Credit: Andrew Heinzman / How-To Geek
Published 14 minutes ago
Kris has been writing about technology for nearly a decade and got their start covering video games at RPG Site before branching out to PC, Android, and general tech coverage. After joining How-To Geek as the Commerce Editor in 2021, they’ve been focused on helping readers find the best tech products for their needs—and even maybe save a few dollars in the process.
Outside work, Kris enjoys building custom keyboards, watching gaming speedruns, and working on creative writing.
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There are all sorts of benefits to setting up a NAS network. All of your media and files will be backed up in one place, making everything easier to access. Of course, this also makes a NAS server an ideal way …
Credit: Andrew Heinzman / How-To Geek
Published 14 minutes ago
Kris has been writing about technology for nearly a decade and got their start covering video games at RPG Site before branching out to PC, Android, and general tech coverage. After joining How-To Geek as the Commerce Editor in 2021, they’ve been focused on helping readers find the best tech products for their needs—and even maybe save a few dollars in the process.
Outside work, Kris enjoys building custom keyboards, watching gaming speedruns, and working on creative writing.
Sign in to your How-To Geek account
There are all sorts of benefits to setting up a NAS network. All of your media and files will be backed up in one place, making everything easier to access. Of course, this also makes a NAS server an ideal way to use Plex, a service that allows you to stream all your own media.
However, setting up a Plex server can be a bit overwhelming. Thankfully, our Discover Lead Editor, Andrew Heinzman, can provide some inspiration.
On The Inside is our new series where we ask our editors what they use on a day-to-day basis that they love.
"My home media server is relatively simple. I mean, it seems that way to me, at least," Andrew says. "A Beelink EQI12 i7-12650H mini PC acts as the brains of the operation—it runs Plex and various other apps, such as Unmanic, a tool that I use to reduce the file size of some TV shows. All of my media lives on a TerraMaster F4-423 NAS, which the mini PC accesses over the network through NFS."
Originally, Andrew only used the F4-423, but the mini PC offers more power to the setup. "TerraMaster F4-423’s Celeron N5095 processor could only handle a couple of simultaneous video transcodes. I can squeeze over 10 simultaneous transcodes from the Beelink EQI12 (most of my files are 1080p), so it gives me a lot more headroom."
Beelink EQi12
RAM 32GB DDR4
CPU Intel 12th Gen Core i5-1235U
This mini PC can make for a great component in a NAS server, and the price is reasonable for someone building on a budget.
GPU Integrated
Storage 1TB SSD
It truly is that simple, too. Andrew’s main setup is the NAS, the mini PC, and Unraid, an operating system popular with our staff that makes managing your NAS much easier. That takes care of not only his needs, but his friends’ needs for running a Plex server.
Everything works just fine, and the mini PC is powerful enough to accommodate all of my friends’ remote streaming needs.
All that said, Andrew wouldn’t mind rebuilding his NAS setup entirely (after all, who doesn’t love tweaking and redoing their tech builds). "I could have a much more elegant setup with a mini PC and a DAS enclosure, plus I could buy a collection of large 12TB drives, which would accommodate my needs a lot better than the hodgepodge of random drive sizes I’m using right now."
Credit: Andrew Heinzman / How-To Geek
Of course, it’s not perfect. Andrew mentions that he "disabled the cache feature on my NAS because its 250GB SSD kept getting oversaturated during downloads and file transfers," and that he has to "manually remount the NFS network share and reboot my Plex container" when the power goes out.
However, the fact is that everything just works, and there’s no reason to spend more money. "My cheap TP-Link network switch works just fine. And although my media server is connected to an eero mesh node, it’s pretty fast and reliable. I certainly haven’t had any problems with remote streaming, even at full quality." If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
This all goes to show that you don’t need huge setups or complex programming to get a well-running Plex server. All it takes is a NAS (and possibly a mini-PC), some helpful software, and a bit of patience. Then, you’ll have all of your essential media backed up and ready to play whenever you want.
If you want to replicate Andrew’s setup, it’s easy to do so, as well. However, one thing to note is that while you may find a TerraMaster F4-423 NAS available for sale, the model is now discontinued. Instead, you may want to opt for the newer F2-425 model or F4-425 model, depending on how many bays you think you need.
TERRAMASTER F2-425 2-Bay NAS
CPU Intel x86 Quad-Core CPU
Memory 4GB
Drive Bays 2
Dimensions 8.74"D x 4.69"W x 6.06"H
Weight 1.3 Kilograms
The F2-425 makes for a fantastic base for your NAS and Plex servers, especially if you’re more hard-pressed for physical space.
TERRAMASTER F4-425 4-Bay NAS
CPU Intel x86 Quad-Core CPU
Memory 4GB
Drive Bays 4
Dimensions 8.74"D x 7.05"W x 6.06"H
Weight 1.9 Kilograms
The F4-425 offers four bays that can each support up to 30TB of data, giving you 120TB of storage for everything you have.
Don’t forget to pick up an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), too, so you don’t have to deal with annoying remounting and resets when the power goes out.
APC UPS BE650G1
Output 7 Amps
Connection type Type B - 3 pin (North American)
An uninterruptible power supply will keep devices plugged into it from shutting off during an outage, as well as protect them from power surges or any sudden loss of data from sudden shut offs.