how to build a nas media server

Most NAS’s also have USB ports, which means you can plug in an external hard drive and transfer data that way too, using the file manager built into the NAS. The great thing about a NAS is that you can put all of that data there instead and then every computer on your network can access it. or have very tight budget constraints, I’d suggest just buying an off-the shelf NAS. Most modern NAS systems will work with wireless USB adaptors (and some even have wi-fi built-in), but it’s really best to connect it directly to your router or switch. You can watch Airplane! Unless ALL your media is the correct container, video format, audio format, for your final device, it will have to transcode. This means that all of your data will be safely stored in case something happens to your mainmachine. Companies including Synology, QNAP, and Western Digital all sell NAS units that store multiple hard drives. Then just follow the instructions provided by your NAS maker to continue with the setup process. Plex is in the app stores for both QNAP and Synology, but sometimes the version there can be outdated. If Sonarr isn’t your thing, a similar app called Sickbeard works in much the same way. from an airplane. And since you presumably want the data you put on your NAS to stay safe, it’s not a bad idea to spend a bit more to get a NAS drive. BitTorrent is great, but maintaining a constant connection on a PC can be a pain. If you’re like me, you’ve got hundreds of gigabytes of digital media files, everything from movies, to music, to TV shows, stored across portable hard drives, old laptops, and various PCs. The biggest advantage of using old parts to create a new device is that you can add as many external drives as you have ports on your motherboard (and space for in your enclosure). Plex on a low powered media NAS is a recipe for disappointment. Here’s a rundown of the most common things you’ll want to do. You can then transfer files over the network over wi-fi (slower) or Ethernet (faster). The manual should give you a good overview of what you want, but you can also look at this guide offers a good overview. Wouldn’t it be great if all of that media could live in one place and be able to be easily accessed by your other computers and smart devices? If you’re a Mac user, you can even use your Synology or QNAP device with Time Machine. Hardware: Getting Together the Right Components to Build Your Own NAS. In addition to storing your media, you might as well use all that hard drive space to back up your files. One of the best reasons to use an NAS is as a way to have your own media server for music, movies, and photos. This will give you a much greater storage capacity than if you’re using a simple router and external drive. It’s $250 on Amazon, though a newer version that has more RAM is $340 There is also a $320 TS–251A, which comes with a remote and is optimized for media playback. It connects to your home network, so you can then access that media on other devices. I’ve personally had a lot of success with Synology’s NAS systems, and the DS216, which sells for $250, is excellent. Keep in mind, these prices DO NOT include hard drives. Generally, you just need to install the hard drives (which usually just means connecting a cable and placing it in the housing), plug it into power, and connect it to your router via Ethernet. If you want to manually install the app, you can download the files from Plex’s website. The average user is probably fine with a two-bay system that will store two 3.5-inch hard drives. Apps are really what will turn a NAS from a glorified Time Capsule into something that can make it super easy to enjoy your many files across many different devices. Once you’ve got your NAS setup, it’s time to install apps to make it sing. One of the nice things about the QNAP 251 series is that it comes with an HDMI port, which makes connecting it to a TV or big monitor super easy. Once configured, Plex will take all the content on your NAS (or even your entire network), and make it easy to server and playback. How many drives you need depends on your storage space and goals. Ahem. Not only are the units you buy off the shelf smaller (which is nice), most come with software that’s easy to use. That costs extra... Once you’ve got your enclosure, you need to get hard drives for your NAS. Transferring data to your NAS will differ from system to system, but once your NAS is correctly configured on your network, you should see it in your file manager on macOS or Windows. NAS stands for “Network-Attached Storage.” Basically, it’s a way to attach a hard drive to your network and make it accessible to all your devices for centralized file-sharing and backups. QNAP and Synology both have guides if you get confused. Don’t worry, with the way the software is configured, all of your wireless devices will still be able to access content remotely. The setup process is going to be different for every NAS, but the instructions that come with the unit should help you out. Both Synology and QNAP offer an app called Download Station that lets users download files from BitTorrent, FTP, NZB (newsgroups) and more. My advice is to buy as much space as you can afford, because once you start using your NAS as a media server, you’ll probably find that yourself using it more than you may have expected. I like the Western Digital Red series of hard drives, but the Seagate IronWolf series get good reviews too.

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