What do I need to know if I want to build a NAS?

[RandomUser]

If purchasing a used or new Xeon computer, Keep in mind though, while I'm not sure about DELL or other manufactured prebuilds, as I build mine. The fans in them can get quite loud, especially the older variant and also can heat a room, so ideally may need a dedicated AC for that room. The newer ones however runs much more quieter, except during POST and if it starts to get too warm. Another thing to keep in mind, newer Xeons machine may take a while to boot up. I only have experience with MP Xeons, so single Xeons may not get loud at all. Some Xeons machine should have an IPMI feature using an Ethernet port, which should allow for powering on the server and even make changes to BIOS settings remotely. You should be able to install Windows or whatever OS remotely.
For info about IPMI

 

[Noctosphere]

Hey guys,

I'm starting to look for a machine to move my plex media and its storage there
I just wanted to be sure to get a good one.

As I said last year, I need a good enough CPU to handle the transcoding. My mom got a new TV, so she won't need it, but my sister still has her old equipment (2 roku tv and an old fire tv model). So for all HEVC files I got, they will need to be transcoded whenever she reads them.

I read what @SonyUSA said about Dell Optiplex models, they are indeed cheap enough and I feel like the cpu they have should be enough to handle transcoding.

What bothers me the most, is that I can't see how many bay they have to old HDD, in case I want to add other later.
Also, like @RandomUser said, I don't know if it will be loud or not. Since I will use it only/mostly for my Plex Media Server and for torrenting, is it something I should bother about? I won't use it for gaming or anything (hell, I won't even use a monitor on this one, I will mostly use remote controle for this one)

Do you think this one is good enough for the purpose I intend it for?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hey guys,

I'm starting to look for a machine to move my plex media and its storage there
I just wanted to be sure to get a good one.

As I said last year, I need a good enough CPU to handle the transcoding. My mom got a new TV, so she won't need it, but my sister still has her old equipment (2 roku tv and an old fire tv model). So for all HEVC files I got, they will need to be transcoded whenever she reads them.

I read what @SonyUSA said about Dell Optiplex models, they are indeed cheap enough and I feel like the cpu they have should be enough to handle transcoding.

What bothers me the most, is that I can't see how many bay they have to old HDD, in case I want to add other later.
Also, like @RandomUser said, I don't know if it will be loud or not. Since I will use it only/mostly for my Plex Media Server and for torrenting, is it something I should bother about? I won't use it for gaming or anything (hell, I won't even use a monitor on this one, I will mostly use remote controle for this one)

Do you think this one is good enough for the purpose I intend it for?

You can always put a cheap GPU in for transcoding.
As for HEVC make sure those are not HDR. HDR->SDR conversion is not a good thing and would be best avoided.
A cheap Chromecast with Google TV does the job these days for playing back all media.

 

[Noctosphere]

You can always put a cheap GPU in for transcoding.
As for HEVC make sure those are not HDR. HDR->SDR conversion is not a good thing and would be best avoided.
A cheap Chromecast with Google TV does the job these days for playing back all media.

The chromecast would be for my sister, right?
Like, she would plug it in her Roku TV and play Plex from there?
I'll talk to her about that, because she doesn't want to buy new hardware.

Also, you say "HDR -> SDR" is to avoid. All her TVs are 1080p. If she gets a chromecast to support HEVC and HDR, if I have 4k HDR movies, do you think it will convert 4k to 1080p only or it will still have to transcode the HDR?

