NAS Virgin

stinky_daddy

I am a first-time user(?)/purchaser of a NAS system, as I have films and TV series stored on external drives (ranging from 1TB to 6TB at the moment) currently and utilise various (free) services (e.g. google photos etc) but want to pull everything from "free" based providers as I use them as a back-up source only and ideally want everything in one place.

I have been recommended, that I use Plex (in order to stream the content), however, I think I should put all the films on x 1 drive and all the TV series on another drive (do they need to go onto separate drive(s) for Plex to read / find them?) & 1 x drive for photos in that instance (they will fit onto 1 large for each) to help and plug them into a NAS system - is a NAS worthwhile in this case and which do you (specifically) recommend?

I would like to keep a back-up of each drive, so that if the 1st drive fails, the data on it is still reachable, do I need to do this or should I be looking at keeping them off-site / in a fire resistant safe instead?), if I keep empty drives within the NAS (not empty bays)

Ideally, I want to future-proof it, as I don't want to purchase multiple NAS's through the years.

I have been doing some research and found this (not too sure how biased (or unbiased) it is though)

The Best NAS (Network Attached Storage) Devices for 2023 (pcmag.com)

It looks as though the main players are (in no particular order):

Asustor

Synology

QNAP

Terramaster

 And Drives (to use) are (various sizes):

 Seagate Ironwolf

Or

WD RED

 Any assistance would be gratefully received

Thanks

s_d

Neil_Jones

You don't need separate drives for content, you can shove it all on the one drive.

Plex isn't the be-all and end all either.  Kodi will do the same job, though your choice of solution may depend on what you're using to play the content.

Get the biggest drive you can afford and I think you're looking at something with RAID support, so if one drive does pack up you just take it out and swap it for another drive, and it carries on working.  This isn't strictly necessary, but you can keep multiple copies of your data on and off the NAS so a lot depends on your budget.

If you want to do it on the cheap you can grab a Raspberry Pi, an external drive and a copy of OpenMediaVault.  it'll work.  Won't be super speedy but it'll work, then you just have to figure out what you want Plex/Kodi/other on - TV?  Firestick?  Something else?

stinky_daddy

Hi Neil

is there any particular NAS INeil_Jones said:

You don't need separate drives for content, you can shove it all on the one drive.

Plex isn't the be-all and end all either.  Kodi will do the same job, though your choice of solution may depend on what you're using to play the content.

Get the biggest drive you can afford and I think you're looking at something with RAID support, so if one drive does pack up you just take it out and swap it for another drive, and it carries on working.  This isn't strictly necessary, but you can keep multiple copies of your data on and off the NAS so a lot depends on your budget.

Playing- wise it would just be films, tv series or occasional photos, so I think Plex would be able to handle it. 

Is there any particular NAS I should be looking at (given that it can all go onto one drive)?

The Drivestor seems to be recommended, however, I can't see where the bay slots are (I presume you don't have to unscrew the cover to insert them) lol (I am personally drawn to the Lockerstor simply because I can see the bays)?

Thanks

Dave

Neil_Jones

The bays are documented in the manual:

https://downloadgb.asustor.com/download/docs/QIG/AS33XXT/ASUSTOR_AS33XXT_QIG_ENU_4_0_0201.pdf?20230512

However if you buy an off the shelf NAS future proofing is not an option, as it will fall into a discontinued state eventually (as do all electronic products) and it see no further updates possibly as short as two or three years down the line.  Indeed the Asustor drive mentioned in your link only has a three warranty period and the software seems to be only updated for about five years - and that unit is already two yeas old from when it was first introduced...

debitcardmayhem

What do you want to play them on, and have you got a budget in mind. There are many options some as you have suggested, expensive, on others much less expensive but it is down to the clients and whether you want internal access or external. Also whether you need  redundancy of data

facade

I run the plex server on my pc.

The pc is on 24/7 anyway so I just put the media storage drives into the pc.

I also  have a synology NAS that could run a plex server, but there is no point for me, so it is just used for backups and kept switched off.

The TV has a built in plex client.

bob_a_builder

Plex works fine for me.

Like Facade I run the Plex server on the PC 
Using Plex app on Firesticks to access
Back up copies of media held on a USB3 HDD  (on a shelf not spinning, so more reliable ?)

Raid seems a bit overkill to me, check which level of Raid level is useful to you and which the box is offering and how many drives are required to support it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels

If you are looking at pulling photos back from Google Photos via their Takeout process.
There is a useful tool to handle the blizzard of files which they send you 
https://github.com/TheLastGimbus/GooglePhotosTakeoutHelper/

Chickereeeee

I use Plex on a Qnap Nas, and it is very, very good for video content.  Photo support has a  number of bugs (can't handle old dates, can't do 'shows', limted features) and I don't beleive they are doing any work to improve it.

Bonhomie

stinky_daddy said:

I am a first-time user(?)/purchaser of a NAS system, as I have films and TV series stored on external drives (ranging from 1TB to 6TB at the moment) currently and utilise various (free) services (e.g. google photos etc) but want to pull everything from "free" based providers as I use them as a back-up source only and ideally want everything in one place.

I have been recommended, that I use Plex (in order to stream the content), however, I think I should put all the films on x 1 drive and all the TV series on another drive (do they need to go onto separate drive(s) for Plex to read / find them?) & 1 x drive for photos in that instance (they will fit onto 1 large for each) to help and plug them into a NAS system - is a NAS worthwhile in this case and which do you (specifically) recommend?

I would like to keep a back-up of each drive, so that if the 1st drive fails, the data on it is still reachable, do I need to do this or should I be looking at keeping them off-site / in a fire resistant safe instead?), if I keep empty drives within the NAS (not empty bays)

Ideally, I want to future-proof it, as I don't want to purchase multiple NAS's through the years.

I have been doing some research and found this (not too sure how biased (or unbiased) it is though)

The Best NAS (Network Attached Storage) Devices for 2023 (pcmag.com)

It looks as though the main players are (in no particular order):

Asustor

Synology

QNAP

Terramaster

 And Drives (to use) are (various sizes):

 Seagate Ironwolf

Or

WD RED

 Any assistance would be gratefully received

Thanks

s_d

https://www.gamecrate.com/how-to-turn-an-old-pc-into-nas

This is MSE after all.

Bradden

If you're using Plex.. please make sure you've updated it... unlike the lastpass employee a while ago 


https://www.computing.co.uk/news/4076726/lastpass-hacked-attackers-accessed-vault

B0bbyEwing

facade said:

I run the plex server on my pc.

1) The pc is on 24/7 anyway so I just put the media storage drives into the pc.

I also  have a synology NAS that could run a plex server, but there is no point for me, so it is just used for backups and kept switched off.

2) The TV has a built in plex client.

1) How much does that cost you vs if you only turned it on when you needed it?

2) Mine too but I always found that it buffers like mad, especially in the last 20% of a film. Kodi was much better, almost great. The only thing I've found to work without any buffering whatsoever is the Nvidia Shield, of which I have a SSD connected to it & any movie I want to watch I just drag from my PC & slap it on the SSD of the Shield & then delete when I'm done. I'll load a number of movies I may feel like watching soon & then also leave a bit of space too.