04-14-2021, 03:33 PM
Good day. I have a Synology DS218+ purchased in September 2020 which I am very happy with. I mainly use it as a Media Server to play video and audio content on Plex and my home receiver, but also use it for file and photo storage. Hardware: I added a 4 GB memory expansion card from Synology (which was not cheap) and two 6TB drives in a RAID 1 configuration which has quickly filled to about 75% capacity now. I'm torn between how to move forward. I am considering swapping out my 6 TB drives for two 10 or 12 TB drives. But I'm also considering upgrading completely to the DS920+, perhaps adding two new 6 TB drives (doubling my capacity in RAID 1 to 12 TB but that might be short sighted, storage-wise). Are fewer larger drives more efficient than more smaller drives? Lastly, I'm also thinking of getting a NUC to act as my Plex server as I occassionaly get buffering and failures watching larger high-res 1080p video. I’m not sure how to begin. I have not yet dipped my toe in 4K TV yet, and I know video files for 4K are much, much larger. If I get a NUC I need not worry so much about the less powerful CPU in the DS218+. I could use some advice!