Synlogy NAS + Plex Media Server

oHUTCHYo · 27 Dec 2017 at 20:43

I wasnt sure to put this in the Storage forum or in here, ideally Id like input from both sets of expertise.

Current Setup: 2x WD 3TB MyBookLive streaming high qualty 1080p/5.1/7.1 MKV files to a Raspberry Pi3 running Kodi in to Samsung KS8000 and Yamaha soundbar (yes, I know)

My drives seem to be on their way out so am considering a Synology NAS. A budget of £300-£600 for enclosure plus hard drives. I dont often have this amount of money to burn on something like this, it was intended for something else I had been saving for but is no longer needed. May as well burn the money on a good NAS before it disappears.

I quite like the idea of Plex, having a central library which I can manage in the NAS rather than independant libraries on Kodi.

Where I’m torn is this: do I buy an entry level Synology or go for the 218+ which I understand can transcode on the fly to other, smaller devices. I dont NEED transcoding, but am also concerned that an entry level NAS may somehow not direct stream similarly to my existing WD setup. Currently my setup works flawlessly and would be devastated to spend this money and see buffering or audio issues etc etc.

Any advice folks?

bledd · 29 Dec 2017 at 12:21

I have the DS414, I don't use transcoding either. You won't get buffering issues, I assume your network is all cabled..? If you don't need transcoding, you could save a bit and get a DS218J, you can spend the extra on larger drives.

The non J variants are nicer, tool less drive removal etc, but they come at a premium.

I assume you know this, but by default it will run in RAID1 (SHR), so 2x 4TB drives would be 4TB total space.

oHUTCHYo · 29 Dec 2017 at 14:44

bledd said:
I have the DS414, I don't use transcoding either. You won't get buffering issues, I assume your network is all cabled..? If you don't need transcoding, you could save a bit and get a DS218J, you can spend the extra on larger drives.

The non J variants are nicer, tool less drive removal etc, but they come at a premium.

I assume you know this, but by default it will run in RAID1 (SHR), so 2x 4TB drives would be 4TB total space.

Thanks Bledd, I managed to save £70 on a 218+ model by using the 20% eBay discount yesterday, so very pleased. Ive also orderd 2x4TB WD Red. I’ll be running Raid0 as if I lose my movies its no big deal really.

Looking forward to trying Plex

bledd · 29 Dec 2017 at 14:49

To be safer than RAID0, you can just use them as single drives.

You can then use PetaSpace (Synology app in the Package Centre). To virtually merge volumes.

https://www.synology.com/en-uk/dsm/packages/PetaSpace

oHUTCHYo · 29 Dec 2017 at 15:01

bledd said:
To be safer than RAID0, you can just use them as single drives.

You can then use PetaSpace (Synology app in the Package Centre). To virtually merge volumes.

https://www.synology.com/en-uk/dsm/packages/PetaSpace

Awesome, this sounds far better as is what Im used to currently having two independent 3TB Mybooks. One for movies and one for TV shows + music + random backup such as photos, document etc. The latter random stuff I habitually back up to a USB 1TB portable drive for peace of mind.

Is it obvious during the initial Synology setup to be able to run seperate drives? Whats the terminology? Ive watched a few few setup videos on yutube in advance. Am I also right in saying ext4 file system would be better for me than...whatn is it...btfs?

bledd · 29 Dec 2017 at 17:58

Personally, I'd just raid1 them. Less hassle if a drive dies.

AyeAyeAhoy! · 16 Jan 2018 at 21:27

Nice, Plex like this is great and works well with cheap Amazon fire sticks.

And if you don't get along with Plex, try Emby.

Salty22 · 23 Jan 2018 at 05:16

How much is a decent Synology nas? I was after something I could run in raid 5 and would last me ages

deuse · 23 Jan 2018 at 08:28

I wold go with a qnap nas. They have better hardware for the money.

hornetstinger · 23 Jan 2018 at 08:33

Raid 0? ?? Pointless that is for speed not security. On my two NAS's I use individual drive layout. Used to have jbod, but if you remove one drive some data may be split over the two, and have upgraded drives in the past so better to do it this way. Bit of a pain having more shared paths though.

rhysduck · 7 Feb 2018 at 16:06

Did you buy anything after? I have a QNAP NAS with Plex running on it and it's been solid. Cannot fault it.

Krazeyivan · 15 Feb 2018 at 12:49

I recently bought another synology nas to complement the 213j that was serving me well. I went large and got the 1817+ and have 5 x WD 8Tb (non pros) in it for a start. I picked these as they run cooler and quieter.

Plex is installed and with a bit of a nudge I'm fairly happy with the libraries I setup and tweaked so all my movies, TV and music is next up. Since I have loads of space now I'm keeping my ultra 4k stuff separately out of plex this processor will not do more than 1080 transcoding. So I'm going to through all my content and re-encode all the high quality blu ray stuff and all my dvds with handbrake so it direct plays. With hardly any drop in quality and no transcoding required this unit is a beast at plex. My poor 12 core PC is now on 24/7 shift with terabytes of work left!

Other things of note - my smaller synology is now a local work/scratch area that each night it backs up to the big nas. I got the 2gb 1817+ so I could separately upgrade to 16gb worth it for virtual machines. It's nice to never crack 5% mem usage to start!