Thinking of going for a Microserver to replace NAS - a few questions...

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

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Per title I'm thinking of going for a Microserver to replace my Synology DS213 NAS and I was wondering about a few points as follows:
  1. Will it be possible to simply "slot in" my existing 2 x 2TB WD Red drives or will I need to format and start over?
  2. I've read that the XPEnology software is very DSM-like - is it fairly easy to install and use? (I've got limited knowledge of Linux and programs like Putty!)
  3. I've got an Intel NUC that's currently just running OpenElec (Kodi OS) - can this be integrated into the setup somehow?
  4. Can a Microserver read from NTFS and exFAT formatted memory cards and/or USB sticks?

As you can see I really don't know much about Microservers but there are a few issues on my Synology that are really bugging me - like the fact that Plex isn't supported anymore (and even when it was, it' wasn't powerful enough to transcode etc!)

Ideally I'd like an all-in-one solution to store my media and stream it to various devices around the house by either Kodi or Plex and also have the facility for torrenting etc!

Any help is really appreciated!
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

Having watched a few videos of XPEnology I'm leaning more and more towards a Microserver running it to replace my Synology NAS! I've seen videos of the Plex Media Server running on it - is this still right in that it is still supported? (since some Synology NAS's aren't any more!)

Also, which gen/what sort of spec should I be looking at?? I'm not looking to do anything too demanding - just for it to replace my NAS in terms of storing my media and for it to run the Plex server!

Another thing that is frustrating about DSM is that I can't seem to read from an NTFS or exFAT formatted USB/SD card - can XPEnology do this??
 
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I was leaning towards EXPenology simply because I'm familiar with the DSM UI - I have no idea where to start with anything Linux-based to be honest!

What does the "Plex docker" run on/with??

*edit* looks like this is going to be a learning experience - just reading up on the Docker program!
 
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I've been looking for a 2nd hand Microserver but they seem to be few and far between so now I'm looking at buying new and then upgrading the CPU if it feels a bit underpowered - however..... the Gen 8 machine is available for circa £125 after the HP cashback offer whereas the Gen 10 version is around £100 more and you get a better CPU (Opteron X3216 giving a 5146 passmark as opposed to the G1610T in the Gen 8 that gives a passmark of 2322) and 8GB of RAM over the 4GB on the Gen 8!

I know it's £100 more (and for some reason there doesn't appear to be any cashback on the newer model??) but are there any other differences that mean I should consider the Gen 8?? (surely a comparable CPU upgrade and an additional 4GB of RAM won't be too far off £100 anyway??)

Thanks for any help...

*edit* on closer examination it looks as though the CPU is soldered on meaning no CPU upgrade in the future (not that I'm sure that is an issue for me!) and the machine lacks something called "iLO" - which looks to be something to do with remote access? (again, I'm not sure this is a huge issue for me right now!)
 
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Yeah I'm just not sure I'm ever going to need to access the server while away from the house so it's probably leaning towards pretty useless for my needs if I'm honest!

CPU-wise the issue I'm having is availability more than anything else - according to this website the biggest upgrade I can go for without having to (officially) worry about additional/different cooling is the i5-2390T - and I can't find one anywhere!?!?
 
I think I'll stick with the Gen 8 for now and see how I get on with it!

I've got a 256GB SSD lying around - can I use this for installing the OS onto?
 
The plan is to sling 2 x 4TB drives in there and, at the moment, run Xpenology (mainly because I'm already familiar with DSM) toeventually replace my DS213 to serve as my central hub hosting videos and pictures and also as a Plex server.

I just have this SSD spare and wondered if it could be put to use!

Regards the CPU, I found a list to supported chips and the i5-3470T wasn't on there?? What PSU/cooling would it require?
 
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