 

[Sicklyboy]

For transcoding, look for an Intel CPU with integrated graphics that supports Intel Quick Sync, or most nvidia GPUs that are an Nvidia 1080 or newer. I have an Nvidia Tesla P4 in both of my Proxmox hosts (which host my Plex VM) and for about $110 each those cards have so far supported 3 simultaneous HEVC 4k -> 1080p transcodes. Caveats with those cards, they are compute GPUs so they don't have any monitor connections (no HDMI, DP, etc) and they are also fanless as they are expected to run in a server chassis with high speed airflow through the case, so if that's not the kind of situation you're using it in (you're not) then you'll need to tack on another $20 or so for a fan module that clips on to the front of the card

If the computer is too loud, then consider replacing some of the fans with Noctua fans. They're on the pricier end of things but they are super quiet. Another thing to consider is the hard drives themselves, as far as noise goes. Modern HDDs are way quieter than the ones from a decade or two ago, but I will say that I've been very impressed with how quiet the HGST/Western Digital helium-filled HDDs are. I have 26 of them running in my server rack spread between two NASes and even when I had one of these NASes powered on next to me at my desk (with 14 of these HDDs in it) I could not for the life of me hear them. All of the Noctua fans in this NAS made more sound than the HDDs did.

 

[Noctosphere]

For transcoding, look for an Intel CPU with integrated graphics that supports Intel Quick Sync, or most nvidia GPUs that are an Nvidia 1080 or newer. I have an Nvidia Tesla P4 in both of my Proxmox hosts (which host my Plex VM) and for about $110 each those cards have so far supported 3 simultaneous HEVC 4k -> 1080p transcodes. Caveats with those cards, they are compute GPUs so they don't have any monitor connections (no HDMI, DP, etc) and they are also fanless as they are expected to run in a server chassis with high speed airflow through the case, so if that's not the kind of situation you're using it in (you're not) then you'll need to tack on another $20 or so for a fan module that clips on to the front of the card

If the computer is too loud, then consider replacing some of the fans with Noctua fans. They're on the pricier end of things but they are super quiet. Another thing to consider is the hard drives themselves, as far as noise goes. Modern HDDs are way quieter than the ones from a decade or two ago, but I will say that I've been very impressed with how quiet the HGST/Western Digital helium-filled HDDs are. I have 26 of them running in my server rack spread between two NASes and even when I had one of these NASes powered on next to me at my desk (with 14 of these HDDs in it) I could not for the life of me hear them. All of the Noctua fans in this NAS made more sound than the HDDs did.

The PC I linked earlier (this one) has an Intel i5-6500 and do have intel quick sync

As for the GPU, it doesn't have one in it (except the intel integrated one), but I have an old GTX 1060 6GB hiding somewhere. I don't know if it's still working, but it costs nothing to try it, right?
As for the transcoding, I don't share my Plex server with anybody. My mom has one TV that fully supports 4k and HDR, and my sis (with her family). From what I could see in my Plex log, my sister will use it often, but her boyfriend and their childs will rarely use it. Also, in my storage, I only take 4k files for movies (with HDR when available). However, for tv series and anime and such, I only take 1080p. Most of the time, I will take HEVC when available and even HEVC10 if availble too. So far, I never had any problem of transcoding except once, when my sister wanted to watch a movie in 4k HDR10. The transcoding did prove some problem on her end, where she was experiencing a lot of lag, according to her. Appart from that, we never had any problem with plex.

For the HDMI/DP port, I won't use them either (except for the first time, for the setup and setting a way to remotely acces it).
For the fans, it shouldn't be a problem to replace either, I guess.

 

[Sicklyboy]

Ah it's worth mentioning, that transcode via Intel Quick Sync and an Nvidia GPU are both considered hardware transcode in Plex, which requires purchase of Plex Pass FYI. If you don't want to buy that, then Intel Quick Sync doesn't really matter, and 4k transcodes are going to be challenging in just software on the CPU.

BTW since you mentioned eariler - that Optiplex 7040 has 4 SATA ports on the mobo, but only two internal 3.5" drive bays. You could replace the DVD drive with a 5.25" adapter or hotswap bay that holds a 3.5" HDD though, and you could also shove another 3.5" HDD right into where the SD card reader on the front goes, but it's not exactly elegant. Beyond that, you could buy a SATA HBA that plugs in over PCIe to give you more SATA ports, but I feel like at that point you're probably pushing the limit of what's reasonable for this case

