I'm planning to buy a NAS to stream my movies in Blu-ray quality to multiple devices, approximately 5 devices "2-3 may stream at the same time".

I need a NAS with a large capacity, at least 8 bays.

I'm new to the whole NAS topic and would like to read your advice before buying one

I already purchase a life time subscription at plex and tried to stream using my own pc as storage for a while.

Hi Robbie,

Thanks for all the work you do—your reviews have been a great help.

I’m seeing a repeatable issue on the Aoostar WTR MAX with two Samsung 980 PRO NVMe drives in a mirrored ZFS pair. When both drives are in the ×2 tray slots, one often drops and is marked REMOVED, leaving the mirror degraded. Moving a drive to the furthest ×1 slot seems to help, but this isn’t confirmed.

I’ve tried the Linux/Unraid PCIe power tweaks (nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0 pcie_aspm=off pcie_port_pm=off), but the issue remains. A friend with the same hardware sees the same behaviour. Aoostar say they will ship an updated M.2 bracket in November, hinting at a design fault, and also sent me an untested BIOS, which I avoided as they could not confirm its details—only that it targeted NVMe issues.

Since you reviewed this unit, could you check if this behaviour can be reproduced? I can share logs and steps if useful.

Your independent insight would be very helpful.

Kind regards,
Ben

Currently running:
Dell Optiplex 7050
Yottamaster DAS connected by USB 3.03 - 5 - 3TB drives
2.5GB network switch
Run Proxmox
ZFS for my NAS pool through Proxmox
Proxmox I run a container for SMB shares
I run Ubuntu as my Plex server and maybe some other Dockers.
Bottle neck is the USB connected DAS. I need to get to SATA ports on the mother board with a case that can support a minimum of 5 drives. I have 5 more 3TB drives I could use.

Use: Store extensive movues/TV shows library, Picture, and maybe offer cloud storage.

Plex is making changes and I wonder if I need to gear up my NAS to do hardware transcoding. Or do I split the two. A low energy NAS along with a Jellyfin/Plex server with a good video card for transcoding.

Other computers I have:
Lenovo IdeasCentre Mini with a i5 13th gen and 32GB of RAM
An older MacBook Air with an M1 chip

I would really appreciate some guidance.

Have Synology 416+ but with raid 1
Want to move to raid 5
Was using macrium reflect but they are changing to subscription model so decided to look at ways to get more secure backup and raid 5?
Have not used Synology backup function and do not want to get into a new Synology that is going to require subscription
Looked at 4 bay Synology terramaster qnap ugreen as author and two others. Ruled out Terra master when realized it was Chinese for security in Canada

Had ruled out qnap because of your comments on dated equipment and then late last night decided to search to see if they had any new releases and found the new product line.

Was nervous about ugreen but figured software changes would be easy to deal with if hardware options were better. Ruled out asustor because of noise and power consumption.

Will be scanning and uploading tons of family photos (guessing about a thousand in high resolution)going back to the 1800s so want great reliable storage Have never trusted.

Looking for a low power, quite plug and play solution NAS for home. Primarily for photo backup from Macbook & iPhone, some video & music but that isnt essential. PS I hate seaguls ;-). Big fan of your channel.

Hello, I have recently purchased and set up a Beelink Me Mini NAS running ZimoOS and 4x4tb m.2 cards in a RAID 5 configuration (12tb).
This is about as far as I’ve got and as far as my knowledge goes.
Would it be possible to pay for about 1 hrs one on one lesson to help me set up all the file bits etc. I’m currently adding my movies and plan to use Jellyfish for them.
I’m also adding all my files and definitely need help on how I set up all my files to sync between my Mac and the Beelink. Can I replace iCloud Drive?
Currently my Beelink is connected via Ethernet to my UniFi router and access to my Mac is over WiFi.

have you reviewed any DIY NAS motherboards that have an SFP+ adapter built in? I thought you held one up when you were reviewing a N100 DIY NAS, but I haven't seen a review on it, or I just cant find it.

I do fiber optic cabling and having a SFP+ port is just more flexible for me.

Hi Huys -

I have little out of the norm question for me and I'm just looking for the best direction here. With the latest plex issue that came down this week I have now decided to explore jellyfish. I have it set up and running locally on my Unraid set up on my MeMini (Thank you Robbie, you sold me the second I got done watching the video). It's working insanely well locally.

I would love to get my parents who are using plex right now onto this remotely. I've searched tons of videos so far when it comes to the set up using unraid and registered for a free domain.

My question is if I have Tailscale (which I do) can I just use that and have my parents connect via that if I set them up as a user in jellyfin and then they affectively connect up in a similar way as they do with plex now? I know I have to use the infuse app since they use an Apple TV but am I over simplifying this or could it possibly be that simple?

Thanks as always for your help on this.

Rob

Hi Guys,

I’m looking for some advice on a new NAS to replace my old Netgear ReadyNAS 214. At the moment, it’s mainly used as a backup for three PCs in the house. It currently has four 4TB hard drives, which we use to back up documents, pictures, and videos.

I was considering a Synology, as I’ve used one at work and found it easy to use, but after looking on your site I came across UGREEN and M.2 NAS options, which also look interesting.

Other features aren’t essential, but if they’re available, they could be useful.

Thanks!

Hello...I currently have an aging WD PR4100 NAS I use as Plex server, I've had it since 2018 and it's really starting to struggle now! I currently have 4 x 6tb WD red drives I would like to re-use. Looking for advice on best replacement NAS unit that I can keep for a long time. NAS will only be for PLEX and will need to support remote access/transcoding.

Thanks in advance for any advice!