Best method for networked content?

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

Hi guys,

I have a somewhat unique situation and am hoping the very knowledgable folks on here can help me out!

I currently have my SMP using the Media Library and connecting to a shared folder on another PC in my home which acts as the server for all my content. Now I don’t like keeping my server on 24/7 so I have it set to go to sleep after being idle for 30 minutes. I also have my router setup so that when the SMP turns on, it sends a wake-on-lan signal to my PC which wakes it up from sleep mode and makes the shared content available.

Now the problem is that because the SMP turns on first and the PC turns on second, the SMP reports that the shared content has been removed and for me to add a new source. If I go into Setup and re-scan the folders through Media Library, then it remembers the folders and they show up again after a few minutes.

I am hoping there is some way that I can:

  1. Keep my desktop PC from having to be on 24/7

AND

  1. Avoid having to re-scan my Media Library every single time I use my SMP

Is my only solution to buy an external hard drive and connect that via gigabit ethernet into my network and just have that stay on all the time? I hope there’s some creative alternative that someone on here can suggest to me!

Thank you for reading. :slight_smile:

2

Have you tried turning off your SMP rather than putting to sleep (press and hold the remote for 3 seconds+), this will mean that when you turn your SMP next it will take longer to reboot, therefore maybe it will then be able to see your share as you’re giving your PC a chance to turn on.

Also there are lots of ways to get your pc to boot up quickly, try searching for this and see if this also helps.

Good luck to getting working how you’d like to.

3

Thanks for responding. I am actually turning the SMP completely off (rather than standby) as you suggested but this still doesn’t seem to work. The SMP takes a while to acquire the IP address from the router and my setup is configured in such a way that only once the SMP acquires an IP address does the router send a wake-on-lan command to the PC.

The PC wakes up in less than 60 seconds (from sleep mode) from when the SMP acquires its IP address but I think by the time it has acquired its IP address, if it doesn’t see the network shares, it just assumes they’ve been removed.