Apologies if there is a better place for this question, but I’m re-thinking my storage options and looking for some advice. My current situation is a Drobo Gen 2 connected to a late 2009 iMac. The Drobo is long in the tooth and while still functional, it’s connections are Firewire 400/800 or USB 2. My iMac is also due for a refresh and with Apple hinting new iMacs coming later this year, and their recent move to USB 3-C, I’m debating the following options:
Drobo 5C
Drobo 5Dt
Drobo 5N2
QNAP TVS-671
I’m fine with leaving the iMac on all the time and acting as a server, hence going with DAS is no problem. I honestly have been researching the 5C versus 5Dt and I can’t make heads or tails of all the thunderbolt 2 versus 3 versus usb 2 versus 3 data transfer rates and how that is limited or not limited by hard drive disk IO, etc. I’m trying to figure out if one or the other is better for my current situation (I’ll replace the Drobo first, before the iMac) but also which will be better for my next iMac? If apple goes all USB- 3-C, shouldn’t I be looking at the 5C? Or does the 5Dt work also just with a different cable? Then I started reading about how cables are not all the same and shoot me in the face already…
So then I started thinking about going to a NAS to avoid all that nonsense, and it would be nice to to have the flexibility of moving it off my desk. But from what I’ve read it sounds like gigabit has many of the same bottlenecks being the hard drives and it adds in the additional network lag of streaming from the NAS to the PMS to the client. So then I started looking at the QNAP which can run PMS directly, and I like how that de-couples my iMac from the equation. But that is seriously more expensive of an option, and I just question if a NAS is truly up to the task of running PMS given it’s main purpose is storage and not serious transcoding duties…
So what I’m really trying to understand: does PMS handle DAS versus NAS in a perceivably better way? Is one method preferred? Should I just bite the bullet and go with a QNAP or stick with DAS for speed and performance? And if DAS, what interface? I would love to get some advice on future proofing from the community as I feel like I’m in analysis paralysis…
Personally I would avoid the network between the server and the discs if possible since you’re limiting your throughput on read access to your library. It will make scanning libraries take far longer as well. It works but not as well as DAS storage.
Why not just build a “server” that you will run Plex directly on and call it a day? Keep it simple.
Hi cayars, I have about 10TB of media currently so I need some kind of mass storage. So I just figured if I was going to buy a new Drobo no sense in buying another machine. I can just keep using my iMac (and future new iMac) as the server. I was thinking NAS as a more future proof option since IP is universal and requires no connectors. But sounds like the trade offs might be too much?
I run PMS on a NAS as @cayars knows. But mine isn’t a cheap model, either. It cost me around $1300 before drives. The Asustor AS-7004T model. If I had it to do over, it would have been the 8 or 10 drive bay model… I have so many externals hanging off it now, I might as well turn the whole thing into a rack mount…
And this config runs PMs as well as many of the bigger boys.
FWIW after doing NAS research and pondering running PMS on one I decided to just build a computer. For about $1500 I have an Intel i7-7700 (over 12000 Passmark score), 16GB RAM, bluray drive, and 4 5TB SATA 3 drives. The drives are in a raid 10 configuration (so, striping and mirroring).
Just for a point of info: I just ran into a situation that has exposed a weakness in my overall backup system.
See my thread: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/267694/i-did-something-stupid
I am in the process of recovering everything but it is going to take several days (maybe as long as two weeks) to get everything back and some things may not comeback too easily as they are on VERY old VCR tape and I have already run into one that will not play at all. Fortunately that one is also on one of the old boxed set DVDs that I got from Amazon on a 20 DVDs for $10.00 deal so it is not truly lost but that set is stored in a storage unit that I keep about 3 states away. (It is safe and paid for through 2025) So it will be some time before I get there.
I am in the process of rethinking and retooling my entire backup process and I have thought it through quite a bit since my moment of stupidity and misuse of my DrivePool setup. I have concluded that the fact of a good backup is incomplete without a good restore scheme so I am going to come up with such a scheme that does not rely on any truly offsite storage except as very secure storage without need to except in extreme emergencies, actually get the original media.
