Edit: I should have said that I have as yet never streamed anything outside my home, or to a mobile device. I would generally have at most 2 x 1080P streams going at a time. I picked these 2 NAS mainly for future proofing.
You need almost no CPU for in-home directstreams/directplays. Many have even used raspberrypi.
I’m currently using 2 x 8 TB Ironwolf NAS drives. I would like the redundancy of a Raid. I would also like to be able to add additional drives if I need more storage. To me that means RAID 5. Do I want to get a motherboard with on-board hardware raid, or would I be better off running a software raid.
RAID is expensive, storage inefficient, and and doesn’t provide what most think. RAID1+ can provide availability, uninterrupted service. But most people want a backup… RAID provides no redundancy for: virus, file corruption, file handling mistakes, and the ‘redundancy’ is in the same location as fire and theft. So it’s no backup… and it’s expensive.
Have separate storage, that syncs at a delayed interval. I sync nightly to a secondary plex server that is on a different ISP at a different home as long as the changes aren’t larger than I think a 100gb threshold. (you don’t have to run plex on the secondary location). Larger syncs I review manually.
Just look for standard hardware, KISS=keep it simple stupid. Intel cpu, mainboard with intel chipset, and intel ethernet and video dvi/hdmi/dp support and it will be smooth sailing.
I have a dedicated i3-8100 and i5-7400 system. Which are WAY overkill for plex but I have several remote users, and also use for other multitasking at the same time.
If you like to tinker (and willing to do it safely with COVID) I encourage folks not to be so attached to this stuff, used, enterprise, gerneric, all is good enough this is not fashion or showcase gear, its commodity. don’t worry about the exact right stuff, good enough is good enough. damaged packaging, no problem… missing accessories? I can make do save your OCD for the media management!
I bought nearly everything for far less that you indicate in loonies, not US$
I paid I think about 75$ (55 US$) for my motherboard, manufacturer refurb. Maybe 90$ (65US$ for my 8100 CPU used. I buy HDD and SSD from amazon returns, and enterprise refurbs / used etc, even shucked external USB enclosures.
On the other hand I also have owned NAS units (NetGear/QNAP/Synologyx3) so I do appreciate the benefits of that approach. They are simply not affordable when you want real CPUs, and large HDD counts. At least not compared to my piece together used /refurb gear approach.
Menel - Mervincn already brought up the issues of looking at RAID as a backup. I’m still thinking about what to do about it. I live in a wildfire area so that is an issue. I’ll probably end up with an OTS NAS for a local backup. It would need to store more than my media. If it were off sight I would want it to be encrypted. I need to look at how to get that done.
I’m toying with the idea of some kind of bunker for an NAS. Something I could bury in the back yard to keep my NAS Safe from fire, flood, earthquakes, and theft.
An offsite backup would still be a good idea. Whether that’s cloud storage, an NAS at a friends house, or a couple of HDDs in a bank vault.
The disks I included are ones I have laying around. When I upgrade my gaming PC that will free up an M.2. I already have a new M.2 to swap with the C drive, so that is a definite possibility.
Mervincn - I did notice the cost of the i3-8100 was a bit more than what you made it sound like. The i3-8100f seems to be a lot cheaper. As far as I can tell that nix’s the video processor that I will need if I ever want to do trans-coding. Not really an option. I’ll start shopping the used, refurbished, and returns to see what I can come up with.
this is not fashion or showcase gear, its commodity. don’t worry about the exact right stuff, good enough is good enough. damaged packaging, no problem… missing accessories? I can make do 