What is a media server and do I need one?

Ease of use.
Time.
Me being an idiot and potentially could do more damage when adding a disk than letting the NAS handle it.

I've done hot swap with my drobo and it works flawlessly. It is what it's designed to do and it does it very well.
 
Drobo uses a proprietary RAID system, some other manufacturers have their own too but it's rather non-standard. UnRAID also does this IIRC.

What's wrong with your Drobo, do you just want more functionality? Grab a Raspberry Pi, old PC/laptop, or anything like that you use it as the server and the Drobo for its storage.
 
AbsenceJam said:
Drobo uses a proprietary RAID system, some other manufacturers have their own too but it's rather non-standard. UnRAID also does this IIRC.

What's wrong with your Drobo, do you just want more functionality? Grab a Raspberry Pi, old PC/laptop, or anything like that you use it as the server and the Drobo for its storage.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with the drobo, I just want to separate my media from my photos that's all.
 
Ray - contact me. I can help mate. Infact explain here.

XBMC is good -RASPMC and OPENELEC are XBMC bootable. Anotheer thought I had was booting Android

You can use a normal comptuter big or small even an XBOX1 for playback. Or if you went for a HP MICROSERVER (WAIT) till they do there £100 off and £112ish for it (well 212£) another thing I cannot find my INVOICE I got with it in Feb can I still get one?

Sinef your file sharing its mostly about the drives. You could go for Windows XP Pro or a WinServ like Windows Server 2008 I am using. Now you could run a Linux distro server or not or NAS OSs like free4nas. You may be able to use a RASPBERRY PI comp ahh out the Q

I am doing this too myself.

I "had" usenet downloads on mine
Have utorrent
250GB HDD
Got 2GB upped to 8GB -the RAM that comes with server value or trade or keep for backup

3TB x2 one for media and the other for other media thinking of a third for more of that "other media" but the German stuff is good
SD is free, 720p 5usd 10usd full 1080p then 15 for DUHD (double Ultra HD)
JAMES.DOES.JENNA.THE.SMASHED.LANTERN-GERMAN-1912-4000P
PC World ripped me I got a TV U-HD £20k so I am missing half the qual, I tried sending it back he said its black n white anyway but its art. Got a refund 84" probably better than sex.... I mean its better.
Click to expand...

Have RDP, VNC, utorrent webui and loooking for remote control stuff
it's job is to dish out 2xTB of media and conpared to that qnas its a full comp. hot swap is a must though may have to use a comp that does.

FILE STRUCTURE
So heres how it works on a 3tb drive I have
C:/OS
D:/Movies
D:/TV
D:/Photos (I need to origise these by hol, etc but they will be backed up to a cloud also I wanna scan ALL our photos because they are irreplaceable all 4x6 - after printer too)
D:/Music (in here is a full backup of everyones song collection)
D:/Downloading
D:/OSs/ (linux ISOs etc)
D:/EDU/ (learnings like "young.lads.from,asda.show.you.the secret.to.6.pack.and.clubbing) a lot of musclur sted-head Serbian lads learning YOU to clubfight 8 lads vs two serbians gets nasty specially when they have been hitting the coke police arrive and get everyone to go one vid a police woman came over and he said "do what" he said touch me and I will throw you across the road 18-24yr olds picked the wrong guy. Boy they are huge imagine 2 fighting kingkong n godzilla I think the SERBIAN-PREP-VANS come out only person to take down a serbian is another serbian.
Click to expand...
D:/
E:/P*/PRE-50'S p*/ JAMES.DOES.JENNA.THE.SMASHED.LANTERN-GERMAN-1912-4000P
E:/P*/*blocked*/Young.lads.from.asda.give.brenda.an.offer.she.can't.refuse-720p

NO RAIDing. The idea was a RASP PI for all TVS and set them similer to when I used MEEDIO :(


Now I have a Netgear N150 so that plugs into phone line obv, but the server and a homeplug

My 2 plans

1) wire ethernet from router upstairs (or once house is done server might be upstairs and wire down (2x tvs down) to a gig switch5-8 port then wire them to each TV thats 3 and maybe another 1 in the loft and then comps.
2) homeplugs 4x or 6x 200mb ones and use them
3)mix even?

