Cheap and simple NAS build

[Mobby Dick]

Hi,

 

so my father is looking for a Nas/home server for his data such as photos, movies, etc. SInce i have no idea about servers and all that kind of stuff, I thought I might ask you for help  

 

What kind of Server connection would you recommend? After reading myself through some posts I think it would be convenient to have a VPN, so you can access the data from everywhere.

 

Is it cheaper to build the Server yourself or to just go ahead and purchase a NAS (any recommendations are welcome)?

Thanks in advance

[paddy-stone]

Anything ranging from PC you already have, to WD mycloud/synology, custom servers built from PC hardware, and servers pulled from businesses/datacentres.... there is a big range.

To start with I would recommend you to use your own PC, just install plex server on it, you can set your router to universal PNP mode (which allows for some trickery that the server will use to allow the server to be contactable through your router from anywhere). This way you're not having to pay any out of pocket expenses to try it out and see how you get on.

If you like that, but need more connections to be available at the same time, then maybe plex isn't the answer... plex CAN be complicated if you have a number of users and they have different needs with media resolutions/codecs, you can offset this by making plex recode the videos so that there are versions for all the users. But persoanlly if this is a problem I find that it might be better to use something like kodi instead that will serve you the original file, and your device might be able to handle it anyway. It's a complicated subject let's say.

Assuming you can navigate around the resolution/codec problems or that your devices can play anything that's thrown at it, then you're good, no need for complicated setups, and can use either plex/kodi at your whims.

[paddy-stone]

Sorry, for cheapness, then as I said running a plex server from your own PC/whatever will be cheapest and easiest to setup in most cases. Just add extra storage. Don't forget to backup anything you can't afford to lose, to another location, USB drive for example.. just in case. If you don't have anything that can't be replaced, then it's all good, just install plex server and point it at your media files.

[Mobby Dick]

11 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Anything ranging from PC you already have, to WD mycloud/synology, custom servers built from PC hardware, and servers pulled from businesses/datacentres.... there is a big range.

To start with I would recommend you to use your own PC, just install plex server on it, you can set your router to universal PNP mode (which allows for some trickery that the server will use to allow the server to be contactable through your router from anywhere). This way you're not having to pay any out of pocket expenses to try it out and see how you get on.

If you like that, but need more connections to be available at the same time, then maybe plex isn't the answer... plex CAN be complicated if you have a number of users and they have different needs with media resolutions/codecs, you can offset this by making plex recode the videos so that there are versions for all the users. But persoanlly if this is a problem I find that it might be better to use something like kodi instead that will serve you the original file, and your device might be able to handle it anyway. It's a complicated subject let's say.

Assuming you can navigate around the resolution/codec problems or that your devices can play anything that's thrown at it, then you're good, no need for complicated setups, and can use either plex/kodi at your whims.

Thanks for your answer.

Plex sounds really nice, but you have to constantly have your PC running if you want to access the data. Is there another cheap method which is always accessible? I have an old PC that is not used anymore, so I could just install Plex on it and have it running 24/7 right?

[Catsrules]

2 hours ago, Mobby Dick said:

Thanks for your answer.

Plex sounds really nice, but you have to constantly have your PC running if you want to access the data. Is there another cheap method which is always accessible? I have an old PC that is not used anymore, so I could just install Plex on it and have it running 24/7 right?

Yep,

Plex does support live transcoding if your dealing with HD video you do need an OK CPU to handle that. Transcoding will only happen when it needs like streaming a high quality video over the internet or streaming to a device that doesn't support the video codec. But for everything else it should run on almost any computer.

[paddy-stone]

4 hours ago, Mobby Dick said:

Thanks for your answer.

Plex sounds really nice, but you have to constantly have your PC running if you want to access the data. Is there another cheap method which is always accessible? I have an old PC that is not used anymore, so I could just install Plex on it and have it running 24/7 right?

Yeah, you do need which ever device you decide to have as a NAS on, or be able to be switched on remotely, but that's a whole other kettle of fish in itself... best thing is to get a low wattage device, even a raspberrypi to run the server from if you want all the time access. There are of course good and bad points of running on such a low level device, such as no transcoding as the SOC can't handle it.. so in that way it's better used if you have media already in several different forms for whoever needs it, or for you to only have media that everyone can read from whichever device, so like 1080p 24fps and x264 codec in mp4/mkv for example... then the media would just be served to the clients/users which doesn't take a lot of power at all, so you're only constricted by your upload speed to get the media to you for remote access. For local access, with a Pi as server, you'd be contricted by it having only 100Mbit ethernet, but if as above all media was OK for everyone, then that could still serve quite a few people IIRC.

Nect step up from that would be a WD NAS, I used one for a few years and had no problems at all, but it doesn't do plex AFAIK... so you would be playing the media/files remotely for example through the WD mycloud app, which works pretty well, and they clouds are very easy to set up, everything is clearly labelled and they don't cost that much... IIRC you can get a 3TB one for approx $140 maybe. They have gigabit ethernet, and are low wattage, I think around 13 watts when operational.... this is probably the best intro point IMO, other than using your own PC.