NAS or Microserver, 1 bay or 2 and other Questions

topgazza · 2 Nov 2018 at 17:20

I want to store, and stream, my movies to my TV via my Denon receiver and for the movies to be accessible on the home network. I'm a simple man and really dont have that much in the way of storage requirements. I expect to only use 2TB or at a push 4TB but 2 is plenty.

At the moment my setup works quite well as I have movies on my iMac and stream using Plex to my Firestick and then onto the TV via the Denon. All works well but as I gradually increase my ripping of my movies I can see a need to take them off the iMac. I also have a Dune HD which works well but I expect will have to go if I set this up right. I hardly use it now

My original intention was to go for a microserver, my son had a HP Gen 8, but he does quite a bit on it but given my, relative, low storage requirements its seems overkill. I dont use 4k like him but may in the future of course. So my thoughts turned to a NAS. Had a 2 bay Qnap on Raid 1 before and it worked fine. But my current thoughts were single Bay, prob Syntology, with USB drive as a backup on the basis of cost and simplicity. Most of my files are .mkv and 1080p as is the TV.

But I keep going round in circles on this. Syntology DS-118 keeps popping up with either 2TB or 4TD and matching USB backup drive.

Thank you for you patience and any advice appreciated

covenantuk · 2 Nov 2018 at 18:21

If you can't pick up a Microserver at cashback or reasonable money, and don't want to hardware build a server yourself, just get Synology or QNAP - can't go far wrong with them and less hassle. Most people build/buy a Microserver because they want the flexibility rather than just file storage.

topgazza · 2 Nov 2018 at 18:28

Thanks as that clears/confirms my thoughts. Sometimes "we" can over analyse things when perhaps the best option is right in front of us

A NAS looks the best option with a single bay with USB backup being the simplest. Did think about the Nvidia Shield and usb storage but thats very biased towards gaming which I dont do and overcomplicates what I want. A NAS seems to be the more solid solution anyway. Might stretch to a 2 bay and use the 2nd drive as a mirrored backup, in effect.

Thanks again

BigT · 2 Nov 2018 at 20:36

If you like simplicity and your current Plex based solution on the iMac then why don’t you buy an external hard drive for the iMac and move your library onto that?

topgazza · 2 Nov 2018 at 22:43

Thats a good point BigT.

I'll give that a go. The other motivation was clearing stuff off the iMac so that would do that as well.

I suppose the only down side would be having to leave the iMac on and not asleep all the time... but then again I leave it on anyway most of the time so worth a try.

Quartz · 2 Nov 2018 at 22:56

To address the question in the thread title, you always want to mirror disks in your NAS or microserver so you don't lose access to your data when one fails.

topgazza · 2 Nov 2018 at 23:01

I've seen solutions where there is a 1 bay drive with a usb plugged in that is the data backup drive. Although that works I'm kinda concinced that if I go down the NAS route it would have to be 2 bay with the second disk as the mirror (raid 1) as you suggest, Synology DS281+ is the current preference.

I'm going to play with an external drive on the iMac as an experiment over the weekend before deciding as I'm interested to see the performance. But an always on NAS on the network means others can view films if the iMac is off of course. I think thats two options I have that I can ponder,

Semple · 2 Nov 2018 at 23:11

Quartz said:
To address the question in the thread title, you always want to mirror disks in your NAS or microserver so you don't lose access to your data when one fails.

Unless you've got cash to waste I wouldn't bother mirroring disks. Raid is not backup, and you'd be better off using that second disk as a backup. You're not hosting a mission critical service, so if it means you have to spend an afternoon restoring files from the backup drive then so be it.

Quartz · 2 Nov 2018 at 23:15

Semple said:
Raid is not backup,

No, and it isn't meant as backup. What it gives the OP is resilience and convenience in case of failure. Imagine his partner is three-quarters of the way through a movie and the HDD fails. With a mirrored HDD the movie continues; with no mirror, the movie stops. Guess which scenario will a non-techie prefer?

topgazza · 2 Nov 2018 at 23:18

I supose so. 2nd disk would be a failover but would contain the folders still and service would continue. But I do see the value as well of using the 2nd disk as a genuine backup as its only going to contain Movies. My photos and music are backed up on a USB drive on my iMac using CarbonCopy as a bit of safety and a second USB drive takes care of TimeMachine so my data is spread across a few discreet devices.

