I currently have a 4 bay ReadyNAS server that I use with Plex and was thinking of upgrading to a DS918+ NAS Server. The main reason is I’m thinking that the ability to add a couple of SSD drives to it for caching would make a world of difference when streaming video. Has anyone found that to be true, or should I just stick to my ReadyNAS system?
Most users (as of today) consider SSDs mostly as system drives to run the actual Plex Media Server — not yet so much to host their media. In such a Setup, the streaming will still mostly depend on the storage drives. That being said… for bare streaming on a small / mid size scale you should not see a bottleneck due to limited IO of those storage drives. The immediate impact of having the PMS and its database / metadata on a SSD should be that you get much better response times for the server itself (e.g. when it comes to the server waking up or navigating your library).
I use 100% SSD on my server as it DOES make a difference at least some of the time.
I do a good job of spreading media files, particularly high bitrate video, across a reasonably large number of drives. Still, there are times when a relatively high number of users are streaming off the same drive and that’s where SSD makes a difference. I use Zabbix for monitoring and it alerts on specific bottleneck conditions. All of the data that it yields reinforces this observation.
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Unless running a string of external drives, most people would run out of network before running into disk bottleneck for media.
Ssd are great for storing the plex data (database/metadata) though.
I have several Readynas and the biggest performance upgrade would to a more modern synology etc.
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Does it even matter for the database? You still have to send the data over the network and have the client display it. I run my database on a sata SSD myself and Im not impressed by the speed my clients load artwork. Would an m2 improve things
Smaller ones, maybe not so much, but yes it totally matters the larger it gets.
Funny, I run my database on a WD-Red 5400rpm spinner and my clients load artwork ‘adequately’ (considering - a second or 2 for a screenfull), which makes me think it’s pretty much the same for you.
I do have plans to move the database to a 1TB SSD - when I can afford an overhaul, but until then - I’m quite happy with things the way they are.
Plex seems to have this issue of The Mothership - and everything going through it’s Transporter system - before it gets to anything out on this end - and I don’t think spending a couple of thousand dollars on a speedier database is gonna make all that much difference.
I’m quite happy with the way things are. For now.
When streaming it doesn’t make any difference really. I added the SSD as the OS drive because having all the metadata in an SSD makes a ton of difference when browsing through the libraries.
Posters and covers load up almost instantly.
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Yea. I have a large library. All metadata on SSD. Locally, when browsing PMS (on the PC it resides) it loads the artwork pretty fast. But Im not sure I notice that much of a gain in the clients. If any. It seems to me there are to many links in the chain adding latency for a fast disc to remedy. Im not really sure though. Ive used SSD for so long, my memory of how it used to work on a regular HDD isnt that good.
It’s about like I would expect on an HDD.
I open - it says, yep, hold on a sec, and there it is.
I’m happy.
Every client has their own performance characteristics, the slowest link can vary with device, network, server.
Having a mega fast server won’t speed up a fire stick.
Yea thats true. My iPhone actually loads the artwork crazy fast. I checked after your post. Its an entirely different experience than my Samsung TVs
Unfortunately ‘smart’ tvs rarely are, and more often than not, less powerful than a several years old phone.
Keep in mind, most streaming devices and TVs, are not intended or designed for plex, but for Netflix etc, with only just enough resources to run those things.
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