Marty Chinn
Member
Is their FAQ inaccurate? This says otherwise:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/faq/577
I don't transcode, but I always assume I had the option to if I wanted.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
It's the NAS (Network Attached Storage) Thread, yo.
- Thread starter Jill Sandwich
- Start date
Is their FAQ inaccurate? This says otherwise:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/faq/577
I don't transcode, but I always assume I had the option to if I wanted.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
Can I ask you what hardware config you are using ? I love DIY too and everytime I ask for advice online specifying that I'm not interested in Qnap or synology stuff, people answer back with Qnap or synology stuff anyway ^^;
Got the Shakes
Member
According to people on the Plex forums, they struggle when it comes to transcoding. Seems like you almost need to get into Core i3 territory until you can guarantee that you can transcode at least a stream or two without issue. I'm talking full transcoding where it has to convert both video and audio into a different format than what is in the file natively.
Marty Chinn
Member
I'm doing a quick test and so far I seem to be able to transcode 1080p video with a DTS audio track.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
With Plex or the Synology Video app? On my 415+ I can't even do 720p on Plex.
FreeNAS is entirely software based, and it's the main reason I opted for it instead of a Qnap or Synology solution because I didn't think they were worth the money for what I needed like this 4-bay diskless NAS by Synology is already close to $600. Specifically, storage space as FreeNAS recommends 1 GB of RAM for every 1 TB of storage. I'm currently running 4 3TB WD Reds in RaidZ2, which is equivalent to Raid 6 and allows for 2 disk failure, and I plan to add another separate 12TB RaidZ2 in the future. Just be aware of the potential problem of having bigger storage spaces for RAID.
Here's my current hardware configuration:
CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($78.13)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.62)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.36)
I basically took my parents' old PC and converted it into a FreeNAS server. I kept the old CPU and PSU, replaced the mobo, memory and case, and added two additional case fans strictly for hdd cooling (overkill). Cost was below $250. Even though I have 4 SATA 2 and 4 SATA 3 ports on an old LGA1155, there's no discernible difference between SATA 2 and SATA 3 for mechanical hard drives. I bought the NZXT Source 210 Elite case specifically for its size - 8 internal 3.5 bays - to its relative cost. I'm not worried about my CPU yet because I haven't bothered with transcoding or running Plex; however, but it's something I'll do eventually simply out of curiosity as it's unnecessary to do in my current setup since my PC is close in proximity to my home theater. As for ECC versus Non-ECC RAM, I don't need that level of protection, and it's just unneeded cost to my budget as I still need to spend another $400 (12TB) for another RaidZ2. A very tight budget. All in all, FreeNAS is very flexible since it's an OS that can be run off a USB flash drive.
Marty Chinn
Member
I tried it using the Synology app since I don't like Plex.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
That Atom processor will not handle transcoding, even though it's a quad-core. The DSVideo app that Synology makes handles transcoding with the lower powered CPUs way better.
BestBuy selling 3TB WD Reds for $105 each. $5 more a piece since their last sale.
toadsworth
Banned
I'm actually not sure. Its a server I got from my parents office because they got a new one. It has an i3 and 2 or 4 gigs of ram. I have a 120gig HD that has the freenas OS on it, a 1TB and 2TB drive that are for the storage. Its running great so far, can watch two streams at once no problem. Still haven't figured out sabnzbd for it though. None of the hardware is actually NAS specific.
It was pretty easy to setup freenas, but it took a couple tries to get it configured the way I wanted.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
The 3TB drives have pretty poor reliability rates across all manufacturers.
Got the Shakes
Member
I have a WD Red 3TB drive that is starting to creep towards the threshold of having too many retired blocks, at least that's what it's saying in my SMART info. It's still under warranty (3 years on the Red drives), but I've had it less than two and it's failing so buyer beware. Also I'm going to get to find out how tough WD make the warranty replacement process.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
I will probably imite you as I don't plan to go for a "true" NAS configuration - I don't aim for ZFS (and all its prerequisites), I want something that I can run with cannibalized low-cost, low-energy consumption PC components
... I just want something the most economic raid5 configuration I can manage.
