So, I am thinking about getting myself a NAS to host mainly Immich and Plex. Got a couple of questions for the experienced folk;

  • Is Synology the best/easiest way to start? If not, what are the closest alternatives?
  • What OS should i go for? OMV, Synology’s OS, or UNRAID?
  • Mainly gonna host Plex/Jellyfin, and Synology Photos/Immich - not decided quite what solutions to go for.

Appricate any tips :sparkles:

  • bob_wiley@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    1 year ago

    I went with Synology for my Plex sever. I chose to use a docker container to run it instead of the normal Plex server app they have available. I found some YouTube videos on the setup and it was fairly straight forward. Now that it’s setup I rarely have to think about it, other than the occasional update. I now have to update the docker image instead of just letting Plex update itself.

    I went this route because I didn’t want to have to maintain a desktop for my Plex server, which I had done since Plex was first released. But I also didn’t want to have a new sys admin hobby just to watch some videos. Rolling my own raid felt like it would end up that way.

    • Scrath@feddit.deEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      Can definitely confirm this. I started with a Proxmox system which had a TrueNAS VM. TrueNAS just used a USB HDD for storage though. Setting everything up and getting the permissions set correctly so I could connect my computers was a pain in the ass though.

      Later I bought a synology and it just works. Only thing I would recommend is getting good HDDs. I bought Toshiba MG08 16TB drives and while they work great, they are obnoxiously loud during read and write operations. They are so loud, that even though the NAS is in a separate room I have to shut it off at night.

      Meanwhile the Seagate Ironwolf drive I used for TrueNAS was next to my bed for multiple months and was basically silent.

      • bob_wiley@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I bought WD Red Pros, which are supposed to be made for use in a NAS. They’re pretty loud. It’s sitting right next to my couch and it a bit annoying. It’s always doing something, even when I’m not doing anything. When backups fire up at 3am they go nuts.

        Thankfully, I don’t hear it when I’m trying to sleep. I do use a white noise machine, so that could be part of the reason why.

        SSD prices are coming down. I can see they tempting me in the future to get a completely silent NAS.

          • bob_wiley@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            From what I’ve read there is a hard floor to HDD drives due to what physically needs to go into them, so at some point (probably around $50, the HDD should stop dropping.