Hi folks - I have my current Plex Server setup running off of a dedicated Windows 10 PC with plenty of power and is my main host and transcoding machine. All my media is housed on a WD MyBookLiveDuo NAS Drive. However I’m running out of room and in need of a new drive. I’m wondering, as I intend to continue to use the PC as the main source for hosting the server and transcoding, if I should just move to a regular USB 3.1 external drive rather then pay the additional cost of the NAS.
You can add on. You don’t have to move. Throw in a USB drive or get another NAS (in addition to your current drive) and add the new directories to your Plex libraries. Any new files you add will be combined into the library.
Personally, I prefer an expandable NAS… with open drive bays to add to as necessary. You’ll get lots of opinions. Most of which work. 
You will hear differing opinions but I always use USB drives. I currently have 11 drives varying in size from 4 tb to 10 tb totaling 52 tb in size. They are pooled using StableBit’s DrivePool software and I have not had a failure in over 2 years and the failure I had 2 years ago resulted from me dropping a drive when moving my drives around. I lost no data from that failure.
I have looked at both stand alone network drives and various NAS devices as well as my USB solution and I have found nothing that is both as cost efficient and as reliable as my USB solution.
The only drawback to having a bunch of USB drives is clutter and, since my server lives in my back room on a custom shelf, clutter is not a problem.
I recommend USB drives.
1 Like
Thanks for this feedback - the fact that I’m not really using all of the remote access features or hosting/transcoding features of a NAS is the reason for the USB consideration. I was trying to determine if there was a speed and disc reading benefit to one over the other based on my configuration. But I agree with you both that I’ll probably just purchase a standard USB 3 drive and add it to my NAS; then I could choose to use the USB standalone down the road if I choose.
like many people, I started with external usb drives (back when like 200gig was huge).
unfortunately my experience was not like Elijah’s, I have had many usb drive (both HD and usb flash key) failures over the years that I will never ever trust them completely as main storage. I think the last external drive I bought was on of those huge 8TB western digital dual drives with firewire.
I moved on to dedicated NAS devices and have been happier ever since.
Sure there is more expense up front, but if you learn as much as you can you can find a device which fits your budget and projected future needs that will allow you to upgrade over time.
Not to mention, with the right device, you can run plex server directly on the nas and not have to leave your PC powered on all the time (potentially saving a bit of electricity if that is a concern).
Then over time, if you do out grow your current nas, you can upgrade to a newer one and use the older one(s) for backup.
In any case, whether it be a NAS with raid or a stack of external drives, there is no replacement for backing up your data.
Backups = at minimum 2 copies of your data, ideally at least 3. On different devices, and even better when stored at different locations.
Its not just software or hardware failure to worry bout, but user error (accidental or intentional), virus/malware, fire, floods, theft.
Having 10 copies of your data at the same place won’t help if your house burns down and melts your backups too.
1 Like
This is HUGE!
Fortunately for me, I got to learn this lesson from a friend, who lost his entire library when his USB drive crapped out. I just recently lost my primary NAS due to a botched firmware update. Luckily I had an old one laying around and FTP still worked. Currently copying the files back to my repaired prime NAS from backup as we speak. Lifesaver.
Yeah, good point NAS are not infallible either, but as said BACKUPS save the day!
Even just recently one of my nas crapped out, not because of drive or hardware failure, but because I had a bunch of power interruptions and no UPS, which cause both a raid resync and some minor file system corruption (which thankfully I managed to fix myself).
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
