[SOLVED] Old USFF dell optiplex to NAS box

[demonesc]

Good day,
So I have an old ultra small form factor optiplex 790 lying about with an i5 2400 in and i want to turn it into a little nas box for my plex server with some free nas software.
The question i have is i can choose from only 2.5" drives im looking at SSHD and HDD , *note : a large SSD is not financialy viable as this is a budget project.
Would the SSHD of say a firecuda benefit me over the standard barracuda drive as ive read that some people dont think it will matter if im just running films from it.

Any experience in this would be great help.

 

[USAFRet]

An SSHD won't really benefit, because you're not accessing the same data all the time. A new movie or music is not in the small cache space, and will be read at regular HDD speed.

 

[mdd1963]

I thought I read the hybrid drives' mini-SSD portions of SSHD-drives only usable in Windows? (If that's still accurate, no one wants to pay $10 more per drive for a feature unusable with most Linux-based NAS software...)

 

[LORDPrometheus]

Hybrid drives are good for programs you use often but don't offer any additional benefits beyond that. Any frequently used data can be put on the ssd portion to answer mdd1963's question. The key trait of a NAS is that it is a backup so going for WD red or their Seagate equivalent drives are the way to go. Now if you are limited on space there are options. The best would be to go and buy a cheap tower off Craigslist for like $15 and install the existing pc in it. Note that optiplex uses a proprietary format so you will need to modify the case but that Is an easy way to get extra drive bays for 3.5in. Really is would not suggest buying 2.5in HDDs If you have any other option they are more expensive and in some cases less reliable than 3.5in drives at the same capacity