I have not yet decided exactly what I will do but I do not want to again loose files that I cannot restore by, at most, pulling a drive/device out of a closet here onsite and copying the file(s) back into my setup. So:
They will be stored in playable digital format.
They will not require any extraordinary means to get back into Plex.
As I said I am reworking my media backup system and I will, this time, only focus on cost (within reason) after I make the decision of what I wish to do. That is while I am retired and so have a lot of free time I can think of a bunch of better ways to spend it that nursemaid a restore process.
As a bit of an aside: I find it quite amazing that my losses consist of only about 10% or less of my library but the files actually lost are about 30-40% fo the ones I consider important. I guess it is just another manifestation of the general case of Murphy’s Law; “The perversity of the universe tends to a maximum.”
@MikeG6.5 said:
I run PMS on a NAS as @cayars knows. But mine isn’t a cheap model, either. It cost me around $1300 before drives. The Asustor AS-7004T model. If I had it to do over, it would have been the 8 or 10 drive bay model… I have so many externals hanging off it now, I might as well turn the whole thing into a rack mount…
And this config runs PMs as well as many of the bigger boys.
Your NAS is more like a server. NAS’s are fine if you can run Plex directly on them and transcode a couple of streams. All my suggestion (and that’s all it was) is to try and avoid putting a network between the Plex server and the files if possible especially while your file storage needs are small (< 20TB) and be contained on one device.
When ever possible for best performance (generally speaking) you want Plex to have DAS (direct access to storage) without a network being in the middle slowing things down.
Both @MikeG6.5 and I both fit that requirement even though it’s done slightly differently. What you want to avoid if possible is having a computer running Plex Server accessing a NAS or FileServer to access files. ← Surely works but isn’t the most ideal setup to strive for if building a new system.
If you turn off the automatic feature in DrivePool that manage your files (moving them around) it works great. You can get by with just one Parity disc as long as it’s as big as your largest disc. Your parity disc can be local or mounted on a network. Where it resides doesn’t matter just as long as it’s big enough. You can have up to 8 parity discs but one is better than none.
I accidentally delete 500+ files a month or so ago and this made it easy to recover them.
The Drobo is simple—albeit expensive—solution. I don’t think there is a better set-it-and-forget-it option out there in the Mac environment. I’ve been using Drobos for a decade now, starting with the original Drobo 4-bay, and currently the 5D. TB2/3 is great if you’re doing more than just storing media files, but isn’t necessary for a simple Plex library. The jump from FW800 to TB1 was huge, and the throughput is more than sufficient for simultaneous playback of multiple files. See the screenshot below of a speedtest I did on a Drobo 5D:
Using 8TB drives, there is 28.9TB of usable space using single drive redundancy (~20TB with dual redundancy enabled). Redundancy is not backup, so depending on how much you value your data you may want a second one for backups. I’m a maniac and have four of them: one for movies and one for TV, and two offsite that I update less frequently than I should.
Thanks all for the feedback. Sounds like DAS is a more optimal setup. My Drobo has been mostly maintenance free which is why I have been planning to stick with them.
Does anyone have any feedback on the 5C vs 5Dt? Seems like the 5C would be better since it supports TB3 and USB3, has the new port connector, and it’s cheaper, but no ability to Daisy chain is a bit of a bummer (although I won’t hit the upper limits of my storage anytime soon).
Late to the party, but my NAS was designed to be future-proof. I started off by over-engineering the CPU and shooting high, to buy me as much time before I’d have to touch that.
If I need more space, I swap out the 3TB drives. I’m eyeing the 8TB ones at the moment, which can be had around $260 right now. If I need more CPU (unlikely) or RAM, I upgrade the motherboard/CPU/RAM keeping everything else in place. I already have those targeted and part #s picked out should the day come.
It’s a standard case using standard components. Futureproof by design, and an all-in-one solution so I don’t need a separate PMS box from my NAS.