Freenas may be a problem for me given how much the latest versions seems to be built around ZFS, thought.
I probably have been infected by the paranoia of the ZFS zealots crowd but I wouldn't bother running a ZFS configuration if I don't have tons of ECC ram for it; the horror stories I have read on some official forums about write errors slowly creeping on your volumes, silently destroying your data month after month... terrifying ^^
I like a lot your hardware, especially the CPU and the Asrock MB (Asrock mb are among the cheapest around when your are looking for a small MB with at least 6 SATA ports, I believe); I will probably go for something like you.
Finally moved my NAS from a Fractal R3 to a Silverstone 380, and I love it! System has 8 drives and runs Freenas 9.3.
Setup:
Silverstone DS380
ASRock C2550D4I
2x 8GB Kingston DDR3L-1600 ECC (KVR16LE11/8)
8x 4GB WD Red (WD40EFRX)
Chieftec SFX-350BS 350W SFX
3x Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm
Setup:
Silverstone DS380
ASRock C2550D4I
2x 8GB Kingston DDR3L-1600 ECC (KVR16LE11/8)
8x 4GB WD Red (WD40EFRX)
Chieftec SFX-350BS 350W SFX
3x Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm
BestBuy selling 4TB WD Red for $134.99 ea
I'll keep a lookout. Thanks.
You can't go for something like mine because it doesn't support ECC RAM if that's what you want. You need a motherboard that supports ECC. My initial cost was cheap to run a Raid 6 at the capacity I wanted. I felt spending $300-400 on a Synology NAS but being restricted to 4-bay, or 4 HDDs, wasn't worthwhile. If I was really paranoid about my chances, I would run say 1 zpool with 2 VDevs - both at RaidZ2, which I have been contemplating about. I'm not worried about silent corruption of data as that's what ZIL is for. Sure, I lose extra protection by not paying that extra cost/premium, but it's why I'm scrambling to make a cheap NAS in the first place for home use, not business. Not to mention, if it came to that, that would mean replacing bad RAM, whether Non-ECC or ECC. It's why I bought a cheap USB flash drive as a dedicated device for Memtest86 whenever I do large transfers if I want to be overly cautious. I also have zero intentions to run my FreeNAS 24/7. It barely turns on 4 hours a week the way I'm currently using it (been busy), and I really don't think running it 24/7 would be better in terms of longevity. I'll just have to see 5 years from now if my decision bites me in the ass.
I've got 12 WD 3tb greens, no problems either.
Shin Johnpv
Member
I've been running 6 WD 3TB Reds since they came out and they're going strong. The seagates I also used in that build died and were replaced with more WD 3TB Reds.
Burger
Member
I got a EX4 from Amazon the other day. Thing was slooowwww. Downloading a torrent was slow, 1MB when should have been 6MB/s, about 60-80% cpu usage.
Couldn't direct play a 1080p video to my Roku either via Plex. Just said it was not suitable. Sent it back.
I'm setting up a QNAP TS-451 with 4 x WD Red 3TB drives as a blu-ray backup / server.
What's the best approach for backing up blu-rays and streaming them? Looking for the highest quality possible and the best format for backing up.
I've got Acrok Video Converter Ultimate for blu-ray ripping, but my lossless .mkv files come out at the wrong framerate.
My mp4 files come out with pixellations/artifacts noticeable in the dark areas of the screen (greyish flickering instead of pure black).
What's the best approach for backing up blu-rays and streaming them? Looking for the highest quality possible and the best format for backing up.
I've got Acrok Video Converter Ultimate for blu-ray ripping, but my lossless .mkv files come out at the wrong framerate.
My mp4 files come out with pixellations/artifacts noticeable in the dark areas of the screen (greyish flickering instead of pure black).
use MakeMKV to demux the movies into just a mkv file, saves the lossless audio and doesn't touch the video.
Add to NAS and setup Kodi, profit.
Marty Chinn
Member
Get MakeMKV. It'll rip Blu-Rays untouched into a mkv file. You can even select which things you want or don't want off the disc too. It's stupidly simple and easy to use.
