Transferring Audio Files from Mac to HDD attached to Raspberry Pi5

[QuarryHunslet]

I have been ripping my Audio CDs to an external HDD attached to my Mac, and using the free version of MinimServer to make them available to listen to via my various WiiM devices. This works very well when my Mac is switched on, but obviously doesn't work when it is shut down.

In order to get around this, I purchased a Raspberry Pi5, and have connected an external HDD to this, and I have it running piCorePlayer, and using Lyrion Music Server to allow my WiiM devices to access the music files on its external HDD. This also works well, and is independent of my Mac, and is available 24 hours a day.

Now for the main reason of this thread, when I want to add more music files to the pi5 HDD, I am currently shutting down the pi5 and disconnecting the HDD. Then connecting it to my Mac, and copying new music folders from one HDD to the other HDD, then reconnecting it to my pi5 and scanning for new music files.

This all works fine, but I'm wondering if I could transfer these folders containing music files over my network, without having to physically unplug and reconnect the HDD as I am currently doing?

As this is all very new to me, I was wondering whether any LMS users on the forum currently do this, and if so, how exactly?

 

[simbun]

FreeFileSync (if you want a GUI) or rsync will do the job.
Depending on how you populated the external HDD (comparison uses file modification date) the first sync may be a full mirror.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

I'm happy to transfer folders manually via FTP of some kind, but my pi5 is not currently visible to my Mac, is there an LMS plugin that would enable that?

 

[slartibartfast]

I'm happy to transfer folders manually via FTP of some kind, but my pi5 is not currently visible to my Mac, is there an LMS plugin that would enable that?

You probably need to set up Samba on the Pi first.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

You probably need to set up Samba on the Pi first.

How would I do that?

 

[slartibartfast]

How would I do that?

This should cover it

Add a USB hard drive | piCorePlayer documentation

 

[simbun]

I'm happy to transfer folders manually via FTP of some kind, but my pi5 is not currently visible to my Mac, is there an LMS plugin that would enable that?

If piCorePlayer has the ssh server enabled then FreeFileSync should just work.
For rsync I think you need to install the rsync plugin on piCorePlayer.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

This should cover it

Add a USB hard drive | piCorePlayer documentation

Thanks, I will have a look at that to see if I can do it.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

If piCorePlayer has the ssh server enabled then FreeFileSync should just work.
For rsync I think you need to install the rsync plugin on piCorePlayer.

I don't know if I have the ssh server enabled.

 

[d6jg]

Main Page / Security

 

[simbun]

I don't know if I have the ssh server enabled.

It looks like it's disabled by default.

Access pCP via ssh | piCorePlayer documentation

You could mount the remote drive on your mac (using samba as discussed above) and use FreeFileSync that way.

I don't know what permissions you'll need on the files, but it may be easier to setguid on the parent so all new files/folders inherit the group (would need to run this on all existing folders). I'll edit this post with the code shortly.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

Main Page / Security

Does this mean that it is running?

 

[simbun]

@QuarryHunslet

What filesystem is on the drive?

 

[QuarryHunslet]

@QuarryHunslet

What filesystem is on the drive?

I'm using exFAT file system, as this is compatible with Mac and Windows.

 

[jfbuk]

I'm using exFAT file system, as this is compatible with Mac and Windows.

Have you enabled ExFat in the PCP Drive tab ?

 

[QuarryHunslet]

Have you enabled ExFat in the PCP Drive tab ?

Yes, I already have it enabled, and have been using it for a few weeks.

 

[simbun]

I'm using exFAT file system, as this is compatible with Mac and Windows.

I assume that'll be mounted with root permissions just like NTFS, so that's one less thing to worry about.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

You probably need to set up Samba on the Pi first.

I now have Samba set up on my pi5, and there is now a folder showing in the network section of my Mac, and I can connect to the piCoreLMS server, this brings up a folder "LMSfiles", but when I click on this I get an error popup saying "The operation can't be completed because the original item for "LMSfiles" can't be found."

 

[simbun]

when I click on this I get an error popup saying "The operation can't be completed because the original item for "LMSfiles" can't be found."

Similar report on a Mac here:

Announce: piCorePlayer 8.0.0 - Lyrion : Community : Forums

The pCP team is happy to announce the official release of piCorePlayer 8.0.0 Significant changes pCP 8.0.0 Kernel 5.10.42 Removed out of tree realtek wifi drivers, as they are not well maintained. You can still build them manually before upgrade See --...

forums.lyrion.org

 

[QuarryHunslet]

Similar report on a Mac here:

Announce: piCorePlayer 8.0.0 - Lyrion : Community : Forums

The pCP team is happy to announce the official release of piCorePlayer 8.0.0 Significant changes pCP 8.0.0 Kernel 5.10.42 Removed out of tree realtek wifi drivers, as they are not well maintained. You can still build them manually before upgrade See --...

forums.lyrion.org

I have made good progress, when setting up Samba I used the default Share settings, but I have since discovered that I had originally given my USB disk and mount a different name, so I have used these details to set my Samba share, and it works now.

I am now able to transfer folders containing music files from Mac external HDD to pi5 external HDD, and then rescan within LMS to show the new files.

Thanks to all forum members who have offered me help with resolving this issue.