[SOLVED] NAS - DIY Build vs Prebuilt

[ian.egerton]

Hi,

My current setup is as follows.

PC:
Intel i7 8700K @ 4.8Ghz overclock
32GB Corsair Vengeance 3200MHz
WD Black WDS250G2X0C NVMe
1TB Samsung Evo Plus
1TB WD Black SN750
3 x 4TB HDD
2 x 12TB HDD

NAS:
Netgear ReadyNAS RN104
3 x 4TB HDD
1 x 12 TB HDD
All in JBOD

Requirement :
I want a more powerful NAS to run my Plex Media Server off for seamless playback across all devices with full 4k transcoding (which my PC accomplishes comfortably).

My pc is currently residing in my man cave/home office and I would like to take all the disks out of it and move them to another NAS.

I'm thinking of 3 options.

Option 1:
Purchase a prebuilt NAS such as the Synology DS920+ or QNAP TS453. I will migrate all my HDD's from my pc to the nas and reassign one of the nvme drives to caching. I will also move my plex server to the nas.

Option 2:
Build a diy nas. Probably a preferred option to the above as I'll easily get a better system for less money with this route. All uses for this will be the same as above.

Option 3 (2 possibilities):
A - Re-purpose exiting PC as a powerful NAS server. Install unraid or similar.

B - Just move the pc to the new location and leave it as a Windows box in the same use case as today

Both A and B above will require a new PC for the home office of pretty much the same spec for the self build NAS in option 2.

Any opinions welcomed.

 

[USAFRet]

I have a QNAP TS-453a.

A few years ago, wanting to upgrade the house server to something else, much investigation.

The QNAP won easily.
4 years later, rock solid, 24/7.

NOTE: You WILL have to reformat these drives when you put them in a Syn or QNAP.