Plex on a NAS - Before You Buy

One of the most popular reasons that home users will buy a network-attached storage NAS system for their home is to use it as a Plex media server. Although many people utilise third-party streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to watch multimedia, these paid subscription services limit the total amount of multimedia you can watch to whatever they choose to support month-on-month. Running a Plex Media Server on a NAS allows you to enjoy all of the media that you own, whilst still enjoying the slick and intuitive graphical user interface that is present on those third-party streaming platforms, such as media thumbnails, trailers, reviews, watchlists and recommendations. The majority of NAS drives support Plex Media Server as an application to install on the device and kick start your brand new Plex NAS home cinema experience. However, the extent to which you will be able to enjoy your multimedia, simultaneous viewers and output quality can differ depending on the NAS drive you choose to use. There are numerous factors that go into selecting the right NAS drive for Plex, ranging from budget and storage size to the proficiency and capabilities of the CPU inside. Below I have detailed the top 3 NAS for Plex to buy right now in 2020/2021. Each one is selected for a different reason, best Budget Plex NAS, best Value Plex NAS and the Most Powerful Plex NAS. All three support 1080p multimedia and 1080p Plex transcoding, but the more you spend the more types of media you can enjoy, with each tier bringing more resolution and quality support (4K etc) to the number of users who can access at once. Take a look below.

Best Plex NAS - What Qualifies?

Before you go any further, it is worth highlighting how the top 3 Plex NAS were chosen, as at least 70-80% of NAS released in recent years 'support' plex to one degree or another. In order for a NAS drive to qualify, it needs to confirm/adhere to the following:

The NAS server needs to have been released before October 31st 2020, so it has been officially available to buy and review
The NAS does NOT have to be released in 2020 (so 2019, 2018, etc) are fine, but it has to still be available to buy in 2020
Only Desktop/Tower systems are being considered, Rackmount servers are generally harder to compare and are more tailored to industry
Each solution must be a combined Hardware+Software solution
Must have at least 2 years manufacturers warranty
Must Be able to Transcode 1080p at the very least - 4K Optional depending on the depth
Must be at least a 4-Bay NAS, as you need to provision for storage AND redundancy in the event of a failed drive
Must feature enough hardware power to be used as BOTH a Plex media server AND other NAS software utilities at once sufficiently
Should be usable WITHOUT a Plex Pass Subscription, but having one might be beneficial

There you have it, those are the parameters for looking at a NAS drive to buy for Plex. Below are the Top 3 of the year I recommend for Price, Value and Power.

This description contains links to and Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's video.

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[Koderfacts]

Finally someone speaks about the details of hardware transcoding as part of Plex pass, with the details I was looking for, after flipping through 10s of YT vids, Thank You Sir!!

[mohnkern]

I run Plex on a Synology DS918+ with 24 TB of storage and 4 GB of SD cache. I've been incredibly happy with it.

[BB-qpxo]

Lumberjack look = Complete! This completed a few unanswered questions for me. My 920+ is going great for plex and I am amazed how often I finish a show either on public transport or in bed now that it is available 24/7. I am now deciding on security and reading up on containers

[dannyreddy]

This dude has been amazing for getting started with NAS and plex. Thank you so much.

[sworth]

Great video! Only thing I would add for next vid would be if you go the NAS route for Plex, make sure to install the server/appdata onto an SSD or NVMe drive.

Media can be located on slower mechanical hard drives to save money but the server must be on some kind of flash storage. Otherwise the database will be insufferably slow to load.

[chuck]

Isn't there a setting in plex to allow local devices to bypass the need to communicate with plex servers in the cloud? I'm pretty sure there is.

[simonmcgrath]

I've got plex and it's truly brilliant. It's got stuff i keep finding which makes it even better like go to movies choose country and go to say Korea and the films are truly A1 !!! Try series there's everything!!!! My plex is great and I've got it on my firestick!!

[roscored]

I have a synology 411+ its old but with 4 x4TB drives it has no problem running and using Plex. It does a good job and has never let me down. I dont transcode things and dont use 4K to my projector and 2 tvs on the network.

[DigitalMonsters]

10:00 had me laughing haha, checked memory chrome was eating it up and when you told be to be ashamed of how many tabs i had open, had like 20 open xD

[brianvandy]

I got a recycled Synology 415+ from work and set it up at home as my Plex server. It's working a treat right now.

[mfkhometheater]

How do you turn off transcoding. Synology 1821+, Nvidia Shield Pro, 4K TV. 1080P is Direct Play and plays fine, 4K is transcoding and does not play.

[TheMicro]

1:58 yep. I learned this the hard way with an old Piledriver AMD CPU. It’s hot and inefficient. It costs me ALOT to keep it running hence why I am transitions to a NAS.

[patricksp]

I use EMBY instead of Plex, just wonder what your views are on using EMBY or other Media server.

[FinbarrAherne]

Hahahaha! You got me on the number of browser tabs opened... Shame on me :D

[Shopforeman]

Awesome video great explanation of a NAS. Is there a certain make and or model number of a NAS you suggest for using with a Plex I’m in the process of setting a server up .
Thank you

[LeoHeiland]

If you use a paid subscription Plex services do you need to have port forwarding available? I use T-Mobile and get 300-500 Mb/s but port forwarding is not available!

[ericframe]

My plan is to add a NAS onto my current server PC running plex. I can do that right? Just using the NAS as storage and continue running the server portion on the PC? Map the drives in the nas to the server and add it to my collection?

[jakubgolab]

I have a question my Naz is a 1520+ with two expansion units. Give me a total of 15 drives. I currently have 15 6 TB drives in each when that time comes that I have to upgrade my drives. What is the best way to update the 6 TB drives to a higher drive .

[J-Train_Fit-Travl_Juice-Tender]

About a 1GB network, (Does that mean the ethernet connections between router, nas, and clients?) That the speed of Nas drive function wont matter as much with higher speed drives if the ethernet is maxed out at 1GB (Router?)? I heard a 6e cat might be over kill. Not sure if that is true . . .And does that mean a better router would avoid a bottleneck?

[AdelAlberk]

10:10 answering you question: i have 24 tabs and it seems like im using 1.3 gb ... aka really low memory usage
i always hear about chrome being a memory hog but i never experienced that and i have be a pc user for 10+ years