Current Events > Does anyone use NAS for file storage?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Quick recommendations of brands? Yep decades of sailing the seas has netted me a lot of tv shows

Synology has a very easy to use OS that includes an app store so you can install Plex and Docker. I have a 40TB 12 bay Synology I got from work that I use as my media server. Sonarr and Radarr Docker containers are setup on the NAS to automate all my sea sailing which then automatically imports into the Plex media app. Any device in the house can stream media from the NAS.

I've been thinking about getting something like that, although so far a 5TB external hard drive has done everything I'd need from a NAS (upgraded a few years ago from a 2TB, more due to it showing signs of aging than due to space concerns). Next time that needs replacing I might have a go at setting a NAS up.

Trumble posted...

I've been thinking about getting something like that, although so far a 5TB external hard drive has done everything I'd need from a NAS (upgraded a few years ago from a 2TB, more due to it showing signs of aging than due to space concerns). Next time that needs replacing I might have a go at setting a NAS up.

Only issue I have with external hard drives is u gotta baby the shit out of em or they get fucked up. General rule of thumb life span 3-5 years for spinning drives/three copies of all ur data. I hear good things about repurposed server drives so I may look into those at some point. For drives with such heavy usage- no bad clusters is pretty good

DDP886 posted...

Only issue I have with external hard drives is u gotta baby the shit out of em or they get fucked up. General rule of thumb life span 3-5 years for spinning drives. I hear good things about repurposed server drives

3-5 years? I had that 2TB one for nearly 10 lol. Actually I still have it... somewhere... Just no real use for it anymore.

A lot of the time I've encountered broken ones, it's not the actual drive but rather the USB adapter part that's broken. On some brands (most notable exception being WD) you can actually open the drive up, and it'll just be a laptop hard drive attached to a USB-SATA adapter, which you can replace (possibly with a temporary measure) to access the drive again.

I've been thinking of getting that although less because of the seven seas aspect and more because I have a ton of DVDs and Blu-rays that I've been ripping for my Plex server and my 14tb external drive is now down to less than 3. I will definitely look in to the suggestion from post #2.

Trumble posted...

3-5 years? I had that 2TB one for nearly 10 lol. Actually I still have it... somewhere... Just no real use for it anymore.

A lot of the time I've encountered broken ones, it's not the actual drive but rather the USB adapter part that's broken. On some brands (most notable exception being WD) you can actually open the drive up, and it'll just be a laptop hard drive attached to a USB-SATA adapter, which you can replace (possibly with a temporary measure) to access the drive again.

Thats rule of thumb but yea I have spinning drives that are 6-7 years old still working fine. They shouldnt be relied upon though/backed up

Yeah. I have a Synology DS918+ but I just use Docker Compose for everything I host as Synologys apps are lacking, dated, or their UI gets in my way, etc.

I also just backed the Kickstarter for the 8 bay UGreen NAS for $899, as thats an absolute steal at that price (40% off) as that hardware is very impressive for that price. Their software is half baked alpha level for now, but Ill probably just put TrueNAS Scale or UnRAID on it anyway.

I prefer LSIO containers when possible.

PraetorXyn posted...

Synologys apps are lacking, dated, or their UI gets in my way, etc.

Yeah...I wish I knew that before running Plex as a Synology app. At least I can download the updates from Plex themselves and manually update the app but it's still a manual process which is annoying.

Just a little home server that doubles as a NAS. Running ubuntu on bare metal.

I have a Synology. I am not a techie and was able to get it to and running with the help of guides. There is a large community on Reddit that you can find help too

BlazinBlue88 posted...

Sonarr and Radarr Docker containers are setup on the NAS to automate all my sea sailing which then automatically imports into the Plex media app.

I'd love to figure out how these are supposed to work but I can't figure it out. I have them set up but not sure what they are actually used for

BlazinBlue88 posted...

Yeah...I wish I knew that before running Plex as a Synology app. At least I can download the updates from Plex themselves and manually update the app but it's still a manual process which is annoying.

I use the LSIO Docker containers for Plex, Emby, and Jellyfin, but I dont really use Plex anymore. I think Emby does a better job at what Plex tries to do but I mostly use Jellyfin.

I have a Synology DS1621+, I love it. I use it as cloud storage for my phone, storage for documents and photos, and a media server via Jellyfin. It's great.

I used to have a DIY NAS, but the maintenance and the amount of effort to set it up and troubleshoot was too much/annoying. Synology alleviated some of that and I prefer it. As someone said earlier, the synology subreddit is very helpful if you need help.

Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

I'd love to figure out how these are supposed to work but I can't figure it out. I have them set up but not sure what they are actually used for

So you set them up but have no idea what they are suppose to do?

They are apps that will sail the seas for you. Tell Sonarr to get Breaking Bad for you. It will sail dozens of sites for the t files of the show. Once it finds one, it will send it to your t download app. Your download app will drop it in a folder that your media player can be configured to scan and import new files. Radarr does the same thing but with movies.

The big benefit of this automation is currently airing shows. An hour or so after a new episode airs, it will go out and search for it online. You no longer have to keep up with when new episodes of your favorite shows air during the week

BlazinBlue88 posted...

So you set them up but have no idea what they are suppose to do?

They are apps that will sail the seas for you. Tell Sonarr to get Breaking Bad for you. It will sail dozens of sites for the t files of the show. Once it finds one, it will send it to your t download app. Your download app will drop it in a folder that your media player can be configured to scan and import new files. Radarr does the same thing but with movies.

The big benefit of this automation is currently airing shows. An hour or so after a new episode airs, it will go out and search for it online. You no longer have to keep up with when new episodes of your favorite shows air during the week

Okay, maybe I'll give it another go. I couldn't really figure out the interface. Also I'm not watching many current airing shows. Thanks!

Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

Okay, maybe I'll give it another go. I couldn't really figure out the interface. Also I'm not watching many current airing shows. Thanks!

Feel free to DM me if you need any more help with it. I'd also recommend Jackett which I can explain.

DDP886 posted...

Thats rule of thumb but yea I have spinning drives that are 6-7 years old still working fine. They shouldnt be relied upon though/backed up

I don't keep anything that would be more than an annoyance to lose on it. All my really important stuff is backed up to OneDrive or Bitbucket (or both).