Is there an advantage to installing Plex on NAS rather than desktop PC?

General Discussions
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Is there any advantage to running Plex on my NAS, as opposed to running it on my desktop PC?

My PC is a brand-new Dell Optiplex with Intel Core i7-9700 CPU @ 3.00 Ghz, with 16GB of RAM running Windows 10 Pro. I recently purchased a used NetGear ReadyNAS 204 with 32TB of disk space in four 8-TB drives configured with RAID10, leaving me with 15TB of usable disk space, less than half of which I am using or will ever use (really). I have a Spectrum internet/voice modem and a NetGear dual-band AC1750 R6400v2 router. I have a 1-yr-old Samsung UN55NU8000FXZA Smart TV. I have a good APC SmartUPS.

I have been running Plex Media Server on the desktop PC with the libraries stored on the NAS, and everything is working very well and very FAST.

But I see that the NAS offers a Plex app, so my questions are:

  1. is there any advantage to moving the Plex Media Server software from the PC to the NAS?

  2. I found documentation on how to migrate Plex settings from one PC to another, but I have not found the same for migrating from a PC to a NAS. Is there any documentation on how to do this?

Either way, it sounds tricky and time consuming, so I wouldn’t migrate unless someone can tell me of a significant advantage to running Plex on the NAS. My computer is on whenever I am home, so it’s not as if using the PC to make changes is a hassle.

Thanks for the feedback.

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The only advantage would be that you would not need to keep your pc on all the time.

Your pc vastly out powers the nas, you should just leave pms on the pc, and the storage on the nas.

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Thanks! That’s what I thought. I’m retired, and so the PC is on all day, which is not a problem. The PC has a separate APC SmartUPS, so there are no interruptions to the power. The only power setting I have configured is that the monitor turns off after 15 minutes of non-use, but I don’t let the computer go to sleep or hibernate.

There would have to be some really major advantage to running Plex on the NAS before I would go to the trouble of migrating, and you confirm my thought that there is NO advantage at all. Thanks again.

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I agree with you, leave it on the PC, better control over PMS…
If your the only one using it I would let it sleep save some power and wake it when you need it.

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+100% agree with PMS on PC and media on NAS. You’ll have far less problems with that setup and much more control.

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… after a while you even learn to do regular maintenance - with the PC On - if you don’t want this to happen:

dustbunnyprime

requiring the migration of your Plexiverse to your NAS while you rebuild the PC…

:wink:

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@JuiceWSA
Would you use a vacuum to clean that?

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The reason why I have a brand new Dell computer is that the previous Dell computer toasted itself in December. Something on the motherboard fried itself, simultaneously frying the power supply on the external USB drive. Or it could have been the other way around, there’s no telling. And of course there’s no compatible motherboard available for that 4-yr-old Dell computer, so I had to buy a new one. Fortunately I have a laptop, and full & incremental weekly backups, so it wasn’t that difficult to recreate my Plexiverse on the laptop, but I don’t want to do that again any time soon.

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At that point - a Power-Washer and a Haz-Mat Team.

A can of air is cheap and when applied 3 times a year (or in my case every 30 days) that can be prevented.

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Picture them coming into the office to clean a PC…

never use a vacuum to clean anything with electronic circuitry.
The static it can create could easily destroy it.

Your right a can of air is cheap, keep the propellant in the can and use a ground strap if possible.

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