RASP PI MODEL B
CASE, MICROUSB, HDMI
remote £5 probs lil' keyboards
I am using RASPMC 2gb old sd card

Using virtalbox to configure stuff on em.

I am upgrading the SD card to 16GB CLASS 10

Streams movies, tv shows 720p think eve 1080p. Theres loads of like channels you can master I'd like emulators and pc games installed. Games may not be poss on RASPMC compared to windows+XBMC. RASPMC I aint sure on controllers you should with drivers XBOX360, or 2 used ps2 ones and a dual slot (poundland?) or Wiiv (bluetooth - I got one from Poundworld lol)

Other things : summit for the dvd drive bay like lcd/led thing summit other than fan controllers :D maybe a row of buttons you program?
Music player or htpc: another option is WINAMP and add all our music but so its seperate by name and a controller android to access it and pick song and server plays through some bigspeakers (z5500ish) and/or hook it upto the TV oppersite and install XBMC dam this room would fit a racing seat and g25/trustmaster (720degrees+and clutch) just IS the server up to run games
would like a browser addon surf net on RASPMC
Now one thing on the server was Home Automation and CCTV????
but as my mum says I should get a real compter like the young lads from Asda.
 
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Tony, I am rather confused and amused by that post.

"James does Jenna" ? lol

Your invoice?

Is any of that relevant to me? You are saying I should get a HP microserver but you recently got a Netgear NAS?
 
Come on MSN can talk

NETGEAR IS ROUTER
If you buy a HPMS get it when the £100 cashback is on £212 and you filla form andget £100 back.

My aim was a server and all TVS can access it

RPI is soo cool was wondering if you get em cheaper in bulk I was guna get 5-10
 
Last edited:
I am sure you are speaking English but I can't understand a word of that.

Except wait for £100 cashback.

Thing is, its not just about the money....HP microserver, no hotswap. I wouldn't use if even if it is free.
 
if the server is not mission critical, i really dont see why hotswap would be such a massive requirement.

And if you really need to run it 24/7 then you might want to look into a UPS as well
 
I see it as a make or break requirement so no HP microserver. Plus it needs setting up as well and frankly it's sounds like a hassle.
 
I run a DS211J with 2 x 2TB drives and it works well. My only complaint is that it can be a little loud during heavy data transfer, but that's partly my mistake due to me putting it on my desk top.

One thing I never did get round to was configuring it to access the files remotely - that seemed a bit of a hassle. But accessing them from the home network, piece of cake.
 
I'm having the exact same dilemma Raymond, and I think i will end up going for the Synology DS213+. The 4-bay drives are too expensive, and i think that 2-bays with 3TB drives are enough for most peoples RAW photo and high quality rip music collections. Plus, it's the perfect size to keep out of the way, and also has a dual-core CPu and SD-card slot. I think overall it's the best value and most efficient option.

If the 4-bay devices were cheaper I would get one and fill it with WD 1.5TB drives, but they are much more expensive, and often a compromise on features on performance like with the budget-friendly 413j model, which also looks horrendous in design.

Tony Williams said:
Ray - contact me. I can help mate. Infact explain here.

XBMC is good -RASPMC and OPENELEC are XBMC bootable. Anotheer thought I had was booting Android

You can use a normal comptuter big or small even an XBOX1 for playback. Or if you went for a HP MICROSERVER (WAIT) till they do there £100 off and £112ish for it (well 212£) another thing I cannot find my INVOICE I got with it in Feb can I still get one?

Sinef your file sharing its mostly about the drives. You could go for Windows XP Pro or a WinServ like Windows Server 2008 I am using. Now you could run a Linux distro server or not or NAS OSs like free4nas. You may be able to use a RASPBERRY PI comp ahh out the Q

I am doing this too myself.

