Using the Shield vs an IMAC

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Currently I’m using an Imac as a server and I have multiple external drives with content hooked into a USB Hub and into the Imac, the majority of my Content is ripped and encoded to make it mac and IOS compatible, althou i do have a few Ripps to MKV’s from DVD and blu ray. I’m wondering in this scenario how well a nvidia Shield would work as a server. I might occasionally have 1 remote stream connect, but mostly its for serving to a single user in the household

2

The Shield is a very good server with a few caveats:

  1. Unless you root the Shield and jump through some other hoops the 16gb Shield is a quite poor server due to the lack of memory because adopted storage cannot be used for Plex data.
  2. It is possible to use a hub and connect multiple drives to the Shield but some hubs work and some do not.
  3. When you connect a drive, with or without a hub, to the Shield a sub-directory is created (called something like Shield…) and that directory is the only one that can be written to from external sources if the drive is shared. All other directories can be read by the Shield.
  4. You cannot use manual plugins again unless you root your Shield.
  5. Maintenance on the Shield and diagnosing problems for me seems a bit harder.
  6. Accessing the files externally or adding files to disks attached to the Shield is much slower than with other network shares I have used.

I have a Shield Pro that I keep an active server on but that server is a backup for my main server which runs on a pretty powerful PC. I did run the Shield as my main server for a while but using the PC is just easier for me.

BTW: I tested but never used drives directly attached to the Shield for my Plex libraries. I use network shares from a PC that has all my drives attached to it. I find that gives me maximum flexibility and ease of use.

3

Ok so it would seem a PC or Mac still is a better alternative thanks