Coming from a Thecus 5200XXX due to lack of support for PLEX what next?

[Jody]

Well I am in a pickle and need some help and advice.

I currently have the following setup;

Thecus 5200XXX
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/31493-new-to-the-charts-thecus-n5200xxx
Running on Cat 6 through the home with a switch and Fritzbox 7390 router.
The Nas has 5 x 2 TB green drives installed and has been great for the past few years.

I managed to get plex running on the NAS using 3rd party modules over time, however the later Plex server software is no longer supported (you need to go to OS6 which my NAS cannot run).

I have about 80% of the storage full currently with movies/tv/photos and some software/files.

I currently only really use it for file sharing and Media management to IOS/Android tablets, Samsung TV, Sony PS3/4 with Plex App and PC's. I will also be using Roku/Rasberry PI etc in the future to increase the availability of the media to dumb tv's in the house.

I am looking to upgrade to a unit that is fully supported by Plex and other media serving applications as well. I like the comfort of RAID 5 and that has helped when i had a disc play up a few months back and was easily replaced.

I am not an experienced network person or IT Guru. to be honest getting the Thecus going was a steep learning curve..

I want to modernise my Nas have something that is well supported and increase my storage space. I would like to stick with 5 bay due to the $$ and would look at bigger drives in the new NAS however I may be thinking this all wrong..

I can not understand what options I have to take the data from the Thecus to a new NAS easily and the most cost effective?

Can you guys give me some help on possible solutions to my needs?

Kind Regards

Jody

 

[Jody]

Would it be worth upgrading to this new Thecus which looks to again have good value bang for the $$?

http://www.thecus.com/product.php?PROD_ID=108

 

[stevech]

5810 is way, way to expensive for my home NAS needs (I saw $1400 diskless). It's an overkill for me. And you?
5Bay? Fewer is better. Geeze, even a 2 bay with 2 x 4TB is more than most of us home users need. I run mine in non-RAID mode.

How do you backup your current NAS? RAID is not a backup.

Well, maybe you have a rationale for this. But your post says it's only for file sharing and media management.

 

[Jody]

Thanks for the reply I will try and eel out my rationale and see how it stands up.

I have raid 5 which has helped save my data in the past in a 5 bay array for the bulk of my storage that is my sudo backup solution as I don't have the room to back up the volume.

However I have my personal movies photos etc backed up to my pc on two 2tb discs in raid 0. Just in case the NAS lets go.

I would also like to possibly have the current data on less disks but have room for a hot spare on hand or future expansion. Hence why 5 now with 2tb discs and was thinking 4 x3 TB plus a spare bay....

Additionally I am trying to ensure I can transcode 1080p on the Plex server and it seems you need serious NAS cpu (i3) and was hoping the newer the us might suffice.

I am concerned about the support for Plex if carrying on with the us as opposed to Qnap or Synology etc.

Hope this makes sense as in my thoughts ideas etc.






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[L&LD]

However I have my personal movies photos etc backed up to my pc on two 2tb discs in raid 0. Just in case the NAS lets go.

Correction: you do not have a reliable 'backup' of your movies, photos, etc. on your PC on a RAID0 array in any sense of the word. If or when the NAS suffers a complete meltdown, it is almost always at the same time your RAID0 array will fail too.

This would be the first thing I would 'fix' in your situation. Two or more external drives would be far better than your reliance of the RAID0 array working indefinitely.

 

[Jody]

Why would the pic drives in raid 0 fail if and when the NAS fails ?

I have a total of 4 2tb drives in my PC in two sets o raid 0 so if I duplicates the home movies photos etc onto both of the these drives (so now the data is in triplicate) would that satisfy the Backup issue raised ?


Moving on and away from backups can I have some input re the original questions regarding a suitable replacement for my 5200xxx that will meet my needs from now with some media future proofing?


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[stevech]

RAID is not a backup. A corrupted file system (e.g., due to NAS mainboard failure), or a user oops (deleted folder), and poof, it's gone. More likely than drive failure these days, IMO.
More drives = poorer mean time between failure of drives.
With 4TB drives, a 2 bay NAS with two volumes + one external USB3, meets the needs of most people, other than those with a giant store of videos (watched more than once?)