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Thinking about my first NAS

#1
For years, I have used my DD-WRT router as a sort of NAS. I attached a 8TB USB 3.0 External Hard drive to it, and ran a nightly backup of my Plex Server data and my family's Windows documents, pictures, etc to it.

For the past few months, I have been having problems with the network Hard Drive going offline. I would get an IO error in Ubuntu on my Plex Server, and would have to reboot the router, the hard drive, and the Ubuntu PC for it to connect again. I thought the IO error was a sign the 8TB drive was going bad. I only had about 1.5TB of free space left on the 8TB external HD, so I upgraded to a 14TB external USB 3.0 drive. Unfortunately, the Network Drive is still going offline, even after the upgrade. So, I replaced my router with a newer DD-WRT router, thinking the problem was with the router. That still didn't fix it. At this point, I'm thinking perhaps it is just too much data for a router to handle.

So now I have an extra router, a 14TB external HD I plan to keep using, and an 8TB external HD that may not be defective after all. I would like to figure out some sort of networked backup solution, but don't know if I should buy a NAS or just add a couple of Hard Drives in a RAID-1 configuration to my Plex Server that is always on anyway. I have purchased another 14TB bare hard drive in preparation for whatever I do, and plan to "shuck" the 14TB drive that is in the external HD so I can use them together to create the RAID.

Would you recommend I just add the two 14TB hard drives to the Plex Server PC, and create a network share, or do you think I should invest in a standalone NAS? If I was to get a NAS, would I be OK with a cheaper option, like the ASUSTOR Drivestor 4 AS1104T, or should I get something like the Synology DS418? I don't plan to use my NAS for Plex, or much of anything beyond backups or perhaps personal cloud storage. The idea of a couple networked video cameras is intriguing, but I don't currently have any plans to implement them.

Thanks for any insight you can provide.
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#2
Yes, you would need a decent CPU in your router/switch. Qnap have some PC-spec looking switches that could handle it. But I would simply get the cheapest NAS there is out there.
This could be AS1104T, DS420J or DS418. You can then point from your Plex server to this NAS as the main or additional media location.
With Synology, you will also get few extras like server backups, time machine backups, folder sync and so much more.


I hope this helps.
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