NAS recommendations ?

[4492011 0]

I would like to purchase a NAS system, I am not that familiar with them ,  I would like for it to hold at least 4 drives, and be somewhat dummy proof.  Thank you in advance for your recommendations.

[vaise 307]

Your budget will direct u down a specific path.

 

If you wish to run emby on it, rather than just house your content, then you will need a good one that can do one or more transcode's if needed, and the more transcodes at the same time (and the type or transcodes), the more powerful, and more cost.  How much content you have, and future content growth additions will also direct you down a disk size 

 

I gave up trying to run emby on my old (but still current) Readynas 314, it was too slow and transcode's were out of the question.  Until I get a new NAS that does everything I want, my windows machine delivers emby, and the content comes from the NAS. 

 

My next NAS will need to transcode up to 4 sessions, run Emby Server, Run an auto downloader (sickrage) and house a few VM's, and have 4 x 8TB new drives.  It would also have Plex as a backup system only.  The current one I want is a synology (if I came into some cash) that does all that is going to be around $AUD2400 (including 4x8TB disks, and a RAM 'replacement to 16GB), but as more models from diff providers get released that decision could change.   

 

You can do some research reviews by googling 'Best NAS for Plex' - as many reviews around that as a solution (then just make sure emby has an app for it - see the forum server section and review each of those for ease of install, ny issues etc etc).

[4492011 0]

Thank you for answering , I have just started looking, and I have been looking at the synology with 5 bays also looking at 4x 10tb discs, looks like we are on the same path. just a little confused about the different 5 disc models from them . but probably this one  

Synology 5 bay NAS DiskStation DS1517+ (8GB) (Diskless), also upgrading the memory to 16 gb,  What do you think?  Is the 5th bay used for HD for the nas system ?  Also is it future proof, does it have the capability to transcode 4k rips ?

Edited May 7, 2018 by 4492011

[legallink 187]

If you are thinking you will need to transcode, you shouldn't count on the NAS to do that work.  NAS's are great at what they do, file storage and file distribution, not file manipulation.  I think there are several people that are happy running their emby server on a NAS, but they aren't their to transcode the files, just to hold them and give access to them.

 

As for transcoding and 4k, that is a whole other discussion, but I don't think there is a NAS on the market that will be really capable of handling that.

[4492011 0]

Ok , that makes sense also, so based upon no transcoding, which NAS would you recommend ?

[Luke 37113]

QNAP and Synology are great choices.

[PenkethBoy 2063]

if you have the cash there are NAS's on the market that can transcode - QNAP do ones with Intel i7,i5 and i3 and AMD Ryzen 7, 5

 

But - they are very expensive and you could build your own for much less.

 

 

You need to answer this question before you make any choices

 

Why do i want a NAS and what do i want it to do???

 

- if you can answer that in detail you can then decide if a NAS is for you or not - then make an informed choice.

 

Nobody can do that for you - you need to do the leg work - then we can discuss options

[dbailey75 2]

if you have the cash there are NAS's on the market that can transcode - QNAP do ones with Intel i7,i5 and i3 and AMD Ryzen 7, 5

 

But - they are very expensive and you could build your own for much less.

 

What abut the the QNAP series with the AMD RX-421BD quad-core APU?   these are in an affordable price range.

 

Not to hijack from the OP but we are in the same boat, which NAS or roll your own, I'm having a hardtime with spending $400 on Windows server essentials.  Hence the reason I'm still running WHS2011,  Win 10 would be an option as well, but I like the backup options offered by Essentials.  I'd also like to move to a NAS with an easy raid setup with a hotspare preferably, and the ability to mix drives capacities. I have backups, I'm using Stablebit drivepool, and with duplication, I need double the drive capacity. 

 

Just looking at options as I plan out my next solution to get me another 5-7 years.

Edited May 24, 2018 by dbailey75

[PenkethBoy 2063]

"What about the the QNAP series with the AMD RX-421BD quad-core APU?" - three year old design with a low pass mark score so limited for transcoding like all affordable NAS's

 

Plenty of free backup solutions that are better than WSE - which can be had for a few $/£ on ebay - SBDP works well on WSE - but its not a backup option

[slevin7 54]

When you build yourself a nas i would recommend an intel cpu g4560. with a 400 Watt be quiet! Pure Power 10 CM Modular 80+. This is a very low power solution, mostly this system use only 31watt and 4k transcoding is possible.

[dbailey75 2]

"What about the the QNAP series with the AMD RX-421BD quad-core APU?" - three year old design with a low pass mark score so limited for transcoding like all affordable NAS's

 

Plenty of free backup solutions that are better than WSE - which can be had for a few $/£ on ebay - SBDP works well on WSE - but its not a backup option

wow, 3 years old, had no idea, but as far as the passmark score is concerned, It was my understanding that a NAS unit  running Linux is more efficient at using the available power then windows. less over head.  

[mastrmind11 717]

wow, 3 years old, had no idea, but as far as the passmark score is concerned, It was my understanding that a NAS unit  running Linux is more efficient at using the available power then windows. less over head.  

while true, it's not that much more efficient to be able to transcode any modern media bitrates.