I currently my OS and Plex from an SSD with a 4TB SATA RAID array as the primary storage for my collections. I’m quickly outgrowing this and I was wondering if I could get some suggestions here. I’m looking at a couple options, building a new, beefier server with at least 12 TB storage in a RAID configuration, possibly doing the same but doing something like FreeNAS or unRaid for the OS, OR my final option is to buy a NAS (Synology) and not use it as the server but as the storage that will be accessed/served by my Plex Server. What are your thoughts/suggestions? Thanks.
Are you comfortable using the console and/or ssh? Most NAS devices will install plugins like Plex in a folder not accessible via the web gui or the network shares. Also, I think you don’t get the Plex pass versions when using the plugins.
The existing server plus NAS variant sounds easiest, but it will mean you have two systems running and to maintain.
If you really want to all out, you can build a VMware (or similar) server that runs a FreeNAS VM and a seperate Plex server VM. I currently have this set up and it works great. Here’s the guide I (loosely) followed.
It really is up to you - depending on what you are comfortable with, all your options will work. Basically you need to add additional hard drive space. I am using Synology 918+ NAS for my Plex server and file storage. The advantage is that it the CPU is just “ok” (beefy for a NAS but not an Intel I7) and the NAS is pretty energy efficient. Plus still can use it as a NAS, virtual machine host, etc, and I can manage all my Plex files and server via the GUI.
If it wasn’t for the simplicity of the NAS, I probably would have built something more “beefy” for a CPU.
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