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Looking for help on picking a NAS storage device to run plex on that i can access remotely and locally. I currently have a 8tb Easy store connected to my router. I have 2 more Sata drives that i could install in a NAS enclosure. Looking to see what economical options are out there.
Currently running plex on my IMac with the files located on my easy store. It works but not the best for remote. Any help really appreciated.
I was looking at this one. [Synology 2 bay NAS DiskStation DS218+ (Diskless) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075N1BYWX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_LDWpDb3SCXE9P](Synology 2 bay NAS DiskStation DS218+ (Diskless) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075N1BYWX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_LDWpDb3SCXE9P)
I dunno if you noticed this or not:
- Live transcoding of up to two concurrent H. 265/H. 264 4K video streaming (Only 2?)
Judging by the hardware inside of it, there’s no way it’s transcoding a single 4K video without buffering though, so they’re overselling it a bit. Personally, any NAS worth its weight in salt that I’ve seen on the market, could be built for less, or with the same cost could be built to higher specifications. I suspect that it’s because NAS is the new buzzword, and everyone wants a piece of the pie, so prices are higher than they should be.
If it was me doing this, I’d be grabbing a small form factor case, a Mini-ITX Board, a processor, some ram, and a power supply, install FreeNAS, and call it a day. But that’s gonna run you more than $300. It will completely outperform that Synology box though 
What about this unit?
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-my-cloud-ex2-ultra-0tb-2-bay-external-network-storage-nas-charcoal/5061402.p?skuId=5061402
I have a pc that is an extra one that I could hook up the drive to but looking to simplify a little.
If you already have a spare PC, build your own NAS, and just buy a smaller form factor case to work in. Then wipe the system drive of the PC and install FreeNAS. It will likely work better and cost you less than any OTB NAS solution.
What kind of processor is the spare pc? Do you know what socket it is?
The reason I ask, is because for probably right around $200 you can get a much smaller form factor case, as shown here: https://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-Supply-Mini-ITX-FD-CA-CORE-500-BK/dp/B011WB7WXI/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Fractal+Core+500&qid=1564429242&s=gateway&sr=8-1
And a Mini-ITX Motherboard for your processor. The rest of the parts in your PC should just move over. It will be slightly larger than an OTB NAS solution, but smaller than a Mid-Tower, and it will outperform the NAS hands down.
The case holds 3x3.5" Hard drives, 2x2.5" Hard drives, 1x5.25" Drive bays, and accomodates ATX sized power supplies, and large graphics cards (not that you need a large graphics card).
get a NAS if you need the functionality of a NAS. I’m not sold on them being PLEX server on top of that. Great for storing lots of data though. But the processors in any NAS are pretty wek when it comes to transcoding video streams for more than one user - and depending on the resolution, maybe not even that. I have a 12-bay synology. Love it. Changed my life not having all those USB drives stacking up. But when it came to making a PLEX server, I got a stand alone PC for that. It doesn’t need much. Good power supply, a 500 gig solid state C drive, beefy processor, and a 100 mbit ethernet to the router. Mount the NAS on the box, download PLEX and go for it. I’ve got a hand me down Dell server and that is all it does. The NAS has plenty to do dealing with uploads and downloads and such without running PLEX too.
All I use plex for is to play movies from my library. I don’t download from it or anything like that.
Get at least a 4bay for as much as you can afford with an intel CPU.
Then if that fails as a PMS then it is still your storage device!
BTDT
Getting a Nas that can really host a PMS can get really expensive. I have the cheapest Nas on earth, Zyxel NAS326, I just use it to store all my movies but my PMS is on a 2012 Mac Mini 2.5 Ghz i5 and it handles Plex flawlessly. You can get an older Mac Mini like mine or slightly newer versions than mine for dirt cheap on ebay. I saw a 2014 version sell for 200 the other day. Buy one, pop a SSD in it, install PMS and your good.
Hi, Newbie here so I apologize for what’s probably a dumb question. Are you saying you have a NAS that hosts your plex files (and prob other stuff) but then run plex from another PC? This sounds like the setup I want but wasn’t sure if the performance would suffer having the media not on the same machine as the server.
Thanks,
Sam Marlow
Correct. My NAS has all of my media. All the movies, tv shows, music, everything. All sharing or streaming applications (iTunes, PLEX, whatever) are located on other computers. The NAS and the other PCs are all linked to a 100mbit Ethernet hub. So transfer speeds are easily high enough to handle whatever PLEX wants. Unless you are streaming to 40 people (and the most I have ever streamed to is five) then it won’t be a problem. The biggest bottleneck will be your internet upload bandwith limits. I may ghave 400 mbits down but I’ve only got 20 up. Even with 20 I’ve streamed to 4 people with no issues. My main reason for doing this is the CPU on your average NAS is just not powerful enough to pull off what PLEX wants. It can do one stream but 5? Don’t know. Most NAS CPUs are designed to be bullet proof, not terribly fast. They are supposed to never crash. My Synology box has never stopped running in 2 and half years except when it was updated. Can you imaging saying that about a PC? My PLEX box is a old Dell Precision T5500 server. The processor has six cores and is a tank. The ONLY think that box does is PLEX and it also pretty much runs 24 hours a day but burps when Microsoft sends a windows upgrade that forces a reboot.