Edit - For everything that's crossed out, I was thinking of the older optiplexes that have proper 3.5" and 5.25" bays on the front panel, not the slim and smooth one that doesn't have them. And the Dell service manual I pulled up for that info before was from a slightly different case design 7040 so I'm not even positive the 4 SATA ports but two internal 3.5" slots thing is 100% accurate either. fwiw https://www.dell.com/support/manual...aae6e7-9d06-4c20-82bf-728abc2df3ef&lang=en-us

 

[Noctosphere]

Ah it's worth mentioning, that transcode via Intel Quick Sync and an Nvidia GPU are both considered hardware transcode in Plex, which requires purchase of Plex Pass FYI. If you don't want to buy that, then Intel Quick Sync doesn't really matter, and 4k transcodes are going to be challenging in just software on the CPU.

BTW since you mentioned eariler - that Optiplex 7040 has 4 SATA ports on the mobo, but only two internal 3.5" drive bays. You could replace the DVD drive with a 5.25" adapter or hotswap bay that holds a 3.5" HDD though, and you could also shove another 3.5" HDD right into where the SD card reader on the front goes, but it's not exactly elegant. Beyond that, you could buy a SATA HBA that plugs in over PCIe to give you more SATA ports, but I feel like at that point you're probably pushing the limit of what's reasonable for this case

Edit - For everything that's crossed out, I was thinking of the older optiplexes that have proper 3.5" and 5.25" bays on the front panel, not the slim and smooth one that doesn't have them. And the Dell service manual I pulled up for that info before was from a slightly different case design 7040 so I'm not even positive the 4 SATA ports but two internal 3.5" slots thing is 100% accurate either. fwiw https://www.dell.com/support/manual...aae6e7-9d06-4c20-82bf-728abc2df3ef&lang=en-us

I'm already subscribed for the Plex Pass, so no worry on that side (I have an annual plan and it got renewed on March IIRC)
I have an HDD (10TB) that I will put in the machine, so I need at least one slot for it. As for the "if I want to add storage later", what would you suggest? It doesn't HAVE to be this model, but the budget I have for this machine is kinda limited.
Do you know any other model that are in these range of power and price?

Thanks again

 

[Sicklyboy]

Do you know any other model that are in these range of power and price?

Unfortunately I don't really, at least not anything specific all of my systems are self-built with consumer grade off the shelf components, usually just whatever is cheapest on sale or open box at Microcenter (PC building and tech/electronics store). I'd suggest that that's a good way to build a system that meets the specs of what you want/need and also has room to grow, but that's going to be well above the price tag of that Optiplex 7040 even on the conservative end. You could maybe look for larger "workstation" class prebuilts from a few generations past, such as the Lenovo ThinkStation or HP Z4, those will be larger cases with (generally) more internal room and 3.5" slots. I don't tend to like Dell desktops all that much due to how proprietary everything inside the case, and even the case itself is. HP is slightly less proprietary in that sense, and Lenovo even further. Food for thought, anyway.

 

[Noctosphere]

Unfortunately I don't really, at least not anything specific all of my systems are self-built with consumer grade off the shelf components, usually just whatever is cheapest on sale or open box at Microcenter (PC building and tech/electronics store). I'd suggest that that's a good way to build a system that meets the specs of what you want/need and also has room to grow, but that's going to be well above the price tag of that Optiplex 7040 even on the conservative end. You could maybe look for larger "workstation" class prebuilts from a few generations past, such as the Lenovo ThinkStation or HP Z4, those will be larger cases with (generally) more internal room and 3.5" slots. I don't tend to like Dell desktops all that much due to how proprietary everything inside the case, and even the case itself is. HP is slightly less proprietary in that sense, and Lenovo even further. Food for thought, anyway.

alright, so your suggestion would be to build a pc on my own?
Noted, I'll check Pcpartpicker and see what I could build that would not be too expansive (which I'm afraid will be)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

The chromecast would be for my sister, right?
Like, she would plug it in her Roku TV and play Plex from there?
I'll talk to her about that, because she doesn't want to buy new hardware.

