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bezelbu · 2015-02-24, 12:11

Hi all.

First of all a massive thank you to all the wonderfull people that keep on improving Kodi and let us enjoy all this great software.

Jumping right to the point, i'm a former Kaleidescape owner but found that some of the limitations on media playback where not for me. I'm searching for advice on what would be the best solution for storage for my movie collection. Currently it's taking up about 22tb and growing... i'm using a i5 nuc as a player with openelec for a frontend and i'm open for sugestions, a part list would be epic to help me out.

What do u think about hdd external raid enclosures? Atm i only require acess from a single player to the collection.

Kind regards to all.

kuldan · 2015-02-24, 12:38

The easiest and still best way to go for a NAS, even if you are only needing it for 1 client - it is just the most mature way of tackling it. For 22TB and growing, I would suggest going with something like this:
https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS1815+ equipped with 8x 5TB (or 8x6TB) WD RED NAS-Ready Harddrives.

Cost is a big issue here, with a setup like this, you can calculate with ~2.500€ if using 6TB drives... usable space would be 35TB using 5TB Disks, 42TB using 6TB Disks...

bezelbu · 2015-02-24, 15:06

(2015-02-24, 12:38)kuldan Wrote: The easiest and still best way to go for a NAS, even if you are only needing it for 1 client - it is just the most mature way of tackling it. For 22TB and growing, I would suggest going with something like this:
https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS1815+ equipped with 8x 5TB (or 8x6TB) WD RED NAS-Ready Harddrives.

Cost is a big issue here, with a setup like this, you can calculate with ~2.500€ if using 6TB drives... usable space would be 35TB using 5TB Disks, 42TB using 6TB Disks...

Thanx Kuldan. Cost is not the issue atm, How hard is the setup for a non-techie to get this to work properly with a kodi box (Nuc)?

kind regards

kuldan · 2015-02-24, 19:09

I would say not hard. The initial setup of these types of boxes, as long as you connect them to the LAN properly, is driven by Guides in a Webinterface, which should not be that hard to do.

To add the sources to Kodi is not a big deal either, and I'm sure here are plenty of people (me included) willing to help you with it.

Most people have cost issues, if that is ruled out, the rest gets much easier Wink

As for your libary, it is exceptionally large.. so that is why we need to use "big guns" in the NAS department to make it work...but I presume that will work.

thrak76 · 2015-02-24, 19:17

The Synology NAS is almost a "turnkey" solution. If you can afford to load it up with 6TB drives, that is the way to go. There's always a bigger drive on the horizon, but currently 6TB are king.

If you're a tinkerer (and I suspect that you're not if you came from Kaleidescape) then the options are far more varied. For instance, I'm using a Windows-based FlexRAID setup with 24TB, but it grew incrementally. Now I'm just swapping smaller drives for larger drives as the need arises. It works great if it's set up properly, but it is definitely not as easy to maintain as the Synology solution.

ikecomp · 2015-02-24, 20:16

(2015-02-24, 19:17)thrak76 Wrote: The Synology NAS is almost a "turnkey" solution. If you can afford to load it up with 6TB drives, that is the way to go. There's always a bigger drive on the horizon, but currently 6TB are king.

If you're a tinkerer (and I suspect that you're not if you came from Kaleidescape) then the options are far more varied. For instance, I'm using a Windows-based FlexRAID setup with 24TB, but it grew incrementally. Now I'm just swapping smaller drives for larger drives as the need arises. It works great if it's set up properly, but it is definitely not as easy to maintain as the Synology solution.

I have a similar setup where I use flexraid for addressing failed/bad drives. I would also recommend this. In my opinion it would be cheaper to build a PC/server using a case with enough hard drive slots than to commit to an off the shelf option. You have more flexibility over the configuration as well as you get more bang for your buck. With most NAS boxes off the shelf you pay a high price for the convenience and ease of use factor. Not bashing off the shelf NAS's as the option is ultimately up to the end-user to determine what works best for them. However, a homebuilt NAS would be my recommendation.

poofyhairguy · 2015-02-24, 23:28

(2015-02-24, 20:16)ikecomp Wrote: ultimately up to the end-user to determine what works best for them. However, a homebuilt NAS would be my recommendation.

100% agreed.

Oh and avoid 6TBs HDs OP. The Seagate one I have is a pig.

teki4u · 2015-02-25, 00:23

i would go for Hitachi or HGST instead of the wd red NAS drives but you can mix them up, just never from the same vendor batch.

kuldan · 2015-02-25, 01:22

poofyharguy, the 6TB von WD in the RED Series are perfectly fine as are the 5TB... and as for Veronica, I would vastly prefer WD over Seageate (especially avoid the cheap "Archive" series, these are NOT for NAS devices).. as for HGST, their offerings are sadly the most expensive of the bunch, which is why usually WD wins out in a price/reliability/performance matrix...

poofyhairguy · 2015-02-25, 02:08

(2015-02-25, 01:22)kuldan Wrote: poofyharguy, the 6TB von WD in the RED Series are perfectly fine as are the 5TB... and as for Veronica, I would vastly prefer WD over Seageate (especially avoid the cheap "Archive" series, these are NOT for NAS devices).. as for HGST, their offerings are sadly the most expensive of the bunch, which is why usually WD wins out in a price/reliability/performance matrix...

Good to know!

I usually go for HGST nowadays but I also want 7200 RPM drives which means I am often tempted to try out Seagate. I will say my 4TB WD Black is the best drive I have ever had bar none.

teki4u · 2015-02-25, 07:02

I never mentioned Seageate for NAS, the red ones are kinda famous but i prefer Hitachi or HGST it is worth every penny. I have read alot and also have my experience in the IT field and WD have disappointed me in the past (mostly 2.5" laptop hdd), hitachi hasn't, even seageate hasn't. My main PC has a 7200rpm Seageate 1TB drive over 4 years with heavy usage and keeps working great.

It's all about likes and experiences, but if you read as i have about the WD red drives... well i'm not alone.

**Tinwarble** · 2015-02-25, 07:17

As for HDDs, HGST are going to probably be the best.

However, WD Reds work really well, especially for NASs. I have quite a few all in different sizes and have never had any issues or failures. (knock on wood)

I wouldn't touch Seagate drives anymore.

satrain18 · (This post was last modified: 2015-03-06, 19:23 by satrain18.)

(2015-02-24, 12:38)kuldan Wrote: The easiest and still best way to go for a NAS, even if you are only needing it for 1 client - it is just the most mature way of tackling it. For 22TB and growing, I would suggest going with something like this:
https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS1815+ equipped with 8x 5TB (or 8x6TB) WD RED NAS-Ready Harddrives.

Cost is a big issue here, with a setup like this, you can calculate with ~2.500€ if using 6TB drives... usable space would be 35TB using 5TB Disks, 42TB using 6TB Disks...

The DS1815+ will also take two DX513 5-bay expansion units for a total of 18 drive bays(108TB with 6TB drives), so it's a good buy. Now if you have an AV equipment rack, the RS2414+ is also a good option. It gives you four more drive bays and it takes a 12-bay expansion units. But be forewarned: At 40.5 dB, it's almost twice as loud as the DS1815+, so it needs to be either in a soundproof rack or out of the viewing room.