Plex Server Setup

[Kiritomato]

Hey Guys,

 

I am planning a build for my Storage Server, which will be used by my Plex Server.

 

So to explain this carefully:

1) I have a Intel NUC Running a Plex Media Server (also running all sorts of indexing services from Radarr to Sickrage etc)

2) I have an old desktop PC in which I stacked (horribly) about 5 HDD's all in a spanned volume

 

Obviously this is a horrid setup and since recently one of the drives failed and I lost about 7TB of media, I have been looking into fixing this setup.

I need more storage (yes I re-downloaded the 7 TB already) and so I decided to do it decently this time.

 

Okay imma split this up:

 

1) I need to decide how I can best setup the drives (What kind of RAID volume)

=> I don't care if i lose some data at some point, I just want nice speeds and I don't wanna lose all data because one disk failed.

=> Also I'm on a budget, so every TB of storage in the RAID Array that I can actually use makes me even more happy

=> I want to be able to gradually expand the array without a whole lot of work (if possible) start with minimum drives necessairy, end with up to 20drives if possible (20 drives of actual storage though)

 

2) What kind of OS should I use ? ( Windows - Linux (distrib?) - FreeNAS - UNRAID )

=> Have worked with both Linux & Windows so neither is a problem 

 

3) Should I (over time, because budget reasons ), combine the storage array and the plex system into one ? 

=> AKA should they be on the same system ? Or is there almost no difference when I make the plex system take it's media from network drives ? (like I do now)

 

 

I can deliver all the details and updates you want, here are the ones I expect you to need:

 

- All HDD's are going to be same size (4TB)

- Ironwolf NAS 4TB (5900RPM)

- I can't buy all of them at once (budget people )

- I intend to use (again for now) a desktop motherboard (OEM Board) and switch over to a server board (for more ram amongst others) -> suggestions are also welcome here

- sata power splitters with a decent power supply connected to an UPS

- PCI-E Expansion card for the extra SATA Ports

- I have about 4-10 active users on the plex media server watching 1080p content

- Locally I often watch UHD Movies

 

 

If you need any more info lemme know, i'll be watching this thread closely

 

[AbsoluteFool]

1 hour ago, Kiritomato said:

Hey Guys,

 

I am planning a build for my Storage Server, which will be used by my Plex Server.

 

So to explain this carefully:

1) I have a Intel NUC Running a Plex Media Server (also running all sorts of indexing services from Radarr to Sickrage etc)

2) I have an old desktop PC in which I stacked (horribly) about 5 HDD's all in a spanned volume

 

Obviously this is a horrid setup and since recently one of the drives failed and I lost about 7TB of media, I have been looking into fixing this setup.

I need more storage (yes I re-downloaded the 7 TB already) and so I decided to do it decently this time.

 

Okay imma split this up:

 

1) I need to decide how I can best setup the drives (What kind of RAID volume)

=> I don't care if i lose some data at some point, I just want nice speeds and I don't wanna lose all data because one disk failed.

=> Also I'm on a budget, so every TB of storage in the RAID Array that I can actually use makes me even more happy

=> I want to be able to gradually expand the array without a whole lot of work (if possible) start with minimum drives necessairy, end with up to 20drives if possible (20 drives of actual storage though)

 

2) What kind of OS should I use ? ( Windows - Linux (distrib?) - FreeNAS - UNRAID )

=> Have worked with both Linux & Windows so neither is a problem 

 

3) Should I (over time, because budget reasons ), combine the storage array and the plex system into one ? 

=> AKA should they be on the same system ? Or is there almost no difference when I make the plex system take it's media from network drives ? (like I do now)

 

 

I can deliver all the details and updates you want, here are the ones I expect you to need:

 

- All HDD's are going to be same size (4TB)

- Ironwolf NAS 4TB (5900RPM)

- I can't buy all of them at once (budget people )

- I intend to use (again for now) a desktop motherboard (OEM Board) and switch over to a server board (for more ram amongst others) -> suggestions are also welcome here

- sata power splitters with a decent power supply connected to an UPS

- PCI-E Expansion card for the extra SATA Ports

- I have about 4-10 active users on the plex media server watching 1080p content

- Locally I often watch UHD Movies

 

 

If you need any more info lemme know, i'll be watching this thread closely

 

Any RAID with parity. Since you're greedy i'd say RAID5. Or better yet get Unraid so you can actually grow with time. Sure unraid costs money, but the ability to grow gives less up front cost to start the array. And i'd argue that is better than making and ripping apart arrays to expand it. To then start transfering everything again.

[mtz_federico]

For the stuff that you don't mind loosing use raid 0

I would use Ubuntu.

I would recommend having the servers and the storage in the same computer

[Kiritomato]

Hah nah not greedy 90% of my money goes to tech, sadly its not that much xd

 

Yeah i had been thinking of unraid ... 

Should i then put the raid array on the same system as plex or does plex not run (good) on unraid OS?

[AbsoluteFool]

1 hour ago, Kiritomato said:

Hah nah not greedy 90% of my money goes to tech, sadly its not that much xd

 

Yeah i had been thinking of unraid ... 

Should i then put the raid array on the same system as plex or does plex not run (good) on unraid OS?

I use Unraid and plex. I don't have any problems with WD Reds. Use the plex docker in Unraid.