I have a media server that I am about to rebuild. I am thinking about switching the meta storage and transcoding to a ssd. My question is would I see a benefit with a ssd (or could I see more with two ssd’s) or just use a standard 7200 rpm drive…
My server will be upgraded to a I7 6700k with 32gig ram and a SSD as a OS. Also media will be on stablebit pool drive (which I am going to use a SSD set as a parking drive). If there is anything else that would speed me up, I’m open to any other tips… Thanks in advance for any advice.
First, under no circumstances place the Plex Data Directory inside a DrivePool pool or on a networked drive, It will NOT work for long if at all. The data directory should always be on a drive that is directly connected to the server and is not part of any pooling system.
Next, the only real advantage to using a SSD is either startup time for the whole system if the SSD is a boot drive or Plex database access speed if the SSD is used for Plex’s data directory.
Personally in all my Plex use over the years I have never used an SSD for anything directly related to Plex and I have never had or observed any slowness of anything Plex.
Many people do use SSDs for their boot drive or for their Plex data directory or both but I believe you are better off using the extra money for more storage or even more/better liquid spirits as the advantage to Plex is small.
I didn’t plan to use the pool for the meta data. I’ve tried that with no luck… I just didn’t know what was the best way to go about it… I already have three samsung pros. One for the boot and two for the stablebit parking. The Plex was what I was really concerned with. Right now, it’s kinda slow to start up and the transcoding is a little slow. The dashboard takes about a minute and a half to start and sometimes the dashboard doesn’t even start… I have to open movies or TV to view the files… Sometimes if I reload it, it’ll start up… I was hoping that I could speed it up with the upgrades…
@Melocco said:
…The Plex was what I was really concerned with. Right now, it’s kinda slow to start up and the transcoding is a little slow. The dashboard takes about a minute and a half to start and sometimes the dashboard doesn’t even start… I have to open movies or TV to view the files… Sometimes if I reload it, it’ll start up… I was hoping that I could speed it up with the upgrades…
The initial load may well speed up with an SSD for the database. That is a database function and if the problem is related to the speed of access then you should see improved performance.
BTW: Have you optimized your database? Whenever I have seen slow behavior from Plex an optimize cures it 95% of the time.
The only Plex instillation I still have is on my Shield TV Pro. It uses an SSD of sorts and it does not seem much faster that my old PC instillation did. I “think” the SSD in the Shield is some type of combo drive so it may not be a good guide as to what to expect.
@Melocco said:
Thanks. I did try to optimize, but I have way too many files to optimize all of them.
I guess I’ll try to set up a ssd for it. But should I set a ssd as the transcoder by itself. I just need to figure out how to do it.
I was not talking about optimizing the files. I was talking about optimizing the database.
In the web interface you click on the three dots next to the word LIBRARIES not next to any of your library names.
Then choose “Optimize database” from the drop down menu. With my large library it only takes about a maximum of 5-10 minutes if I have changed a lot and have not optimized in a long time.
As far as an SSD for transcoding that should not be normally needed. reading and writing video files is not a disk intensive process so it should not make any difference. But in the settings (under transcoder I think) there is a setting for transcoder temporary director that you can change if you wish.
Thanks for the info… I did that and it didn’t speed it up at all, which is fine… I’m going to have to rebuild everything anyway… I did find this on youtube from byte my bits and I know it’s from 2014, but I didn’t know if it still was viable… On the video, go to 6:47. This is what I was talking about having ssd’s for plex… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BZVmkzn5eQ&t=206s I don’t mind spending the money on equipment, I just don’t want it to be wasted… Thanks again for everyones info…
Noteworthy is my opinion - that I will put every movie in a sub-folder when HELL freezes over, but having said that I run 26 libraries (and counting). That leaves under 300 movies in each library. I can update very quickly - the entire Plexiverse in under 35 seconds (just checked). All storage is local, consists of WD HDDs - 3 Greens and 1 Black, Over 8TB of content spread across them, so… there you go.
I won’t be upgrading to SSDs anytime soon.
Plex and the OS runs on one, but the Database runs on one of those spinners - working fine.
Thanks everyone… I just ran across this. I think I’m going to try to do what he is doing.
Running the meta data on a Samsung pro and transcoder on a ram disk. I’ll just do 64 gig of ram (max my board supports) and have 32 gig set for transcoding. I know it won’t be a huge jump in performance, but if I’m going to have to spend money on it anyway, why not future proof it… Thanks again for all the suggestions.
Also, just an FYI. I’m running 3,689 movies and 42,452 TV shows, totaling 34tb of room. If I switch to have files on all those hard drives, it’s drive me crazy trying to figure out what drive gets what. With stablebit, the one folder movies and the folder tv shows (with all the files) are divided between all my drives. So if my system goes down, I can pull those drives out and read them on any computer that can read ntfs. So basically, I’m doing what juice is doing, but the software is organizing everything (can also duplicate so if a drive dies, you don’t loose your files) kinda like a raid, but easier to use. Add drives if you start running out of room and use external hard drive or different sizes etc. That raid can’t. I did use raid, raid 6, but I didn’t have an exact match for the raid and lost everything. This is so much safer and easier to use.
I’m also considering switching from WD Reds in software RAID1 to SSDs without redundancy. I’m not sure what drives will work best at the moment so am up for any suggestions.
My library is currently around 3TB. My reason for wanting to move to SSDs is 6-fold.
Speedier response reading files
Making the server as silent as possible
Reducing the amount of power the server consumes
The software RAID solution is frustrating to maintain/rebuild when drives fail + rebuilding takes time and impacts performance
SSDs have the potential to outlive HDDs in terms of how long they last and therefore may end up being more cost effective - I don’t seem to get more than 3yrs out of a WD Red!
I can do a full backup in a fraction of the amount of time on a periodic basis taking aware the need for RAID as I can put up with having the server down for a few hours.
