First NAS for Plex in 2018
Hi There, I’m looking to invest in my 1st ever NAS to run Plex in my home and I’m really not sure what to buy. I’m so new to this I’m really looking for someone to advise on the 2-3 best options for me. Also need to know what drives to get as I can see they generally don’t come with the drives.
I’ve run Plex on my Mac Mini up to now, but that system is old and slow now. I currently use Automatic to get the content I require and Hazel to automatically file the files into the appropriate folder. Not sure if I can do this set up on a NAS? Can I?
NAS has OS software I believe? but not sure if I can use apps like Automatic, Hazel, and Transmission, can I?
I’d like to get a NAS that’s easier to use, as I’m somewhat proficient with computers, but not very good unless I can follow easy instructions. And I’ve never set up a NAS or the drives before.
I’d also like a NAS that will last the test of time, so something that is very current and up to date in terms of hardware is a must.
I’ll probably use Plex live TV and also have up to 3-4 concurrent streams. But most of the time it will be 1-2.
Sorry for the long message!
Hope you can help and let me know what to buy and where to buy, and any other tips.
Thanks so much!
£200-£600
1-10 TB
Hong Kong
At that price threshold, I would DEFINIETLY recommend the WD PR2100 or PR4100 as the best Plex NAS at that budget range.If you are looking for a NAS that can perform plex to a high standard, at this price threshold, I can honestly say that you will not find anything better – believe me, people ask all the time and I checked! Take a look below at some articles on the WD My Cloud Pro PR4100 and the PR2100 if your budget is a little tight:
Best Plex Media Server NAS for under £400
In third place, the WD My Cloud Pro PR2100 NAS. Featuring an impressive Pentium Quad Core chip and 4GB of DDR3 memory, the device could easily be lost in the noise of all other NAS server devices from the likes of QNAP and Synology. However, it features one tiny component that sets it aside from almost all other currently available NAS – a Plex-enabled Transcoding Engine. Most NAS with an Intel CPU including a transcoding engine, however, plex is currently unable to use this feature on a NAS and the result is that when you need to transcode a media file, it will use a huge amount of CPU power (70% and above). The result is that more complex files (.MKV etc) or those with high resolution may have regular buffering or stuttering playback. However, the WD Pr2100 NAS Is the exception because those boffins were able to allow the Plex media Server Application to use the transcoding engine on the NAS and therefore it can playback significantly better than the likes of Synology or QNAP with the same hardware. As plex NAS servers go, it is a truly fantastic NAS, it is just a shame that it is a little lacklustre in other respects when it comes to using other more common NAS applications outside of multimedia.
 £370+ ex.VAT |
WD My Cloud Pro PR2100 WDBBCL0000NBK-EESN NAS ServerIntel Pentium N3710 1.6 GHz (Burst speed up to 2.56 GHz)4GB RAM2yr Warranty  |
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