A NAS is not the cheapest option but the simplest.
.
You want cheap, start by hanging a 4 ,6 ,8, 10TB USB3 drive of pretty much any old pc or laptop.
It will work well until you grow out of it… and that day will come…
“A NAS is not the cheapest option but the simplest.
.You want cheap, start by hanging a 4 ,6 ,8, 10TB USB3 drive of pretty much any old pc or laptop.
It will work well until you grow out of it… and that day will come…”
This is exactly what I used to do. I had seven USB drives hanging off several PCs. Some had the data, some had backups of the data. It required a massive spreadsheet just to keep track of what was where. Getting the NAS for me would have been expensive if I hadn’t stumbled across a 12 bay synology that my company bought but decided they couldn’t use for the reason they bought it. So I asked for it and they GAVE it to me. All I had to do was buy the drives I put it the dang thing. But yeah, once you have one BIG drive that you can subdivide into loical areas, data management becomes so much easier.
Hello, I really like your setup idea, but not sure how to connect them all together. Could you explain more in detail?
I already have a desk top that run PMS only. What else do I need? Any suggestion on hardware?
Thanks in advance
You want to know how to do this with a stack of USB drives or a NAS?
I want to do this with a NSA. Since my 2TB red drive is getting full. How do you compare your setup vs a full server with multi hard drive in the one unit?
I’m trying to decide if I should go with your setup or getting a new server case to rebuild my current desktop
The main advantage of a NAS (not NSA, that is a spy agency), is flexibility and expandability. I would add data security but it really is only moderately secure. If you are running Raid 5 you have the ability of one drive failing and you don’t lose your data. Very cool. But if you stick another drive in and the RAID rebuilds (expands out to put the data on that new drive that was on the old drive) during that time period if a second drive fails, everything on the NAS is gone. Byebye.
So even with a NAS, you still need to back it up on a regular basis. I have nine external USB drives that I keep at my office. Once a month I bring them home, backup my Synology RAId using a program called GoodSync, then I take them back.
As far as running PLEX off a NAS, all you need to do is make sure PLEX as access rights to the NAS which will appear as a file server to the PC the PLEX server is on. Mount the folders (as remote drives in windows) where your media is and you should be fine.
But if you get a NAS, think long and hard about how much data you have and how much data you plan to have years from now. NAS units aren’t terrible cheap. A Godsend, yeah, but cheap no. A Synology 12 Bay NAS DiskStation DS2419+ will set you back $1,500 and that is before buying one drive to put in it. An 8 bay Synology will cost $500 less. Synology is probably the most expensive but then it comes with so much software to do almost anything you might want to do on the box. Mail server, photo server, file server, video server, surveillance server, you name it. But if you don’t NEED any of that, and frankly I don’t, then look at cheaper options for NAS drives like maybe Q-Nap. Remember that in a standard RAID 5 config, you will lose one of your drives for parity security so if you get a two bay NAS, your capacity will be one drive. If you have one drive NOW and you are running our of space, start looking for a six or eight bay for future expansion.
One you have all your media on the NAS, just arrange it in folders that make sense to PLEX. I have one directory called Library. In there is a folder for music (in that is popular and classical folders), one folder for movies, one for tv shows, one for photos. You get the picture. I don’t know if any of this helps. If you have any specific questions let me know.
Thank you very much! Great info. I will look into Q-NAP. Is your setup connect directly to your router or you computer (PMS)?
Do you mind telling me your PMS setup?
I’m not debating between upgrading my current desktop to a server or add a Q-NAP t my current setup and move my library to the Q-NAP. Any suggestion?
The NAS is directly connected to the Router. All of my media is on the NAS. The PLEX server is running on a hand me down DELL Precission T5500 server (Intel Xeon C5659 2.67 Ghz processor three core 6 threads, 18 gig). PLEX is all that box does. It has the NAS mapped as a network drive and is hardwired to the NAS as well. No wifi although wifi is pretty fast. The processor on that guy can easily handle four 1080 streams. So if all you are going to do is stream locally to your own TV you can get by with much less. I don’t like putting the PLEX app directly on the NAS although lots of people do it. The processors in a NAS aren’t that strong. They are tanks,but not fast tanks. Make sense?
Yes it make sense now. Do you hard wire your NAS to the router and ur desktop server both? Or from NAS to router then to your desktop?
What is your reason not to have all your hard drive inside your server? Instead of two separate units?
