I just recently discovered Plex, and boy, it is amazing. I want to build out a nice set up, but i’m getting myself lost in all technical details i find when searching for the perfect plex set up. I don’t know much about computers and servers, so can you guys help me in explaining what is a good set up in my situation? As of now my laptop is hooked to two external drives (one for movies and one for tv shows). The firsr issue i have is backup. What is the best way to back up my files? I was thinking in buying a NAS synology, or is it better i just buy another hard drive for back up? Im also going to buy a new PC with good CPU. I will use plex for maybe three streams max. Can anyone help me with improving my set up? I first thought just hooking up a synology to my pc, but then i heard the transcoding is hard on a NAS?
In my experience and opinion, Keep it simple and straight forward.
I understand there a thousands of suggestions in this forum describing what to try. but most is WAY over my head…
I recommend getting the following and dedicate it to Plex.
i7 laptop with SSD and Windows
Laptop cooling pad.
All the USB HDDs needed for your PMS Library.
Backup media to other drives as needed (I maintain 3 copies of my library on separate HHDs in different locations)
Simple, Reliable, works out of the box, and relatively cheap. (Not much more than a good NAS but MUCH more powerful for transcoding!!)
Three transcoded streams doesn’t use too much power. I’ve done it on a 1st gen i7.
As far as files and backup I use a drobo 5D connected to my pc. It has redundency. You can use drives of any size. If one needs to be replaced just pop it out and put a new one in. Done.
Been using it for a long time with 4-5 transcoded streams without issue.
Exactly, as @archer75 says.
My i7 is newer generation (Passmark 9000) and I have streamed up to 5 transcoded 1080p titles (7 when not all 1080p) and several direct plays concurrently. (All done for not much more than a good NAS)
The reason I maintain my HDD based backups on 3 different drives and locations is really for disaster such as fire, flood, earthquake (LOL I live in Los Angeles)
@jjrjr1 said:
In my experience and opinion, Keep it simple and straight forward.
I understand there a thousands of suggestions in this forum describing what to try. but most is WAY over my head…
I recommend getting the following and dedicate it to Plex.
i7 laptop with SSD and Windows
Laptop cooling pad.
All the USB HDDs needed for your PMS Library.
Backup media to other drives as needed (I maintain 3 copies of my library on separate HHDs in different locations)
Simple, Reliable, works out of the box, and relatively cheap. (Not much more than a good NAS but MUCH more powerful for transcoding!!)
I pretty much agree with this except for using a laptop. While a laptop will work pretty well it is harder to maintain and troubleshoot and, even with a laptop cooler, keep within operating parameters. I recommend a solid desktop for a server.
At the point the industry is in now you can get a quite powerful desktop for a very good price and then add the USB drive as you wish and you have a good solid Plex server.
One thing I think increases reliability is to use some type of disk combining/pooling software with duplication so that a loss of a drive does not cause data loss. I use DrivePool by StableBit and have 2X duplication turned on. It makes sure that duplicates are never on the same drive so a loss of a drive is little more than an inconvenience. You can even go to 3X or 4X if you are more paranoid than I.
Also your Plex server should have no other regular duties not related to providing your media to you. Additional software and/or tasks can make the Plex server unstable. It is designed to run in most all environments but why strain it? Plex servers, like almost everything else, should be designed and maintained on the KISS principal.
Some very good suggestions and most definitely KISS!!!
I like using the laptop since it uses MUCH less power than a desktop, also much smaller and quieter.
Do not need a monitor
It generates LESS heat than my desktop.
(My desktop runs at core temps of around 195-210 when high CPU use. The Laptop core temps are around 135-150 even when max CPU utilization is 100%… I.E. Heavy Transcoding…)
Laptops have sort of a built in surge protector and UPS, meaning I can buy a much smaller UPS just to keep modem, router, and HDDs running
Many of those advantages make it cheaper to run 24x7 as I do
But… There is always more than one way to skin a cat!!!
