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+--- Thread: Asustor AS5404T (/showthread.php?tid=12598)
Asustor AS5404T - Enquiries - 01-04-2026
Hello, hope your having a good day, I've just purchased this system, my first foray into the nas world. After watching your Asustor nas beginners series I am still unsure if I should purchase nvme's for storing the operating system and apps, instead of loading them onto one of the 8Tb hd. This nas will not be used for anything other than a media player (I have just shy of 20Tb), that I will access from various places and devices. I know I'll need Plex Or Jellyfin and think I will use a raid 5 setting. I would like your opinion on getting the most out of my storage while having at least 1 drive for redundancy.
Thank you.
David.
RE: Asustor AS5404T - ed - 01-04-2026
For a pure media server you do not need NVMe for the OS or apps.
On Asustor the OS always installs on the HDD array anyway, and Plex or Jellyfin do not gain any noticeable performance boost from being on NVMe. NVMe is only useful for cache or for running VMs and containers at high speed, which you are not doing.
For your setup the ideal configuration is:
• Install all 4 of your 8TB drives into a RAID 5 array.
This gives you the maximum usable space plus 1 disk of redundancy, which matches exactly what you want.
• Skip NVMe drives unless you want to add cache later.
Even cache is optional for a media server because HDDs easily handle streaming speeds.
• Install Plex or Jellyfin normally from the App Center and point the libraries to your RAID 5 volume.
This gives you the most usable storage, simplest maintenance, and perfectly smooth playback of your 20TB media collection.
If you ever change your needs later you can add NVMe for cache or apps, but today you don’t need it.