Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

File server with PLEX?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    File server with PLEX?

    Hello,

    Down through the years I have tried to have more convenient storage and backup. Recently, I have used a USB hard drive enclosure plugged into the back of my WRT-AC1200 router. But when I put photos on that drive, my local Win7 machine grinds to a halt. It takes a long time for thumbnail images to show up in Win7 File Manager, because I may have hundreds of photos in any directory I want to view. So I need to put the photos on my local Win7 machine. But I am running out of space.

    Is the router giving the thumbnails from the USB drive enclosure to the Win7 machine as fast as a dedicated file server? (Probably not as fast as a Synology unit.....)

    I looked at the forums at TrueNAS CORE (free software), and it looks REALLY complicated (and I have some decent Linux knowledge in my past). I know they want an impressive website, since the company also sells dedicated servers just like Synology or QNAP. But this still sounds like it may be too difficult for me.

    Can I really handle a project like this? I've tinkered with D-I-Y NAS before, but nothing ever came of it. Could I use a different solution, like Ubuntu with SMB or something? I would really like to have the ability to set up PLEX media server at some point.

    I do NOT have the best luck with networking -- because if it doesn't work, I have no idea where the failure is, and I have no tools to check where the failure is.

    I was thinking of using:

    AsRock AM1H-ITX (17 by 17 cm FM1 socket)
    16 GB RAM (non-ECC)
    AMD 5350 chip (64-bit, 4-core, 1.93 GHz)

    This board can use up to 2 SATA drives and one USB boot device using a 65W or 90W laptop adapter. With an ATX PSU instead of the laptop adapter, it can handle 4 SATA drives and one USB boot device. (Unless you want to put in a PCI-E card that lets you have more SATA drives, or M.2 drives or whatever.)

    I could use a PCI-E wireless network adapter in the PCI-E x16 slot, or use the 10/100/1000 ethernet jack. I did run the wire through my walls for this, and as we know, Linux wifi can be difficult to set up.

    Please let me know any advice you have.
    Last edited by Hondaman; 05-19-2023, 01:53 AM.

    #2
    Re: File server with PLEX?

    Whoops. The socket is an AM1, not FM1.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: File server with PLEX?

      What is it you want to do ? Add more storage or have a backup solution ? Or both ?
      Why not just put a bigger hard drive in your current PC ?

      Comment


        #4
        Re: File server with PLEX?

        unless you have thumbnails on the storage drive, your win box is downloading the full image to generate each thumbnail.
        cant you disable thumbnails from external sources in windowz?

        Comment


          #5
          Re: File server with PLEX?

          You can try turnkey file server, media server or other preconfigured products...

          Comment


            #6
            Re: File server with PLEX?

            You won't believe this. I found 166 GB of garbage on my Win7 drive. The Windows drive is a Samaung Evo (850 series I think) SSD with 480 or 500 GB. I'll have to delete my garbage then I will be fine. (I could copy some of the files to the Linux drive, which I think is a similar size Kingston SSD, but I don't want to do that.)

            I did buy two more 500 GB SSDs recently, I now have everything I need to set up TrueNAS Core (the free version) on that 17 by 17 cm AMD "system on a chip" (5350). Maybe I'll get it to work, and maybe it will be a better solution. It offers to copy files periodically to free cloud storage, which is nice. I have never had that level of protection before.

            JUST REMEMBER: NEVER take a modular power cord from one brand of modular PSU and plug it in to a different PSU (they are not the same pinouts). I tried to back up many gigs of files years ago, and I fried the spinning HD. It cost me about $1500 to hire Ontrack drive recovery center in Eden Prairie Minnesota.
            Last edited by Hondaman; 05-23-2023, 01:38 PM.

            Comment

            Working...
            X