I "had" usenet downloads on mine
Have utorrent
250GB HDD
Got 2GB upped to 8GB -the RAM that comes with server value or trade or keep for backup



Have RDP, VNC, utorrent webui and loooking for remote control stuff
it's job is to dish out 2xTB of media and conpared to that qnas its a full comp. hot swap is a must though may have to use a comp that does.

FILE STRUCTURE
So heres how it works on a 3tb drive I have
C:/OS
D:/Movies
D:/TV
D:/Photos (I need to origise these by hol, etc but they will be backed up to a cloud also I wanna scan ALL our photos because they are irreplaceable all 4x6 - after printer too)
D:/Music (in here is a full backup of everyones song collection)
D:/Downloading
D:/OSs/ (linux ISOs etc)

D:/
E:/P*/PRE-50'S p*/ JAMES.DOES.JENNA.THE.SMASHED.LANTERN-GERMAN-1912-4000P
E:/P*/*blocked*/Young.lads.from.asda.give.brenda.an.offer.she.can't.refuse-720p

NO RAIDing. The idea was a RASP PI for all TVS and set them similer to when I used MEEDIO :(


Now I have a Netgear N150 so that plugs into phone line obv, but the server and a homeplug

My 2 plans

1) wire ethernet from router upstairs (or once house is done server might be upstairs and wire down (2x tvs down) to a gig switch5-8 port then wire them to each TV thats 3 and maybe another 1 in the loft and then comps.
2) homeplugs 4x or 6x 200mb ones and use them
3)mix even?

RASP PI MODEL B
CASE, MICROUSB, HDMI
remote £5 probs lil' keyboards
I am using RASPMC 2gb old sd card

Using virtalbox to configure stuff on em.

I am upgrading the SD card to 16GB CLASS 10

Streams movies, tv shows 720p think eve 1080p. Theres loads of like channels you can master I'd like emulators and pc games installed. Games may not be poss on RASPMC compared to windows+XBMC. RASPMC I aint sure on controllers you should with drivers XBOX360, or 2 used ps2 ones and a dual slot (poundland?) or Wiiv (bluetooth - I got one from Poundworld lol)

Other things : summit for the dvd drive bay like lcd/led thing summit other than fan controllers :D maybe a row of buttons you program?
Music player or htpc: another option is WINAMP and add all our music but so its seperate by name and a controller android to access it and pick song and server plays through some bigspeakers (z5500ish) and/or hook it upto the TV oppersite and install XBMC dam this room would fit a racing seat and g25/trustmaster (720degrees+and clutch) just IS the server up to run games
would like a browser addon surf net on RASPMC
Now one thing on the server was Home Automation and CCTV????
but as my mum says I should get a real compter like the young lads from Asda.
Click to expand...

What on earth are you talking about? What a bizzarre post, it's like the words were auto-generated by some kind of contextual spam-bot. :D
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Looking at it again (!), I think spending another £50 may be a good idea.....as i find out that model doesn't support Plex, the next model up does.

Hmmmmm, now it is getting really expensive. May drop 4 bay down to 2 bays, put in 2x 3TB HD in there and be done with it....I dunno !
Click to expand...

I was running a DS713+ with 2x 3tb reds and it is spot on mate. Runs plex fine and transcodes on the fly. The DS713+ also allows you to use one of the expansion modules so if in future you need more space you can add a module and slap more disks in and you are away.

It gives you the performance you need now with the ability to expand in the future. Worth considering.
 
welshdragon said:
I was running a DS713+ with 2x 3tb reds and it is spot on mate. Runs plex fine and transcodes on the fly. The DS713+ also allows you to use one of the expansion modules so if in future you need more space you can add a module and slap more disks in and you are away.

It gives you the performance you need now with the ability to expand in the future. Worth considering.
Click to expand...

Just saw this, seems decent and ticks all the boxes but the cost of a 2 bay is almost the same as the DS412+.
 
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