Awesome --- thanks for the suggestion ---- I D/Led MakeMKV last week but hadn't tried it yet.
I'm ripping The Dark Knight now --- will see how it works out!
Using MakeMKV produced a great-quality rip of The Dark Knight.
My issue now is that I transferred it to my NAS (QNAP TS-451), but when I stream it through Kodi, the video framerate slows down at some points. During some scenes, it is nice and smooth, as though I am watching it straight from blu-ray disc, but at other points, it sort of stutters/lags/reduces framerate to a point where it is noticeable and distracting.
Any help with solving this will be greatly appreciated!!!
Marty Chinn
Member
What's your network setup like? What's running Kodi? Are you going wired or WiFi? If WiFi, what's the distance between your router and the client?
QNAP is plugged in to an 8-port switch, connected to my router.
I think I may have solved the issue --- I was originally running Kodi on my NAS and viewing it on the TV. When I ran Kodi on my PC and streamed it via ethernet from the NAS, it worked perfectly.
When I streamed it wirelessly to Kodi running on my Samsung galaxy tab S tablet, there was a little noticeable slowdown in the video. Could this be due to the tab S hardware having a hard time processing the 28 GB video file stream?
Any suggestions on the best format to convert to for wireless / tablet video streaming?
TarpitCarnivore
Member
The QNAP may be struggling to process and playback the video.
Marty Chinn
Member
Well it could be a number of things. What kind of speed are you getting with WiFi from your router to your tablet? Is your tablet playing the video files natively or is your server trying to transcode it first?
I'm running Kodi on my tablet and am selecting the file off my NAS to play, so I think the tablet is trying to play the file natively in Kodi. Maybe the file size/quality is causing the slowdown on the tablet? Is there a different file format (smaller size etc) that is optimal for tablet viewing that I should convert the mkv file to?
Sectorseven
Member
What should I get if I just want to stream music & movies across my home network?
Marty Chinn
Member
Well if you do that, you're going to reencode them and you're then going to have to play around with settings to get the right amount of compression while maintaining the visual quality as best as you can. You could experiment with Handbrake.
Such a loaded question =)
1) What are you streaming to?
2) Are you streaming over wired or wifi?
3) Do you need transcoding?
4) What are the quality and file sizes of the movies you want to stream?
Sectorseven
Member
1) Computers, TV
2) Both
3) Don't know what you mean.
4) Ideally 1080p but I can settle for 720
Marty Chinn
Member
I was looking for more detail, so I'll ask more questions based on your answers.
What connects them though? Are you using HTPCs? Apple TVs? Chromecasts? FireTVs? Xbox One? PS4? What do you run on them? Plex? XBMC/Kodi?
Transcoding means converting the video on the fly on the server side into something the client can handle. This is in case the client can't handle certain codecs or is a really weak piece of hardware and can't handle it performance wise to run the video natively.
I meant more are you doing Blu Ray rips? 10bit encoded videos? High bitrate, low bitrate? File sizes?
What connects them though? Are you using HTPCs? Apple TVs? Chromecasts? FireTVs? Xbox One? PS4? What do you run on them? Plex? XBMC/Kodi?
Transcoding means converting the video on the fly on the server side into something the client can handle. This is in case the client can't handle certain codecs or is a really weak piece of hardware and can't handle it performance wise to run the video natively.
I meant more are you doing Blu Ray rips? 10bit encoded videos? High bitrate, low bitrate? File sizes?
Sectorseven
Member
For the TV it would be Chromecast
I can do all the compression my PC and store the file on the NAS.
Yeah, Blu-ray rips. I don't know any of the bitrate stuff. My plan was just to hit "convert" or whatever.
I have a Synology 211j NAS and had a 1.5 TB and 1 TB HDD inside (so 2,5 TB of space, no RAID). Recently, the 1,5 TB died and killed a lot of good stuff (lot of old pics, newer pics are in several clouds). Now i bought two 4TB seagates to use them in RAID1 mode, so i always have a backup of everything.
Question: can i initiate one 4TB HDD, then shove everything from the old 1TB HDD onto it, then add the other 4TB HDD and initate the RAID1 or do i have to initiate both 4TB in one go? My NAS has only two bays.