Its pointing towards a 2 bay NAS. And the DS 218+ has the right balance of cost and performance with a decent processor... needs a bit more memory in an ideal world but what it has should be fine.

StevieP · 3 Nov 2018 at 10:23

I love Synology gear - the UI is as good as you are going to get in terms of a simple NAS solution - the only problem with the simple solution though is that in my experience it doesn't take long for it to become slow and unsupported!

I bought a top of the range Synology back in 2013 and within a couple of years Plex, for example, was no longer supported!

In the end I went for a Microserver running unRaid and I've never looked back!

Yes it's overkill for my uses (pretty much the same as yours) but it's quick and easy to use and the community is spectacularly supportive if you run into any issues!

topgazza · 3 Nov 2018 at 12:34

Although I dont have any 4k or any particular rush to see any more and more movies are in 4k. It could be another 3D of course but its reasonable to say 4k is eventually going to be the new 1080p. Thats my only concern with a NAS solution with the lack of hardware decoding grunt. Hence my initial indecision about what solution as I want to cover current use which is likely to continue for some time IMO but as 4k becomes the norm, I'm giving it 2-3 years, Iwould want something a bit more. Mind you a hardware refresh will be due by then anyway I suppose.

When I bought my Dune HD H1 I ran Plex on it but then Dune also dropped Plex or rather Plex dropped Dune. Very frustrating

StevieP · 3 Nov 2018 at 13:14

I have to say that I've been blown away by how easy unRaid is to use with little or no experience of it!

Added to which I love the fact that you can use a disk for redundancy for the others in case of failure (although you obviously need more disks if you want to protect against more than one drive falling at any one time!)

Runs Plex like a boss for me!

topgazza · 3 Nov 2018 at 14:59

My son says the same about his as well. Looking at a Gen 8 with the standard Celeron 2.3 processor and 10Gb mem for around £220 which seems oK to me. Its "only" a 2 core processor of course but I understand you can carefully upgrade to 4 core without needing fans

Avalon · 7 Nov 2018 at 17:12

Building a Plex server can be as simple/cheap as buying a Pi of paying a few quid a month for a hosted solution. It can also run into thousands of pounds and swallow up days to admin. Before you go any further please consider exactly what you want to do.

1. The word ‘transcode’ is more often than not an admission that you made a poor media, client or connectivity choice. It’s a bad thing. Don’t do it unless you really need to do it.
If transcoding is unavoidable, ask yourself if having a more suitable file as well as (for example) a 4K version is possible. Also understand that while HDR is ‘cool’, Plex doesn’t support tone mapping, so the minute you need to transcode HDR content, it will appear washed out/awful and it’s going to be output at 1080 in h264, same is true for h265 content, Plex outputs h264 only.

If you choose to ignore 1. then consider a CPU/GPU that will support hardware transcoding (requires PlexPass sub.), it’s either that or you need to budget circa 2K of CPU mark per 1080p AV transcode. Remember your CPU is likely to be doing other things, so this is your normal usage + 2K of CPU mark.

2. It is possible to move everything to the cloud for a fraction of the cost of running local, you get faster connectivity, data redundancy is handed by the storage provider, media management doesn’t tie up your connection and you have unlimited storage. This sucks if you have a crap connection or the connection goes down and depending on where you locate your VPS/dedi will dictate latency/peering.

3. If you’re going to throw £220 at a Gen8 this late in the game, then i’d genuinely question your logic. You can build a much, much more capable box for similar money with significantly better upgrade potential.

As for buying advice, you can buy an off the shelf box for under £200 from eBay right now that would demolish a microserver for your needs and save you money. Speaking of eBay, please don’t be tempted to buy a dinoserver, I cringe every time someone posts elsewhere about buying a horribly old and inefficient HP/Dell that will cost a fortune per day to run.

topgazza · 7 Nov 2018 at 17:21

Love that Avalon.... spoken with some passion...... and good stuff...thank you

I agree about the HP... I've built plenty of PCs in my time so quite happy to build one rather than buy a microserver after doing research so I concur with your comments. Mainly as I dont intend to do anything else with it other than use it as a media server. Note the 2k of CPU mark per 1080p and to cover that would get an Quad or 6 core Intel/AMD processor.