Home networking advice needed

[Escape-To-88]

Howdy all,

I'm looking into setting up a home network, mainly to use as a Plex media server, possibly for audio too. I've taken a look at the Synology NAS solutions but am looking for a bit of advice as for what's best. It'll mainly to be to stream to the TV in my living room and possibly to 1 or 2 other devices. Got around 8tb on data to share I reckon. I currently use my gaming desktop but don't fancy it being left on all the time. Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers

[QualityChimp]

We have a couple of Synology NAS boxes at work and they've been great.
We only used them for storing backup file, rather than streaming video, but I'm planning on buying another one as they seem good value and are still reviewing well.

I prefer ones with a little screen on that says the IP address, space left, time, etc, but that's a bit luxurious for home use and neither Synology NAS has them and we cope.

[Escape-To-88]

We have a couple of Synology NAS boxes at work and they've been great.
We only used them for storing backup file, rather than streaming video, but I'm planning on buying another one as they seem good value and are still reviewing well.

I prefer ones with a little screen on that says the IP address, space left, time, etc, but that's a bit luxurious for home use and neither Synology NAS has them and we cope.

Cheers Dave, any particular one you'd recommend sir?

[QualityChimp]

Well, I'd go to this page, click "home solutions" and have a read, then look at some of their suggestions at the bottom.

https://www.synology.com/en-uk/solution/what_is_nas?

You really don't need a rackmounted one like us at work and that makes the price shoot up.

Make sure you RAID it in case (when!) one of the discs fail, so you can swap it out.

Apologies if I'm telling you to suck eggs!

This is the entry-level with 2 drives:

https://www.synology.com/en-uk/products/DS218j

It's about £150 on it's own, and goes up depending on the size of drives you add:
2Tb - £284.95
4Tb - £305.99
6Tb - £358.98
8Tb - £389.95
12Tb - £514.03
16Tb - £635.93
20Tb - £781.97

If you were thinking of saving a few quid, though, there's a 1-Bay enclosure (1 bay, no drives) on Amazon Lightning Deals RIGHT NOW!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-DS120j-Bay-Desktop-Enclosure/dp/B07YVF3Q5G/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

Lightning Deal
£78.00 (Save 25%)
11% Claimed
4 hrs left.

[Escape-To-88]

Amazing, thanks buddy.

[QualityChimp]

Other NAS brands are available.

[Escape-To-88]

Other NAS brands are available.

Synology seems pretty decent, Buffalo's stuff seems to have mixed reviews, happy to hear other points of view though.

[briareos_kerensky]

Some QNAP models have 1 or more HDMI ports to connect the NAS directly to any monitor. They support Plex, DLNA, and have an extensive host of multimedia applications. Home models even come with remotes.

I've been using QNAP for years and they are very capable boxes, though I've never used them as a pure multimedia box, just a central repository for every computer in the house.

[Brad]

DO NOT GET SEAGATE

[Digfox]

I've run a few home servers over the years; Synology DS-211j, homemade Ubuntu server and the current HP Gen8 Microserver running UNRAID. It was the Synology, originally just purchased for backup duties, that got me interested in running a home server and storing files and media on a centralised box.

QNAP and Synology are very well regarded but I think it's fair to say the DSM software Synology include is fantastic. Really easy to set-up, easy to use and lots of app support, so easy to install PLEX etc. (not that the QNAP isn't).

Your requirements sound reasonably low so it may be that a few different Synology options work for you. With Plex if your not having to transcode (the server processing the codec to a device that can't natively play it) or serve many clients (i.e. 8 people trying to stream 1080p or 4K streams at once) then you shouldn't need too much CPU power. Things like transcoding, and running Virtual Machines can increase the hardware the server ideally needs. And consumer NAS boxes like Synology generally run low-power SoC or Celeron processors.

In terms of Synology model, larger enclosures will allow you to grow and add drives later potentially. Although this might depend on sizes of HD Drives and redundancy level chosen. For me the sweet spot was moving from a 2-bay to a 4-bay option. I started out with 2 x WD Reds but added two more drives over the years.

The only reason I moved away from a Synology solution was cost of an upgraded model and wanting to learn Linux by building my own server. My current HP Gen8 Microserver only cost £160 in early 2016 which was much cheaper than the equivalent Synology hardware. I've since moved to UNRAID as it is simpler to run mixed HD Drives and restore any failed drives. Plus it is awesome. I just run Plex, airsonic, file serving and the odd VM.

[charlesr]

I left my PC on for years as a music a plex server.

[nonny]

I love Plex. I don't have a NAS here as I don't have much media but I use it all the time and run it from a cheap gigabyte brix PC. Simple.

I'd love to get a NAS later on but I just find the more media I add the more I remove as well.

[Escape-To-88]

I left my PC on for years as a music a plex server.

Mine is an overclocked gaming PC I've had for a while and need the overclock for Dolphin etc. so feel a bit dubious about leaving it on all the time.

[Digfox]

Gaming PC's also typically aren't power efficient, so apart from wear and tear you are increasing your electricity bills. My old setup was a x99 5930K on a 1000w Super Flower PSU. Even though it was a Titanium rated PSU the components still weren't efficient to leave running all the time.

[briareos_kerensky]

Unless you were running multiple graphic cards, that PSU was grossly oversized. My Ryzen 3900 and RTX 2080 doesn't go past 400W at full load.