I bought a QNAP TS-451+ about 4 months ago, and I bought 4 x 4TB WD Black drives to install in it and set them up in a RAID5 configuration.
After using this NAS since buying it and setting it up, I've continually read up on all the additional functionalities, the different QTS apps, learned how to stream audio, video, view pictures, etc from anywhere. I must say that this has been one of the best investments I've made in a long time, and with all the functionality, I feel like I haven't even touched the surface of its capabilities.
One thing I read about was setting up an SSD to use as a cache drive for certain content. I read about this after installing the NAS, but I wanted to know if it's possible to install an SSD as an external drive and use it as a cache drive since all my bays are full. If I can do this, will I have a bottleneck since the SSD isn't installed as an internal drive and I'll be relying on the data transfer speed of the USB3 connection? Is there another way to hook up an SSD as an external drive to my NAS, since I don't have any free drives, and not give up the benefit of the increase in speed of the SSD so it can be used as a cache drive properly?
If anyone has more knowledge about this, which is probably everyone, I would appreciate any suggestions. I have backups of all my PCs on this NAS and I have a Public Multimedia folder setup where anyone with access can view pictures, stream videos from my camera, or watch movies I've collected (which both range from 1080P 60fps to UHD resolution). I've noticed lots of buffering if I try streaming content in its original format and even in a lower format, which it them needs to transcode. I'm just trying to figure out a solution so no one has to experience buffering if they want to stream a video, or movie, at any resolution. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions about the SSD used as a cache drive or any other suggestions anyone might have. Thanks!
After using this NAS since buying it and setting it up, I've continually read up on all the additional functionalities, the different QTS apps, learned how to stream audio, video, view pictures, etc from anywhere. I must say that this has been one of the best investments I've made in a long time, and with all the functionality, I feel like I haven't even touched the surface of its capabilities.
One thing I read about was setting up an SSD to use as a cache drive for certain content. I read about this after installing the NAS, but I wanted to know if it's possible to install an SSD as an external drive and use it as a cache drive since all my bays are full. If I can do this, will I have a bottleneck since the SSD isn't installed as an internal drive and I'll be relying on the data transfer speed of the USB3 connection? Is there another way to hook up an SSD as an external drive to my NAS, since I don't have any free drives, and not give up the benefit of the increase in speed of the SSD so it can be used as a cache drive properly?
If anyone has more knowledge about this, which is probably everyone, I would appreciate any suggestions. I have backups of all my PCs on this NAS and I have a Public Multimedia folder setup where anyone with access can view pictures, stream videos from my camera, or watch movies I've collected (which both range from 1080P 60fps to UHD resolution). I've noticed lots of buffering if I try streaming content in its original format and even in a lower format, which it them needs to transcode. I'm just trying to figure out a solution so no one has to experience buffering if they want to stream a video, or movie, at any resolution. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions about the SSD used as a cache drive or any other suggestions anyone might have. Thanks!