I want a newer NAS but with my GF pregnant, money is reserved for everything children and none of it for my gadget needs >_>
Question: can i initiate one 4TB HDD, then shove everything from the old 1TB HDD onto it, then add the other 4TB HDD and initate the RAID1 or do i have to initiate both 4TB in one go? My NAS has only two bays.
I want a newer NAS but with my GF pregnant, money is reserved for everything children and none of it for my gadget needs >_>
Hi, I'm interested in building a NAS, mainly for having a Plex server. I think the best option would be to build one with a few spare PC parts I have around and installing FreeNAS, I have the following parts, which I think should be able to Transcode video well:
4GB DDR2
Core2Duo E600
Asus P5B Deluxe
500W PSU
I would only need a new case and HDD. FreeNAS goes installed in an 8GB memory stick right?
For the HDD should I go with WD Red ?
4GB DDR2
Core2Duo E600
Asus P5B Deluxe
500W PSU
I would only need a new case and HDD. FreeNAS goes installed in an 8GB memory stick right?
For the HDD should I go with WD Red ?
Norwegian Rudo
Member
Not really a NAS question, but this seems like the place to ask.
I'm looking for a backup solution for my quite large collection of TV shows, Movies, Sports events etc. I've got a Synology DS2411 as my main storage, filled with 12 4TB and 12 3TB WD Reds.
Due to their low price I'm looking to use the Seagate Archive 8TB discs, and due to their poor suitability for a RAID setup I'm looking at a JBOD external case, something like this.
Anybody know, would this present to my system as a single 64TB drive? And in the case of a drive failure, would all the data be lost, or just what was stored on that drive?
Feel free to make suggestions for other solutions.
I'm looking for a backup solution for my quite large collection of TV shows, Movies, Sports events etc. I've got a Synology DS2411 as my main storage, filled with 12 4TB and 12 3TB WD Reds.
Due to their low price I'm looking to use the Seagate Archive 8TB discs, and due to their poor suitability for a RAID setup I'm looking at a JBOD external case, something like this.
Anybody know, would this present to my system as a single 64TB drive? And in the case of a drive failure, would all the data be lost, or just what was stored on that drive?
Feel free to make suggestions for other solutions.
Cuban Legend
Member
I know NAS rated drives are rated for 24/7 usage but whats the disadvantage of using these drives in a NAS over WD Reds or HGST NAS Drives : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OP2PKH2/?tag=neogaf0e-20
They seem to be the most affordable GB per $ with Amazon Prime while being 7200RPM drives
They seem to be the most affordable GB per $ with Amazon Prime while being 7200RPM drives
Norwegian Rudo
Member
I think the difference between regular drives and NAS specific drives is negligible. I use them because I prefer WD drives, and they're minimally more expensive than other WD drives.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
The difference, from my reading, is NAS drives are better built for handling vibrations. Whether that's true or not who knows. My biggest reason for getting the Hitatch Deskstar NAS drives was they were reviewed and tested.
Shin Johnpv
Member
Physically NAS drives will be designed to handle 24/7 usage. They're also have things in their firmware that allow them to work better with say a raid card, or being put into a NAS box. Plus as has been said they should be able to handle vibrations better. In a normal case with only like 2 drives maybe 3 vibrations aren't an issue when you're running a whole bunch of drives it can cause problems. There's also some error correction in there (though not always) and sometimes a bigger cache.
I am sure this is not the right place for this, but I am not sure what thread to post this.
I am planning on using windows 2012 r2 as a server, including backup. Anyone know how to set it up as a bare metal backup? I would rather be able to find files I want to recreate rather than a complete restore type of situation.
I am planning on using windows 2012 r2 as a server, including backup. Anyone know how to set it up as a bare metal backup? I would rather be able to find files I want to recreate rather than a complete restore type of situation.
Cuban Legend
Member
Thanks for all the insight, fellas!
what do you mean set it up as bare metal backup? Server 2012 doesn't have backup options, you need some other type of software to do that. Server 2012 would just host the files.