looking to "upgrade"

[KRDucky]

I currently have a Dell Poweredge T320 server with 8x 4TB WD Reds in it.

I want to downsize my server to a NAS.
I also plan to upgrade the drive capacity.
I need hardware transcoding.
I run Jellyfin and Plex

ASUSTOR, Synology and QNAP are tough to choose between.

My current server has a RAID-6 array with 2x NVMe caching drives. I utilized the LVM2 soft raid method. With MDADM.

If I were to get a NAS with 8 bays, I'd be looking at ~$2200 just in drives. That's too much for my blood.

Thoughts?
I really like the ASUSTOR Live application since it could take a load off my desktop for livestreaming. I wish I could get the power of QNAP with SHR and ASUSTOR Live in one box.

 

[dosborne]

More bays obviously increases the cost almost exponentially. You are the only one that can decide if you *need* it. Most people are happy with a 2-bay NAS and large capacity drives. I have 4x 2-bay units and 1x 5-bay. The 5-bay is primarily for capacity (5x 10TB) but raid5 give me some resilience to drive failure. The 2-bay units all run mirrors, so lower capacity, but are used for specific functions / projects.

Even my lower end units, that have Plex, seem perfectly capable, but I don't know your specific requirements. If you really need all that power and caching, then there will definitely be a hefty price tag.