NAS with OpenMediaVault and Plex transcoding

[bloodroses]

I am looking at building a NAS system soon to host my movie, music and ROM collections since storing backups on external drives has become cumbersome. Right now, I have a main desktop for gaming and emulation, a Raspberry Pi 3 for emulation on a TV along with it being a Plex server, and Rokus for Plex streaming on TVs. I am also running the Plex client on my Android phone for music streaming of my local files while at work.

the NAS build I'm looking at:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H270M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($110.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA Premier SP600NS34 128GB M.2-2242 Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $846.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-14 21:43 EST-0500


I have some questions regarding the build:

-By hosting my ROM files on the NAS, will network speeds be an issue?

-With the CPU I'm choosing, will transcoding be fine at 1080p for at most 2 streams? I chose this CPU since it has hyper-threading; making it near equal to an i3 at half the price.

-By running OpenMediaVault, will expanding storage be easy to do (ideally shut off the machine, add the drive, boot the machine, drive detected and added to the pool) or is there a better option? Drive failure protection and ease of setup/maintenance is key.

-I recently found out that using m.2 slot disables a sata port. Should I look into booting from USB, or just forgo the ability to have 6 drives for storage? I read that flash drives are a poor choice for endurance as an OS drive.

-Finally, are there any hardware changes that can be made to reduce cost without sacrificing performance? Waiting for Ryzen is also an option as it will be at least a month before I can order the parts.

 

[USAFRet]

Consider just a dedicated NAS box.
Not to promote these things too much, but I just got a QNAP 4 bay NAS, which actually meets most/all of your requirements.
Add those same 4 drives, and it meets your price point exactly.

QNAP TS-453a, ~$500.
Plex server, on the fly transcoding, HDMI output, ability to run VM's of whatever flavor you want, hot swap drive bays.
Along with all the traditional NAS functions of backups, drive pools, etc.

I'm still discovering all the features in mine and still setting it up, but right now watching a movie direct from the NAS to the TV and stereo.

This thing replaced a regular PC that served that functionality.
Synology, WD, and others have similar offerings.

 

[bloodroses]

I had looked at them. The ones I originally looked at were either overpriced (well over $500 without drives) and/or underpowered (mostly ARM CPUs).

The one you listed looks quite interesting though since it is right around the same ballpark that I was pricing out and doesn't appear to sacrifice too much as a result. I'll have to do more research into it.

What kind of drives did you end up going with on your system? Also, are only the hard drives replaceable on the unit, or can other components be replaced (RAM, etc)?

 

[USAFRet]

I had looked at them. The ones I originally looked at were either overpriced (well over $500 without drives) and/or underpowered (mostly ARM CPUs).

The one you listed looks quite interesting though since it is right around the same ballpark that I was pricing out and doesn't appear to sacrifice too much as a result. I'll have to do more research into it.

What kind of drives did you end up going with on your system?

I have 4 x 3TB drives in it
2 x 3TB Seagates, and 2 x 3TB WD Greens. Taken out of the PC that this replaced.

Still configuring where everything goes, but...
1 drive for movies (currently ~1.9TB)
1 drive for music
1 drive to receive backups from the main PC's, and to hold VM instances
1. drive as shared space/mapped drive letters to hold all the docs and whatever from the main systems

Or, I might just change it to one large storage pool, and not worry about 'which drive'.

Also, in a USB enclosure, an 8TB Seagate that keeps the backups from the NAS drives.

Until very recently, I was of the same mindset as you....NAS boxes as simply small underpowered things, just to hold drives and do backup stuff. A dedicated "PC" is better. Not so much anymore.

The newer ones are little PC's, Plex servers, etc, etc, etc....that also have built in NAS functionality.

 

[USAFRet]

RAM....mine came with 4GB (2x2GB)
Replaced that with 1x8GB Kingston
QNAP says 8GB max, but.....I slotted in a second 8GB, and it works perfectly. So 16GB total.

 

[bloodroses]

That is awesome about the Ram being upgradeable. This definitely does look like the easiest solution. Too bad the case isn't as sharp as the Node... LOL