Would a NAS be my best option?

[Krisp-kiwi]

Hey there everyone,

 

Recently I ran into a bit of a pickle, my kaspersky anti virus let me know my internal HD media drive that I had been using as my Plex server was at 10% health so after quickly backing up the drive I started looking for a replacement then smart me accidentally knocked the external hard drive i had just backed up onto off the desk resulting in that external hard drive being on its last legs now as well. Thankfully i have 2 more smaller externals that I use as sort of a back up for the back up but it now leaves me considering my options which I see as one of two options

 

A) I get another larger external hard drive as a main external with the two smaller ones as back ups and get a new internal hard drive on top of that to run the media server on my PC. The benefit of this is that I have my files on 3 different locations: The PC, the main external and on the two smaller externals. The downside is any time I want to watch my plex server, the PC needs to be on. 

or 

B) I take the media server off my computer entirely, don't rebuy for my PC but instead get a Synology-DiskStation-DS220j-2-Bay-NAS and a 8TB Ironwolf and I can get another 8TB down the line if need be for 16TB, The pros is that its a 24/7 server I can access from anywhere. The downside is I lose a failsafe with the possibility of the Nas and externals dying at the same time without an extra back up. 

 

Hopefully that made sense. What would you go for? 

[TargetDron3]

Set up the NAS.  Keep a copy on your pc.  

Easiest cheapest way to do it. 

[Krisp-kiwi]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:02 AM, TargetDron3 said:

Set up the NAS.  Keep a copy on your pc.  

Easiest cheapest way to do it. 

I've been looking at the prices of NAS's and they're rather pricey compared to externals. Just for the NAS itself and a single 10TB ironwolf I could get about 25TB of external hd storage. It's hard to justify that difference. 

[Blue4130]

3 hours ago, Krisp-kiwi said:

I've been looking at the prices of NAS's and they're rather pricey compared to externals. Just for the NAS itself and a single 10TB ironwolf I could get about 25TB of external hd storage. It's hard to justify that difference. 

It's more expensive because its a fully working computer. Hard to compare a bare external drive against a NAS, they have very different rolls to play.

[paddy-stone]

If you compare a synology with a custom built NAS, the prices are much closer... but the value of each in terms of what you want to do/can do is more important, and can vary immensely.

 

If I were starting over today and looking at building my own vs synology, I would most likely go for synology if I just wanted a central place to keep/access media files and such, and maybe run a few containers/apps like plex/sonarr etc. And add as much storage that would see me through a few years before I'd need to go higher... so maybe a 4/5 bay synology with 2 bays occupied... And just back up my most important files to an external drive or 2, attached to the synology and/or on my desktop. 

[Jameszy]

Does your plex server do any transcoding? or are you able to direct stream all your stuff? Are you looking to add storage in the future?

 

Odroid H2+, 2 sata ports, 1 nvme port, 2x2.5gbps ethernet ports and supports Intel QSV.. Could make a sweet little plex/OMV backup server..

[Blue4130]

On 2/15/2021 at 10:51 PM, paddy-stone said:

If you compare a synology with a custom built NAS, the prices are much closer... but the value of each in terms of what you want to do/can do is more important, and can vary immensely.

 

If I were starting over today and looking at building my own vs synology, I would most likely go for synology if I just wanted a central place to keep/access media files and such, and maybe run a few containers/apps like plex/sonarr etc. And add as much storage that would see me through a few years before I'd need to go higher... so maybe a 4/5 bay synology with 2 bays occupied... And just back up my most important files to an external drive or 2, attached to the synology and/or on my desktop. 

Where I am, if you are a smart shopper or don't mind going with a used cpu and ram, a custom build is half the price of a synology (before factoring in storage drives). This is based off a 4 Bay synology, 2 Bay may be different. 

[paddy-stone]

12 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Where I am, if you are a smart shopper or don't mind going with a used cpu and ram, a custom build is half the price of a synology (before factoring in storage drives). This is based off a 4 Bay synology, 2 Bay may be different. 

Yeah, but it you're OK with used hardware, then you can probably find a used synology too.

 

I'm not saying they are a perfect fit for everyone, hell I don't even own one myself as I have lots of spare hardware and a micro-server etc too. I was just saying that if you factor in everything (except hard drives) that you need to build a half decent one, the price difference isn't that bad, and for some the hurdles of setting up some stuff on a NAS is challenging. So the better option MIGHT be to buy a synology... all is dependent on what you plan to do with it of course too.