What are the pros/cons to my PLEX hard drive/server connected to my computer via USB over it connected to my router via USB?
The number of HDDs you can connect.
Usually routers USB connections do NOT support USB hubs…
Other than that… probably no other practical issue assuming your PMS box is CAT 6 connected to the router.
But do remember, in that configuration ALL disk access does become network activity as well. But if you have a 1 gig network, will probably have no impact.
But do remember, in that configuration ALL disk access does become network activity as well. But if you have a 1 gig network, will probably have no impact.
So, in essence, when PLEX pulls information from the hard drive via the router, it could be slower/delayed as opposed to if it was just connected to the computer.
That’s kinda tru and also maybe clogging your network depending on traffic. (IE. number of streams, media bitrate, other processes using your local network.)
But if you have a 1 gig network, all that could be negligible.
IMO the inability to keep adding USB HDDs is the most restrictive issue due to no USB hub capability, allowing drive farm expansion.
Hell I have over 10 USB HDDs connected. Would be impossible using the router’s USB.
However many folks use a complete NAS solution for their PMS and really have no issues.
(As connecting HDDs to your router’s USB basically makes those drives NAS disk)
Well, there’s the fact that USB is an unreliable HDD interface only meant for temporary connections, so there’s that. I’d never use it for anything important or connected 24/7.
USB is also slow. Router probably only has USB2.
And your router CPU isn’t as good at processing lots of files as your computer. Many peoples’ cell phones are more powerful than their router.
Well to each his own LOL
I prefer USB connected drives…
But that’s me…
Random question, sremick is your desktop also your server? Or do you have a standalone?
For kicks I played around with connecting USB drives to my ASUS router and had 16 drives attached to it.
I currently have nearly 20 USB drives connected to my main Plex server and never have a problem with any of them either. To my computers it’s just another device attached just as if it were connected to a SATA port as the internals and eSata are.
One thing for sure about USB3 is the chipset matters and so do the devices you attach to it. In my case all external drives are WD. Maxtor and Seagates were never as reliable for me and would detach themselves.
@“Main Account*” said:
Random question, sremick is your desktop also your server? Or do you have a standalone?
I am not @sremick and I don’t play him on TV but I have stayed at a “Holiday Inn Express.” (TV commercial reference)
It is my belief that servers in general and high stress ones like Plex’s in particular should never be used for regular daily use and their secondary uses should be limited.
That is I think servers should run the server software and whatever support programs they need and little or nothing else.
My server runs Plex and Drivepool (Allows my 11 usb drives to appear as one) and most of the time nothing else. It is stable (Except for a crash of the OS drive a couple of weeks ago) and runs well.
Of course there are many people that use their Plex server for other tasks and Plex is designed to be as multi-task friendly as possible but, for most setups, hardware costs are low enough to make a standalone server the best choice, in my opinion.
@cayars said:…
I currently have nearly 20 USB drives connected to my main Plex server and never have a problem with any of them either. To my computers it’s just another device attached just as if it were connected to a SATA port as the internals and eSata are.One thing for sure about USB3 is the chipset matters and so do the devices you attach to it. In my case all external drives are WD. Maxtor and Seagates were never as reliable for me and would detach themselves.
I agree. One other thing to remember is that one disadvantage of USB drives is speed but that matters very little with Plex. Reading media files is not a drive intensive process and even USB 2.0 at its worst is plenty fast.
I do not believe the Plex database or the related files in the Plex data directory should be on a USB drive but the media files are very happy on USB drives.
Also, if you use Drivepool or related pooling software, the Plex data should never be stored in the pool. You should keep the Plex data directory on a drive that uses one of the interfaces that are usually thought of as for internal drives. This is true even if all your drives are internal and pooled. The Plex database just does not like to live in the Pool.
