Advice on NAS for plex

[Kobi]

Hey folks, i'm running out of storage space, so I've decided i'm needing a NAS for plex. I was originally looking at the Synology DS918+, but for that price, i found i could upgrade my pc (DDR3) to a fancy DDR4 machine and use all my old parts as a server. True, my current pc would be over kill for this task (amd 8320) as I wont be doing any transcoding(direct play) and it would be very rare to have more than one stream at a time. I wont be leaving this on 24/7, least not right now. I can always upgrade in a couple of years to something more energy efficient. I should also point out this will all be networked via ethernet, no wifi streaming.

Now, since this is only getting used at night(for now), should i just keep windows on it? Or would you guys just go straight into freenas or Unraid?

The next thing is Raids. I've literally no idea when it comes to raids. Would i be right in saying if i for example, make this server and put Unraid on it, then put in a 6TB HDD into it. That drive would be used as a parity drive and i wouldn't be able to use it at all? I was kinda hoping to start off with one drive, then when it was getting close to full, add another, so on and so forth.

Also am i right in saying if i had a 6TB HDD and added a 3TB drive, my 6TB would be lowered to a 3TB? If in a raid that is. Think i read Synology allow to mix and match drives.

Sorry if these are stupid questions, uncharted waters here.

 

[BigT]

Unraid has to use your largest drive as the parity drive, rendering it unusable for storing files on, so if you have a 6TB and a 3TB drive then your Unraid array will only have 3TB available. You need a minimum of 2 drives with Unraid.

 

[Kobi]

Unraid has to use your largest drive as the parity drive, rendering it unusable for storing files on, so if you have a 6TB and a 3TB drive then your Unraid array will only have 3TB available. You need a minimum of 2 drives with Unraid.

Ah nice. So after that, can I stick any hard drive in or will they all need to be the same size?

Edit: actually, I assume any size, since your example was a 6TB and a 3TB.

 

[bremen1874]

Any drive you add needs to be smaller or the same size as the parity drive.

You can swap the parity drive out for a larger one if you need to.

 

[Avalon]

Ah nice. So after that, can I stick any hard drive in or will they all need to be the same size?

Edit: actually, I assume any size, since your example was a 6TB and a 3TB.

Any size, the only limits are on the total number of drives you can use which is licence dependant.

 

[Kobi]

Awesome, thanks guys. I'll prob upgrade my pc and get a nas drive to keep me ticking over for now. Then get a bigger drive down the line for the parity and I can chuck in the nas drive when I go Unraid.

What sort of set up do you guys have for your nas/servers? I've got a monster cosmos 2 collecting dust that I was gonna use, but is their a better setup?

 

[BigT]

I have a Fractal Define XL with 3x4TB, 3x3TB and 2x2TB WD reds giving me a 21TB array. Recent i5 CPU (forget the exact model) and 16GB RAM lets me run Unraid with Docker containers for Plex, PiHole, Radarr, Sonarr, Sab, UniFi and Nextcloud

 

[Kobi]

I have a Fractal Define XL with 3x4TB, 3x3TB and 2x2TB WD reds giving me a 21TB array. Recent i5 CPU (forget the exact model) and 16GB RAM lets me run Unraid with Docker containers for Plex, PiHole, Radarr, Sonarr, Sab, UniFi and Nextcloud

Just curious, what sorta power supply do you run with this?

Also, would their be any problems with running a pcie sata card? Just thinking for future expansion.

 

[BigT]

A Corsair 650W Gold rated supply. It's on 24/7 so needed to be as efficient as I could afford.

pcie sata card is no problem at all, in fact I have one to run that many drives. It's a Syba manufactured budget card that cost me about £40 I think and given me no problems over the last year..

 

[Kobi]

Thanks BigT! You've been a great help. Got parts coming tomorrow for my upgrade, I think i'll just sell my old bits and hold off making a server for now. Then when the time comes, i'll use the upgraded pc as the server and i'll make a new one. Since the upgrade will be a ryzen 1600 and that has a low (65W) TDP, that'll be better for leaving on 24/7.

 

[Avalon]

Before you go and buy an SATA card please, please read the unraid FAQ, an HBA will set you back similar money and is significantly better for expansion in future.

On the subject of what do we run? Anything that meets the requirements for your intended use.

My lowest spec unraid box is a N36L (now retired), the highest spec is a Ryzen 1700/32GB with maxes drives using an additional storage pod.

Personally I make more use of unlimited cloud storage with a remote server now.

 

[Kobi]

Before you go and buy an SATA card please, please read the unraid FAQ, an HBA will set you back similar money and is significantly better for expansion in future.

On the subject of what do we run? Anything that meets the requirements for your intended use.

My lowest spec unraid box is a N36L (now retired), the highest spec is a Ryzen 1700/32GB with maxes drives using an additional storage pod.

Personally I make more use of unlimited cloud storage with a remote server now.

Thanks, will check when im running out of space. That wont be for some time yet, least i hope haha.

I assume since you've got unlimited cloud storage, you're uploading and encrypting a power of movies and tv shows? I did think of this, but my net is pretty bad here, no fibre. So download is around 4mb and upload is almost non-existent. My downloading days are over, least i think they are haha. So im ripping as much media as i can for the best quality viewing.

 

[Avalon]

Thanks, will check when im running out of space. That wont be for some time yet, least i hope haha.

I assume since you've got unlimited cloud storage, you're uploading and encrypting a power of movies and tv shows? I did think of this, but my net is pretty bad here, no fibre. So download is around 4mb and upload is almost non-existent. My downloading days are over, least i think they are haha. So im ripping as much media as i can for the best quality viewing.

In strictly hypothetical terms I could do a max of 15TB/day per team drive, to realistically do that i’d need two feeder boxes running a minimum of gigabit connectivity or to pay Google for GCE, a few 10Gb VPS’ could necessitate multiple team drives.

In your situation local probably makes more sense if quality is important as you’d be limited to 720/4mbit for remote. You could transcode down to 720, but it would require either proper media curation, conversion, or a suitable remote server capable of transcoding.

 

[BillHicksRIP]

Any recommended unlimited cloud storage providers to use with an Unraid server? I'm looking to secure about 2TB of software/photos offsite and encrypted in case my box explodes. Don't care if it takes 2 weeks to download it all again, as long as it's safe. Any suggestions?

 

[bremen1874]

CrashPlan for Small Business using the CrashPlanPro docker is worth a look. It's just over £9/month with a 1 month free trial.

 

[BlizzardX]

I use crashplan on my own docker image based on a full ubuntu install as I couldn't get Jlesage's docker image working with Synology DSM correctly... Unlimited backup, version control, dedup, resume on connection loss etc. I'm happy with this and provides me with a safety net to support my local SHR2 array.

 

[BillHicksRIP]

Crash-Lana it is then. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Avalon]

Don’t forget GSuite for Business, rclone crypt is not exactly what i’d call best practice, but it works well enough.