Lumin L1 with 4TB or 5TB HDD

wklie

wklie

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Before reading further, please understand that replacing any component inside the L1 may void the warranty. Lumin cannot assure the correct functioning of L1 if not used with the original HDD. Any L1 to be shipped back for warranty repair purpose must contain the original HDD.

The below information is FYI, and I cannot recommend any user to replace the HDD by themselves.

I've investigated the requests of changing the L1 HDD to something larger such as 4TB or 5TB HDD.

Previously I've said that Lumin L1 is limited to 10mm thick HDD. Turns out this limitation only applied to the very first batch of L1 1TB units. Newer shipments, and all those L1 2TB units, have slightly different mounts to accommodate 15mm thick drives, so 2.5" 15mm 4TB and 2.5" 15mm 5TB internal SATA HDD drives also fit.

Opening up the L1 requires three different screwdrivers. When replacing the HDD, please observe if there is any gap between the metal plate and the HDD electronics. If the gap is too little, there is a slight risk of short circuit - in this case, put something non-conductive in between (e.g. folded paper).

One a HDD is replaced, it needs to be formatted as follows:


PROCEDURE TO FORMAT LUMIN L1
=====================

Warning: All music or data file on the L1 will be lost after performing this format procedure.
Before performing this procedure please back up all your music files from the L1.

1. If the drive is not brand new, connect L1 to a computer via USB to delete _ALL_ the partitions in the drive (using Disk Management if on Windows platform)
2. Connect the L1 network cable
3. Disconnect L1 USB
4. Boot up L1 and wait until the RED LED flashes
5. Hold the power button for 6 seconds

After the format completes, it will boot up again and appears in Lumin app - this may require killing the app and restarting it.

With a <=2TB HDD inside, it will be formatted as FAT32. With a >2TB HDD inside, the drive will be formatted as NTFS, which can be written to using Windows PC. For Mac users, they will have to purchase a third party NTFS software from Paragon or Tuxera, or use a free software which is not as easy. (Do not use command line to enable the disabled NTFS writing function from Mac OS - it really is not meant to be used.)
 
Question - will Lumin ever consider putting bigger hard drives in the L1 on its own? Can one put multiple L-1s (e.g. via a switch) connected to the router and will the Lumin App integrate everything? For me, the 2TB storage is just way too small (probably have over 5TB of music files).
 
Peter - A great new product opportunity for Lumin - the L2! Double the capacity to 4TB. I would certainly get one, maybe two. I've been so happy with the L1 that I have no interest in messing around with other solutions to store my digital music.
 
Multiple L1 can be used on the same network. Each L1 can be renamed so they can be identified properly. However, using Lumin app album view and search is restricted to one library at one time only. Lumin app cannot integrate information from multiple libraries.

For a music collection much larger than 5TB, consider using Roon running on i7 Windows PC with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD for database and HDD for music.
 
Ritmo said:
Peter - A great new product opportunity for Lumin - the L2! Double the capacity to 4TB. I would certainly get one, maybe two. I've been so happy with the L1 that I have no interest in messing around with other solutions to store my digital music.
Click to expand...

I think that would be a great product as well. Right now I have no interest in Roon (I don't really need the extra stuff playing music - if I want to know something about an artist I usually have my iPhone right there and it is a quick look-up and not that often). I'm fine with my NAS and I use it for multiple back-up systems with JRiver. If I can get the storage I need from a product like an L2 that meets my needs, I'd buy it.
 
I would think that offering an upgraded Lumin L1 with higher capacity would make it easier to keep people in the Lumin ecosystem. Moving up to higher level Lumin hardware might be more appealing than trying another brand if the end user already has an L1 system that is plug and play with another model of Lumin hardware.
 
Rnrmf said:
I would think that offering an upgraded Lumin L1 with higher capacity would make it easier to keep people in the Lumin ecosystem. Moving up to higher level Lumin hardware might be more appealing than trying another brand if the end user already has an L1 system that is plug and play with another model of Lumin hardware.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%, more capacity as an option equals happy customers
 
I'd be all about a higher capacity L1, especially since using one can give an incremental step (possibly) up in performance, from what I've read, here on Audioshark, if I recall correctly.
I actually kind of expected one to come to market, by now, to tell the truth.
 
This is all really amazing. I have a little less than 500GB, and can't come anywhere close to listening to all of it. LOL.
 
BlueFox said:
This is all really amazing. I have a little less than 500GB, and can't come anywhere close to listening to all of it. LOL.
Click to expand...

I understand - I keep buying and doing audio and non-audio things and have more and more that I fall behind in listening. However, when one has big files like lots of DSD files, those take up space. That's one reason (although probably not the main one) I likely won't even have hi-rez in the car as it just takes up too much space
 
Hi Peter.
I wonder what the reason is that you can not see the L1 hard disk in the network, the way I see the disk in my Melco, or saw the Synology disk.
This was very comfortable to copy files
 
I agree that having SMB service for network file system browsing and copy is more convenient. The rationale for its omission was that SMB is a standard feature of NAS, while L1 was designed to be a zero-configuration alternative to NAS, such that it is easy to use with the least amount of required computer knowledge. (1) USB copy was seen as the simplest way, and it was thought those who needed SMB service can just use a NAS with MinimServer instead. (2) L1 was designed to run the absolute minimum processes, not unlike the concept of Audiophile Optimizer for Windows - this is part of the reason why some users have reported better SQ from L1 than from NAS.
 
Yeah - It's a fine line, but I gotta admit.. SMB in that L1 would make it an auto win for me in terms of looks, performance, and consistency.

wklie said:
I agree that having SMB service for network file system browsing and copy is more convenient. The rationale for its omission was that SMB is a standard feature of NAS, while L1 was designed to be a zero-configuration alternative to NAS, such that it is easy to use with the least amount of required computer knowledge. (1) USB copy was seen as the simplest way, and it was thought those who needed SMB service can just use a NAS with MinimServer instead. (2) L1 was designed to run the absolute minimum processes, not unlike the concept of Audiophile Optimizer for Windows - this is part of the reason why some users have reported better SQ from L1 than from NAS.
Click to expand...
 
Interesting. Surely file sharing should degrade the sound. In the Melco there is the option of deactivating file sharing and the sound really improves. When you have to copy files, activate the option, when you have finished the deactivate.
 
Upgraded my Lumin L1 from 2TB to 4TB today. Process was not difficult and now I can store all my DSD and HiRes files on the Lumin L1 and still have 1.25TB left! I bought a new Seagate 4TB External drive off Amazon for $94.99 and removed the drive from the case. Cheaper than buying a standalone internal drive. Cheap upgrade!
 
It's worthwhile to mention that, at this time, Lumin products support FAT32 and NTFS only.

To use L1 with a >2TB HDD, NTFS file system is used - that works normally with Windows. To use Mac OS, however, a $19.95 NTFS driver software needs to be purchased because Mac OS does not support NTFS.

(I'll see if we can address this limitation such that Mac OS users with large HDD no longer need to rely on an additional paid software - but no promises at this point.)
 
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