Computer to computer copy questions

WickedStarfish · September 19, 2020

So im looking at setting up a plex build (have mentioned in a different comment), but I realised today that the case im looking at getting supports 2 motherboards (the Thermaltake Core W200) so i thought that i might include a second system that acts as a backup system to backup data so that if something happens to a hdd in the main system im not completly screwed, this backup will occur probably once or twice per day and will see a max of like 48gb, normally it will be 4-12gb

so my main question is, if I am getting a cpu for the copying system would a lower core count but higher frequency be better? or a higher core count with a lower frequency? (amd vs intel technically), this system also will be doing very little plex work (from what i have heard plex favours intel), it will mainly be when the main system goes down it will operate as the server until i have the main back up (normally less than a few hours of me finding the problem currently)

Draeconix · September 20, 2020

Have you considered a NAS as a backup solution?

WickedStarfish · September 20, 2020

4 minutes ago, Draeconix said:

Have you considered a NAS as a backup solution?

i did, but unless im spending a lot the expandability is a bit lacking,

yes there is some that i can get where you connect them via usb c cables, but i feel that one system that handles backups and runs the server would be the best fit for my use case (also the case can fit 20 drives with the option to add another case (i think its called the p200) to add even more hdd's

Draeconix · September 20, 2020

I have a Synology DS918+ with 4 x 6 TB Drives in it. I have them RAID'ed so I can loose a drive and still be ok. It nets me about 15TB and handles my back up and Plex server duties just fine, but then I am the only one in my household. If you have multiple people streaming from your Plex server, it is my understanding you will want something with a bit more CPU power. I had a Antec 1200 Tower that I thought about putting a bunch of drives in but the NAS was a much simpler set up and easier to manage. It also allowed me to connect my cloud accounts to the NAS so now I have my cloud drives on my PC, my NAS and in the cloud. In terms of expandability, there are NAS boxes out there with tons of drive bays. I know Synology has consumer ones going up to at least 12 bays and rack mounted, server style bays have even more.

That said, if a NAS isn't to your liking and the second PC is really only going to be backing up and possibly running a Plex server, the specs really don't need to be that huge. My Synology for example is running a dual core Celeron and it is plenty fast for Plex. I am thinking along the lines of a Core i3 or a Ryzen 3. RAM might be a bigger concern and/or possibly the size of the C drive. When I ran Windows Home Server, it needed a larger area for the C drive to act as a sort of cache to be able to balance out the storage array and facilitate copies. If it didn't have the right amount of space, the process would be slow since it had to keep clearing out the space. My NAS has 2 x 512 GB SSD's in it for just that purpose. If you are running something in the Windows family, that is definitely something to consider. If on the hand you are going with another OS, I am not as well versed so I can't say for sure.