I need some more storage and I’m looking at WD RED Nas hard drive and WD Ultrastar hard drive. Is it better to use a NAS drive? I run my PMS on a windows PC. Thanks
It depends on how many drives you have already and how much is allocated for backups
Where the storage is doesn’t matter that much. The NAS is better if you’re running a lot of drives and you also want some kind of backup
Personally, I wouldn’t spend money on a 2 bay nas, but a 4 bay is not cheap
You can fit 2 internal drives in a lot of pc cases or have one internal and one external
You can run Plex off a NAS also but you’re a bit limited in the kind of CPU’S and graphics you have to work with. I have one and it suits my needs but they’re low power and your only upgrade path is to buy a new NAS
Unless you know or want to learn Linux your best option is to run the server off your Windows machine but use a NAS as a storage device. It all depends on what you’re working with and how much money you want to spend
Hey Jay! I currently have one drive with windows 10 and two 6TB drives for my media. I do use one of the 6TB drives to backup all my media. I have removed cd drives out of my desktop to make room for more hard drives in my PC.
If you’re going to get a NAS you really should have drives that are rated for that purpose
They’re meant to be used 24/7 and when you stack drives in a NAS the vibration between all of them can be an issue. There are other technical reasons but you can read up on that if you want
People do this all the time and get away with it but you tend to get less life out of the drives and increase your risk of failures
Even a reasonably priced 4 bay NAS is going to run you somewhere around 500 bucks plus the cost of one or two new drives
Buying one drive you plug into your computer is obviously the cheapest option
Like most things, these decisions tend to come down to budget
I’m not buying a NAS. Just getting more hard drives for my current server I’m running on an old windows desktop.
I’d look into the mechanical details of your current case first. If it’s an OEM pre-built, you may be limited to 1 or two drives. If that is the case, investigate migrating your existing motherboard, power supply and graphics card to an aftermarket case, where you can stick 4 or more drives into it.
I would also suggest using Linux, even if you have to learn to use it. The fewer resources your OS uses, the more are available for the server software.
My own setup is a custom built machine running Linux, case & motherboard can accommodate 6 drives, and I have the option for a few external SATA drives, as well as USB drives for backup. Cost wasn’t that high; Linux doesn’t need the balls that windows does, so a MB/CPU a few generations back (cheaper) does just fine. Biggest money was the drives themselves.
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Always a good read when it comes to deciding about hard drives: Backblaze Hard Drive Stats
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