Migrating from Windows to Linux

Hello,
I am using Serviio for many years now. It is Installed on a small NAS System with Windows 7 Installed.

I have the PRO Version of 1.x but would like to migrate to the new 2.x PRO Version.

Because of missing support and Security reasons i would also like to migrate from windows to Linux.

All of my Media files are stored on a separated Disk in RAID 1. I wonder if there are some Points to Consider? Filesystem is NTFS.

What Linux OS do you recommend? Which does Support Access to my Media on the NTFS formatted Disk?
My Concern is that the Linux OS does Not recognize my RAID Controller.

Greetings from Germany
Stay Healthy!

[atc98092]

There's not too much different using Linux vs. Windows. One big difference is you must install Java yourself, as the Windows install contains the JRE engine.

I've played around with Linux Mint, but I would suspect that most general distros would work fine. The only problem I encountered with Linux was the inability to use a networked file location as the Serviio library source. No matter what format I tried the UNC it would never connect to a shared folder on a Windows PC. What I had to do was create a virtual folder under the Linux file structure, link it to the Windows folder, which worked fine that way. If your RAID array is connected directly to the Linux PC that shouldn't be an issue, since it would be seen as a local resource. I believe that NTFS will work directly connected to a Linux PC, but I've never personally tried it. I don't think there's any issue with reading an NTFS partition, it's more when you write to the drive there can be issues if you try to also connect it to a Windows computer.

Most Linux distributions/kernels will support NTFS out of the box nowadays. I would just make sure the distribution is newer than when the RAID controller chipset was released.

I usually suggest one of the lightweight Ubuntu or Mint distros, simply because it is easier to find online support if you should need it.

Just like atc98092 stated, I also had to use a network mounted folder to add the NFS share from my NAS to Ubuntu, but it is usually easy, and there are plenty of great tutorials on how to do that on the web.

Good luck.

Thanks to your answers!
I finally got Linux Mint 19.3 Xfce Edition installed! And there is NTFS support out of the box. I can see all my DATA and have Access to the files. That ist very nice!
However the Installation was a bit tricky because after rebooting I saw a black screen with blinking Cursor in the left Corner. THe other time I saw a GRUB screen. First time for me, and I am no Linux professional so I decided to reinstall MiNt again.
This time I manually formatted the disk and manually created mountpoints for root and swap. And it finally worked!

After the OS Installation I downloaded yesterday evening the new Serviio 2.0 Version, installed all the necessary packages (openjdk-8-jre default-jre ffmpeg ….), and configured a Service so that Serviio starts automatically when the Systems boots.
That works and is great! I can even Access the web URL: http://(IPaddress):23423/console and the mediabrowser: http://<pc5dczc_pc_ip_address>:23424/mediabrowser. No Problems so far!

But there is a strange phenomenon: From all of our DLNA Clients (TV, XBOX, serviigo APP on Android, MediaBrowser) we only see the Thumbnails of the Audio Album for example, but no Content! We cannot use the search functionality too!
For better understanding, if i use the serviigo App (in most sitations we use this app for Access to all the Audio data on the nas and stream to the Receiver via Bluetooth):
--> Albums: No Content
--> Artists: Listed with Thumbnails in alphabetically order. But if i press on that Picture --> No Content!
--> Album Artists: Same as Artists!
--> Folders: No Content! (worked before!)
--> Genres: No Content! (worked before!)

So there is no Content (most Audio files are mp3 files) and i am not able to Play my Music.
Is that some Kind of permission Problem because all of my data is stored on a NTFS formatted disk?
Or is that a Problem because I installed Serviio on a 32 Bit Linux Mint OS? I have read something About "Only 64-bit OSX machines are supported, with OSX 10.8 Minimum" ?? But I can Access the Web URL and everything seems to run smooth.

Thank you very much!

[atc98092]

As to ServiiGo, I believe it's not fully functional yet for Serviio 2.0.

If your media is all visible in MediaBrowser, but not through your other players, then there's something mis-configured somewhere. Check the Serviio console to see what profiles were assigned to your players, and change as needed. Though I would have expected MP3 files to not be an issue with any player.

Now, if your media isn't even shown in MediaPlayer, there's probably a permissions issue with your media storage location. I'm far too rusty with Linux to advise how to check and resolve, so I'll let someone else offer suggestions.

Ok, so it seems that it is a Permission issue with my Media stored on the NTFS Disk. I Cannot See and play any media files even in MediaBrowser.

Do i have to change the Permission for all folders for the serviio service to Scan and Access Properly? I can easily test and create a new folder with Only one audio file and add this folder as a new Audio folder within serviio. Then i can experiment with the Permission. But i Need help from some linux specialists Because my linux skills are Not so Good. But it is a Good training for me.

[atc98092]

Yes, the permissions must be on all the file locations that Serviio needs to access. I don't know what permission level Serviio uses on a Linux OS, but under Windows it runs as a system service with few permissions. Changing the account the service uses can easily fix permissions problems. There might be something similar in Linux, but I wouldn't know where to find that out.

Excuse me! I found the Solution! So easy that it is kind of emberassing. As i told you before i have Used the pro Version 1.x of serviio. Now in the new 2.0 pro Version you have to create User accounts in serviio and grant them Access to the shared folder of your Media. I just had to check all user accounts for my shared folder. By default no one has access to the folder! So it is NOT a permission issue of the filesystem!! Thank you again for your Support!

I am now able to Access all of my data. Even with serviigo App. No Problem. After all i am very Impressed with Linux Mint. It is very fast and has buildin NTFS Support. I did Not Need to install any driver to detect my Hardware.

[atc98092]

User accounts are required for MediaBrowser, and can be optional for DLNA players on the network. But yes, that was something new with version 2. Glad you figured it out!