Help With Storage Configuration

[maximillianrg]

As I plan my new Plex Server build on Windows 10, the more I study the more confused I get regarding the storage for the media Library

Storage Option 1 - Connect a Drobo 5D3 to the Windows 10 PC via USB C and I have 20TB of storage that ex expandable to 50TB with redundancy using 14TB Drives. At present my library is about 13TB in Size.

Storage Option 2 - Wait for Window 10 thunderbolt drivers to work with the Drobo 8N. This would allow expansion up to 87.3TB using 14TB drives but drivers are not expected until Q3 if at all

Storage Option 3 - Purchase a 4-port LSI SAS Controller and put (2) 5-bay hot swap units (silverstone, istar, or Roswill) into my case Now my struggle is how to manage those drives with Windows 10

UNRAID : This is its own OS and I really dont want to run Windows and Plex in a VM
FLEXRAID : I hear the developer is MIA, and support sucks
SNAPRAID : Some people have had bad experienced but this may work
STORAGE SPACE : (Built into Windows 10) A lot of people do not like this at all
HARDWARE RAID : Controllers are expensive and Raid 5 can affect performance

I have never used UNIX or Linux so that rules out some other options.

Help Please

[jwrober]

I would go with option 1 FWIW. Its available now, the USB-C connector will give you enough bandwidth on the bus to stream a few items at once. All my movies, music and archived tv shows are on a USB 2.0 external HDD and I have no performance issues. Option 2 is messy at best per your concern about the driver compatibility and if you don’t have experience with Linux I would not want you to go down that path with the learning curve. Software RAID options are not a good choice either. HW RAID is much more stable.