Home server for plex... Need some help

[LuckyLogan]

I'm planning on building a home server to host media on a plex server and host on LAN, do any of you have recommendations for a cheap pc that I can use many 3.5in drives in?

[Electronics Wizardy]

How cheap are we thinking?

 

Do you want rack mount?

 

Hunt for a used pc locally? Many desktop cases support like 6 drives.

[SeanChronicR]

https://www.amazon.ca/Dell-OptiPlex-7010-Minitower-Desktop/dp/B01K0GNUOG/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3HJUGF5X1Q19J&dchild=1&keywords=dell+optiplex&qid=1617761938&sprefix=Dell+op%2Caps%2C279&sr=8-5
 

or could get a NAS this is the one I use 

 

https://www.amazon.ca/TerraMaster-F2-221-Storage-Network-Diskless/dp/B07NRKC85M/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=36FBA9R57F7WR&dchild=1&keywords=terramaster+f2-221&qid=1617762028&sprefix=Terramast%2Caps%2C571&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFVSlo4RzQ0RjM3UTAmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA3MjkxODEySzg2TzAzV0dTNVBSJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAyNTQ3NTAyWlhWSFZaV09QTDImd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

[LuckyLogan]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How cheap are we thinking?

 

Do you want rack mount?

 

Hunt for a used pc locally? Many desktop cases support like 6 drives.

im talking side of the road cheap

 

i do not have the space for a rack mount

[Xavier Suarez]

On 4/6/2021 at 10:32 PM, LuckyLogan said:

im talking side of the road cheap

 

i do not have the space for a rack mount

Budget?

[BahnStormer]

what hardware are you starting with (how many drives?)

 

what sort of Plex server are you planning on (transcoding or just indexed browsing and sharing)

 

I've been down this road before and I ended up with a very ugly mess of storage and a very unreliable system... I just got a BIG old tower, old Opteron CPU and server2008 software RAID.... in hindsight, FreeNAS would have been a LOT better as that sofware RAID was awful.... but by the time I realised, I had changed to a standalone NAS box and separate Plex server that mounts that storage over the network.... a lot less headache.... most NAS boxes these days have enough grunt to transcode directly now.

[LuckyLogan]

On 4/8/2021 at 4:52 PM, Xavier Suarez said:

Budget?

very little budget, preferably able to use existing hardware