NAS storage

General Discussions
1

been reading about this option as my fried my external HD is not accessible.

Which NAS storage device would be fine for plex if i’m running plex off of a laptop or my phone (making the NAS just a file source/location?) I keep seeing so many cheaper ones not able to transcode, but is that for running plex straight off of NAS storage? (That would be a bonus, but not needed as I dont plan on having my NAS on all the time.)

I was looking at the synology 218j, 218, 218+. Would like to stay relatively cheap knowing I have to buy 2 hard drives for the slots.

2

Any NAS will do, if only used as storage

3

See What is Plex?

Plex is a client-server system. To stream media to your phone, tv, etc, you must have Plex Media Server running somewhere - on a computer such as a desktop or laptop, on a NAS, server, etc…

Transcoding is independent of where Plex Media Server runs. PC, NAS, etc.

Transcoding is required when the Plex client does not support the format of the media you are trying to stream.

For example, If you stream a movie with 1080p video to a device with a 720p screen, the video will be transcoded to fit the device screen size. Similarly, if the video is encoded at 20 Mbps, and you’re streaming to a phone with a connection of 5 Mbps, the video will be transcoded to fit the bandwidth limitation. Audio may also be transcoded. For example, a movie may have dts audio, but the client only supports Dolby Digital. Plex Media Server will transcode the audio.

Your best approach is to prepare your movies, etc so transcoding is not required. Doing so will put the least load on your systems and reduce chances of buffering and other issues. This may require using tools such as Handbrake to prepare the media in advance of loading it into Plex.

Be aware that if your media is stored on your NAS and it is turned off, you cannot steam media to your phone, tv, etc. An installation of PMS must be running and have access to your media to successfully stream to your devices.

Most people leave their NAS running full time. The ones you mention use very little power. They are designed to run 7x24 (use NAS rated drives as well).

Between those three, choose the DS218+. It has a Intel Celeron CPU, which supports hardware accelerated transcoding if you run PMS on the 218+ (Plex Pass required for hardware accelerated transcoding).

Review the NAS Compatibility List, and linked spreadsheet, before making your final decision. Note the limitations between the various devices and between software and hardware transcoding on each.

You can successfully run PMS on a NAS such as the DS218+ (I use a DS918+). Just make sure you are aware of the limitations of the platform.

4

OP asked for storage, not a platform where PMS runs!

5

OP does mention possibility of running PMS on the NAS.

But I definitely agree with your reply that any NAS will work if used only for storage. Should have included same in my reply.

1 Like
6

Might be me as a non native english speaking person, but fail to see:

7

thanks the replies…what is hardware transcoding?

I have plex system running on a couple of systems, so as long as the NAS is on and just acting as a folder path, it should work even if not home?

for just storage, what would be a reliable one that wouldn’t break the bank?

8

Maybe I misunderstood the OP and included too much information in my reply. If so, my bad, and I’ll learn from it.

I was just trying to be informative about options of where to run PMS. That’s all.

1 Like
9

As @dane22 says, any of those you mention will work fine.

See Using Hardware Accelerated Streaming
.
It enables Plex to transcode the video on the GPU, not the CPU. It takes advantage of the GPU built into some Intel CPUs. It can also use Nvidia & AMD GPUs. Details are in the support doc.

For a DS218+, it would use the graphics capability built into the Celeron CPU.

1 Like
10

even the synology 216J or the WD mycloud? or

this one

11

Any NAS will do as pure storage, regarding vendor, since that’s what they are optimized for!

Problem, as @FordGuy61 pointed out, is if you also want your new shiny NAS to do other stuff, like running PMS itself. Then the power of the CPU kicks in, and a powerful CPU might be needed then

12

any experience with the WD My cloud mirror gen 2?

13

Nope, a QNAP dude myself

14

Going with the 218j

Is WD Red the only 3.5 hard drives to look at? Other alternatives?

15

Good choice, IMHO, and running that all over my QNAP’s

16

Any Qnap or Synology. DO NOT BUY A WD NAS!

17

going with synology…are wd reds the only option for internal hard drive? i dont plan hving the nas on 24/7

19

Caveat: if you buy “NAS grade” drives, it is better to leave them spinning 24/7.
Each spin-down and -up cycle reduces the lifetime of the drive.
In extreme cases so much so, that the energy savings (from spinning down the drives) are eaten up by the price of new drives which you’ll have to get sooner.

So think hard, where to place the unit and how you want to manage it. You may want to pay a little more for superior fan-management (like QNAP has it), to reduce the noise emissions from the NAS.

1 Like
20

Just an FYI…

The WD Red drives warranty starts when WD ships them, they are tracked by serial number. If the retailer has the drive on the shelf for six months then the warranty has been in effect for those 6 months and you will have the remainder.

Also, some retailers were removing drives from assembled equipment and selling the drives. Those drives do not get the same warranty as the other drives, the only difference is the serial numbers…

21

Just curious: What’s wrong with WD NAS’? Looking at the My Cloud NAS as it has the Plex engine and good reviews, but maybe I’m missing something?