Also, you say "HDR -> SDR" is to avoid. All her TVs are 1080p. If she gets a chromecast to support HEVC and HDR, if I have 4k HDR movies, do you think it will convert 4k to 1080p only or it will still have to transcode the HDR?

HDR->SDR conversion in transcoding or HDR->SDR conversion on the player side is the same thing, the quality suffers either way. You need native SDR versions of all the media to avoid that.
She doesn't need a Chromecast, frankly she needs a new TV There wouldn't be a benefit to HEVC playback if the TV is 1080p.

 

[Noctosphere]

HDR->SDR conversion in transcoding or HDR->SDR conversion on the player side is the same thing, the quality suffers either way. You need native SDR versions of all the media to avoid that.
She doesn't need a Chromecast, frankly she needs a new TV There wouldn't be a benefit to HEVC playback if the TV is 1080p.

Yes, i did tell her. She doesn't want to buy a new one since the ones they have are still working

But is there a stick i can get for her that would be compatible with hdr? Even with a 1080p tv? So that it doesn't need transcoding? Or is there no other choice at all?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Yes, i did tell her. She doesn't want to buy a new one since the ones they have are still working

But is there a stick i can get for her that would be compatible with hdr? Even with a 1080p tv? So that it doesn't need transcoding? Or is there no other choice at all?

You can't play HDR on a non HDR TV. The signal just isn't compatible.
Some players will attempt to tonemap it to SDR, and it's awful.

 

[Noctosphere]

You can't play HDR on a non HDR TV. The signal just isn't compatible.

alright
thanks

 

[console]

I thinking about to buy NAS server to add to my router and it's will working or not. Western Digital Red Plus hard drives only.

But WD Red hard drives have trouble like more failure rate go up due to overheat issues?

I not sure if NAS is worth or not.

I just want to use to store files (update often) for any software, games, movies, ebooks and operating systems. Not stream video, movies and TV shows. It's for storage only.

 

[k0walski]

A question, maybe missed the answer... Does the TV support DLNA?
If your NAS is not directly attached to a particular TV, but exists in the network, DLNA stream is pretty neat. If heavy transcoding is needed, of course NAS must have a pretty good hardware though. I played a lot with Rpi + NVMe (Argon40 NVMe enclosure + Rpi4) + minidlna server. I'd say for non-4k/8k should be fine, the rest need to be tested depending on the network throughput. 1gbit should be fine, but one need to consider QoS... Anyway, there are a few options:
1. Portable - RPi4 + Argon40 NVMe + some NVMe storage (2/4Tb) should be enough.
2. Limited portability - RPi4 + Argon40 (non-NVMe, just the enclosure) + QNAP TR-002/TR-004 DAS (direct attached storage with h/w raid features);
3. Not portable at all - Asus Lockerstor 4 Gen 2 AS6704T 4 Bay NAS with hidden 4 slot M.2 expansion, based on the docs, which actually gives 4 3.5 drives + 4 M.2 drives (or AS6702T for 2 bay version) - completely autonomous pretty powerful NAS with lots of features, high speeds.
In short words, I've played enough with embedded devices to say I'm tired . I'd prefer ready-to-go solution. Of course depending on the budget.

 

[Noctosphere]

Well, for the 4k part, I'm just going to make different library in my plex (one for 4k series and one for 4k movie, separated from other 1080p medias), so that my sister doesn't have acces to them. If she wants to watch something I already have in 4k, I'll just download it for her.

 

[k0walski]

I'd consider (as a complete solution) at least AS6702T with two drives in RAID 0 (to get maximum capacity without data redundancy) - two disks formatted as one large disk. Gives enough speed. ASUS provides 2.5gbit network connectivity plus HDMI output so it can be used (never tried, documentation might give more info) with the TV directly. Plus a lot of other features. Best and painless option (but painful for the budget - NAS alone costs around $500+ plus two 3.5 drives depending on the capacity might cost around $150-$200+).

 

[cearp]

This website has very good information if you want to build a little home server / nas
https://forums.serverbuilds.net/c/builds/18