so it's a heck of a task to go over it all and tag them properly. So I just keep them in different folders. Maybe one day I'll attempt that task!
 
That works well if the music is tagged properly with genre. Unfortunately, mine isn't. It's taken me years to accumulate over 5TB of music, so it's a heck of a task to go over it all and tag them properly. So I just keep them in different folders. Maybe one day I'll attempt that task!

Tagscanner is your friend. Free and can convert file names to track titles etc. Can also tag multiple tracks at same time.
 
That works well if the music is tagged properly with genre. Unfortunately, mine isn't. It's taken me years to accumulate over 5TB of music, so it's a heck of a task to go over it all and tag them properly. So I just keep them in different folders. Maybe one day I'll attempt that task!

I understand and my approach is to retag stuff as I go along: Find what I want to play, check/fix tags and play.
 
There's always editing programs like Tag and Rename when that occurs. :)
As I said, Brian, I do that within JRiver. I am afraid I do not understand where you are going with this.

BTW, will I see you at CES?
 
As I said, Brian, I do that within JRiver. I am afraid I do not understand where you are going with this.

JRiver has some powerful bulk tagging options of course, but it is limited as well in ways that Tag and Rename is not. One should try both methods and see exactly what I am taking about.
 
Last edited:
JRiver has some powerful bulk tagging options of course, but it is limited as well in ways that Tag and Rename are not. One should try both methods and see exactly what I am taking about.

I'd agree there. You could tag in JRiver but I find that Tag and Rename is much better for my use here.
 
I think the NAS you tagged would work fine.

I think in your situation and how you plan to run things, all you will be getting is additional capacity, but that additional capacity can be backed up to prevent data loss in the event the primary drive in the NAS crashes. To have a real backup, you also need to back up the primary drive with an external unit that can be stored off premises.

Another incredibly NOOB question. So, if I get a NAS, and I buy a couple WD RED hard drives....
A - just because I have a 2 or 4 bay NAS, do all bays have to have a hard drive in them? Can I start with just 1 hard drive until I get more money to buy more?
B - Does the hard drive simply slide into place? Or, is there some bolting to do?

:)
 
Back
Top