[SOLVED] Qnap NAS configuration - primarily for plex

[James Blonde]

As I loosely mentioned elsewhere, I've bought a QNAP TS 453D NAS and installed 4 x 10tb WD Reds, and configured as Raid 5 - seemed the most sensible compromise...

Intention is to use the device primarily as a Plex server, but also act as a backup for my photo drive (I've got a primary drive, a spare installed in my second PC, and also upload to Amazon), and general document / system backup.

Expectation is that I'll need:

3-4tb for TV shows (plex)
3-4tb for movies (plex)
2tb for music (plex)
10tb for photos (clone or maybe even backup, the local 8tb drive on my PC will be the primary)
5tb for backups

I need to do some serious deleting, so I expect those will be worse case data volumes, but whatever way I look at it, it doesn't leave much spare space for unforeseen requirements.

What would be the best way to set up the volumes??

Do I need a separate volume for apps?
I was thinking thin volumes gave me the most flexibility - Is that the case?

Should I set tv, movies and music up as separate volumes, or just chuck it all under 1 thin plex volume and share the folders separately (assuming I can?)

A'm I going to be OK with Raid 5 and Plex?? I need the space, and am generally backing up (just copying) across to other devices, but don't want the pain of losing a drive

Is it worth connecting the NAS to the telly via HDMI? Or just as well across the network? Both are connected to the router via ethernet.

Anything else I need to consider?? Thought I'd ask before I start copying stuff over and using it in anger!

 

[USAFRet]

Actually, RAID 5 is contraindicated for drives this large. The rebuild time is insane.
On the order of 1-2 hour per TB data.

4 drives, all bought at the same time, from the same batch.
1 dies.
Slot in a new one....
The entire array, all 4 drives, are hammered 100%.
If you have 20TB data...that's potentially 30 hours of 100%.

If one of the original died, what are the chances that a second will also go in that process. And if in the process of this rebuild, poof....all data is gone.

If you have known good backups, a dead drive is not that big a deal.

I have my TS-453A thusly:

Vol 1 - 480GB SSD - OS and all apps. Small shared space for a common "S drive" among all house systems.

Vol 2 - Nightly/weekly Macrium backups of all house systems. Long term storage of seldom used data...installs, ISO, etc.
16TB Toshiba

Vol 4 - Everything else. Movies, music, photo, etc, etc, etc
2x 8TB, JBOD


This is all backed up to a 4x 4TB JBOD (Vol 3) in a TR-004 box. Weekly.

 

[USAFRet]

You ca do the RAID 5 if you want.

But as for Volumes...
1 for the system and applications
1 for movies/plex/music
1 for everything else

 

[James Blonde]

The drives were bought separately in pairs, and in fact each pair is a different model number to the other pair, so hopefully a little bit less likely to fail at the same time (but not much!) but I do see your point...

If I'm backed up anyway then, Raid 0 would be better than JBOD wouldn't it, just for the performance benefit (though I lose the lot if 1 disk goes down so.... Maybe not...)

And yep, I see what you're saying with 3 volumes - makes sense. May still add a photo volume to this, will think about it...

When I was doing this from my PCs, I did have separate partitions / volumes (and disks) for TV, movies and music, and wasn't sure whether to treat this in the same way or just lump them all into 1 media volume. I guess if I make them all thin volumes, I get the benefit of being able to start smaller and resize as I go along rather than commit now.

 

[James Blonde]

OK, have JBOD'd the full 36tb, and creating thin volumes of various start sizes for system, media, photos and then everything else (backup probably).

I've Allocated 2tb to system, but suspect that's a massive overallocation! Not like I don't have the space, but will a thin volume shrink to a more appropriate size, or only go down to the 2tb?

finally, any thoughts on whether it's worthwhile connecting using the HDMI to the TV, or just stick with the network?

 

[USAFRet]

finally, any thoughts on whether it's worthwhile connecting using the HDMI to the TV, or just stick with the network?

I've been wanting to try exactly that.

I already have a nice little PC to serve as the HTPC. Reading movie/music over the LAN.

While I don't have a definitive opinion either way....eventually I will...😉

 

[James Blonde]

Heh, well I'll try it and see what happens then! 😀 Got a few days of copying to go between now and then I suspect, but it's next to the TV, I've got the cable, what have I got to lose?!

(Unfortunately I've got an old solid stone house, so wired ethernet isn't an option, and wifi between my server / second PC and the TV / Router was too unreliable and powerline adapters just kept losing connections - hence finally getting the NAS and connecting locally to the TV. Might make PC 2 redundant, though it's also my print server)