Currently, I have a bunch of HDDs in an Intel CPU/GPU Windows 10 server. I am looking to upgrade to a NAS, and I’m deliberating between the DS920+ or the DS923+.
My environment is:
Local - Apple TV4k, Samsung TV w/Roku, Windows 10 laptop
Remote- Apple iPhone, Samsung TV w/Roku
Currently, the DS920+ is scarce, and it’s selling for $800-$1000. The DS923+ is ~$600. Is the 920+ worth that extra few hundred dollars over the 923+ for the hardware transcoding, or would I be better served all around to use my current Win10 workstation to run Plex and just use the 923+ as a NAS and let the workstation do any transcoding? Either solution will have four 14tb WD Red Pro drives for the data.
Thanks for the feedback, if there’s any other info needed to better answer my question, let me know!
I would spend the extra money just for the 920+. I’d run it from the windows 10 server and use NAS as storage before i spent that extra money. You may be better off just running from the windows 10 server assuming it has better transcoding power than the nas.
Generally speaking you can direct play everything and avoid transcoding but inevitably you will need to transcode stuff occassionally especially if you ever share it with anyone and that will be difficult without HW transcoding if you get the 923+.
If someone is willing to spend up to $1000 you can also spend $600 on the NAS and $200-400 on a new micro computer that is a dedicated Plex server. It would have a lot more power than the NAS CPU and could very effectively transcode/tone map fat files if needed.
Synology DS1522 (seen listed at $700) would provide a whole drive slot worth of future proofing (The chassis is the most expensive / painful part to ugprade)
From there, run PMS on whatever you want to suit your needs.
If you go the NAS route, you’ll need at least one spare drive to get started.
NAS drives will always reformat the drive when you insert it for use.
You’ll need 3 drives to make your first RAID 5. (this is why more slots is beneficial)
Yes, the first step into a RAID’ed NAS is tough.
You can always use it as a JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Drives) without failure protection but that kinda defeats the purpose
Yeah, got four brand spankin’ new WD Red Pro 14tb drives going into it. My current setup has been JBOD I’ve added to and cobbled together as needed over the years, and I’m tired of that, hehe.
First drive failure you are going to be freaking out that the rebuild fails and you lose everything. Unless you actually care nothing about the data or time to get it set back up.
Find a back up plan! Convince a friend to have fun with you and buy one and use each other’s boxes as backup. Cheapest way ha!
RAID is not BACKUP. RAID is physical failure protection.
Getting on soapbox
I have my primary RAID 6 array in the NAS (all 120TB of it)
Sitting right next to it on the shelf is another RAID 5 box with 140 TB in it.
Weekly backups are (script controlled)
Wake-on-LAN the other NAS
Let it come ready
Full ‘rsync’ backup from main to backup machine (10 GbE)
Shutdown the backup machine until next week.
That first load, over 10GbE, took over 24 hours.
Now it runs in under 30 minutes.
Deletions are removed from the backup
New content is added.
All “auto-magic”
Same . Other than I use hyperback up bare metal. A lot less data. I use scheduled task to wake and sleep instead of wake on lan because the back up is at my friend’s house. Tail scale between the two.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread but I’m interesting in learning more about this?
I’m running 4x20TB using SHR-1, are you saying if one of these drives fail, I won’t be able to rebuild it with another new drive?
Quick update: thanks for the replies and suggestions! I decided to go with the DS1821+, it is currently building the SHR array with 4x14TB WD RedPro drives. As for backup, I have an external 14TB USB 3.0 drive arriving today that I will be using to backup my essential files for now, and consider another DS1821+ down the road for a full backup solution.
As suggested, I will keep running my Plex server on my Win10 workstation, with all the data on the NAS. My next question is this: with the Plex shows/movies now being hosted on the NAS, should I be looking to upgrade from a gigabit wired connection to a 10GBE wired between the Plex server and the NAS? If so, I’m considering adding a 10GBE nic to the WIn10, and a 10GBE nic to the DS1821+, and doing a direct connection for those, and using the gigabit connection on the WIn10 to go into the network switch (as it is currently), and one of the gigabit nics on the NAS into the switch as well.
EDIT: to clarify- is the current gigabit Win10 Plex server to the NAS sufficient, or should I be immediately looking to upgrade that connection to 10GBE, or is there a better way to do it?
Thanks again for the input and recommendations, much appreciated!
