Use old laptop as Media Server to stream from NAS

[swjtx99]

Hi,

I'm in the market for a NAS but have discovered transcoding is not supported on lower end boxes. I've searched for info on using a old laptop as the server getting the "content" from the NAS but haven't found a relevant article. The info I've found wants to use the laptop as the NAS.

I have a laptop i5 4 GB W7 (32bit) I can dedicate to a media server (wired or wireless) so it seems if the NAS were a shared drive connected via wired, I could use it with Plex as a media server?

Is this a stupid question?

Thanks,

swjtx99

 

[thiggins]

You can use any computer to share files. It's a built-in feature of any modern operating system. An i5 laptop has plenty of power to run Plex. The only problem might be small internal hard drive size. If the laptop has USB 3.0 ports, you should be fine to expand storage. USB 2.0 might be a bit on the slow side for large file transfers.

 

[swjtx99]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the reply. I don't want to use the laptop for "storage" I want to use a NAS so the question is can the laptop be the media server (and do the transcoding) using the NAS as a file source?

I'm just getting started with NAS storage so if I sound like a noob......well I am.

Thanks,

swjtx99

 

[thiggins]

Sure. You can map the NAS media folder as a drive on the laptop.

 

[stevech]

But can't you transcode on a fast PC then store on NAS for later viewing?