mnemonic0ne

Guys Thanks for the feedback. Let me answer why I'm doing what I'm doing. CT - As you said you have spent years to get to a solution... Me too... I started with the HP EX475, so I've been trying to find the magic bullet for a home storage solution for 6 years. To your points. iTunes server on Synology only works for audio... NOT video, so no joy on streaming to an Apple TV or iOS device without an intermediate step. iHomeServer or Plex would be that step for me. 1. Stand alone server - recycled i7-920 that just was taken out of my workstation, with 2 x 5 bay SATA iStar hot swap cages (would be starting pools with 5 repurposed WD RE4 2 TB drives, cages and drives from previous unRAID setup), 256 GB SSD for OS and apps 2. Devices - iOS mobile devices, Apple TVs, a couple of Samsung TVs, XBOX One, 2x OpenELEC HTPCs and 1 WMC - Most clients running Plex, WMC running MyMovies 3. ISOs and MKVs - For reference quality material being streamed high bit rate 1080p to capable devices (and can be transcoded on fly with enough horsepower to other devices) 4. Other Apps - Currently this will be purpose built for Plex/Media and Backblaze, no VMs, no other apps right now. I may transition my home automation platform to the box at some point, but that will be when I upgrade CPU to something with better power efficiency, but similar trancode capabilities (newer i5 with lower TDP but high Passmark scores) 5. Data requirements - Current Synology is 5 x 3 TB WD Reds in SHR, so 12 TB addressable space... Currently 2 TB free, so some room to grow and time to wait before 6 TB drives drop a bit more. And yes either solution would have the ability to handle my needs with upgrading drives to larger models or adding expansion bays As for concentrating on a single solution, part of my desire is not to be reliant on a single point of failure, so redundancy is a overall goal. The real redundancy in the media department will be the smaller M4V (MP4) files will be on both solutions, allowing me to back them up locally and remotely. Organization will be done using simple rsync targets and commands built into my Synology and into DeltaCopy, or using GoodSync. On the number of streams, it is all dependent. There are 5 of us in the house, so there could be 3-4 streams happening at any time.... Or none.... With my lower quality M4V files my Plex Synology service can handle the 1080p streaming natively to most of my devices (DirectPlay in Plex parlance), but for "reference" files I use uncompressed MKVs so I can enjoy a BluRay quality experience without the disk my Synology can't handle these at all, which is part of what kicked off this science project. Also if I want to bring a movie up REALLY quick I can just rip 1:1 to MKV (20ish minutes) and go until I transcode (1-2 hours). In short I keep MKV for high quality reference material or favorite movies, and I trancode everything to M4V at some point to keep in a smaller package, but "lower" quality. Running both my Synology and a new home server (will have to be Windows 7 or 8 for Backblaze) will allow me to put the big server to sleep when high quality streaming and media are not needed 16-18 hours a day, and the Synology will allow steaming of the M4Vs to mobile devices or kids devices where quality is not as demanded. Additionally, as I mentioned before I am a redundancy fanatic, so the NAS and server option gives me the local redundancy I want plus I will get the offsite backup with Backblaze. My experience with Crashplan was horribly slow and my backups (~4 TB) NEVER finished after running it for over 16 months and seeding it with a 2 TB drive and a 100/30 Mbs Comcast Business connection. The server crashed and I lost the other 2 TB, needless to say there was much cursing and re-ripping time to replace the data (movies). Now I might end up transitioning back to a more server centric setup if I find the stability, reliability and feature set on par with what I have with my Synology. But since I already have my Synology up and going, and it does a REALLY good job with its feature set, I don't have a real reason to take it out of the loop right now. And to be honest, my need for a Plex server for on the fly transcoding and a Backblaze client was the real genesis of this current quest so I started simply by looking at Storage Spaces as a simple bridge, but since I've done my research, DrivePool seems like it may allow me to swing back towards a server approach; and since I have enough surplus hardware a new mad science project just kind of blossomed. So to wrap up.... I think I know where I'm headed and why I am headed there, I've taken many a path to get here and most likely there will be more paths in the future. M

Guys, Quick question, I think am at the end of my research and about to move into implementation over the Christmas holiday. I have tried and invested in EVERY permutation that one can imagine on the home storage front... First gen WHS (HP), second gen WHS (HP), collosal custom WHS build (BIG processor, etc), unRAID, Synologys, etc, but I still haven't found my perfect all encompassing solution... I loved the DriveExtender idea, but I/O issues killed me on the streaming side (one of my 2 primary goals with WHS), thru a ton of cash AND hardware at the issue, but it was a structural DE issue.... Went to unRAID, but really didn't like the tempermant or LINUX foundation.... LOVE my Synology for a lot of reasons, but comes up short on streaming 1080p effectively and cloud storage options are too expensive (Amazon Glacier) or bad experience (Crashplan). So once again I am on a quest. Here are my requirements 1. Simple pooled storage with some type of redundancy - Check - I think I have also settled on using DrivePool over Storage Spaces and other 3rd Party Solutions after much research 2. Easily Integrated into a robust backup strategy - Question?? I have settled on Backblaze after a VERY bad experience with Crashplan. . 3. Runs in a familiar environment - Check 4. Allows integration with Plex - Check by default... My setup will be fairly simple, Windows 7 Professional box (recycled i7-920 and 5 WD RE4 2TB drives that were removed from an unRAID box that has now been decommissioned) with... Plex Media Server iHomeServer (with iTunes) DrivePool and possibly scanner My first direct question is anyone using DrivePool and BackBlaze in concert for offsite backup? I will be doing primary file hosting on my Synology DS1513+, and this will also be the device that is always on and accepting incoming backups from my other PC, etc. With my new DrivePool server firing up only when I need to do hardcore media streaming and transcoding, as well as being a backup target for most of the files that are located on my Synology. I have high bit rate reference material in ISO and MKV formats that will NOT be backed up, but have down-sampled M4Vs that will be backed up to both to my DrivePool server and then to Backblaze.... At least that is my plan. And before anyone asks, my issue with Crashplan is it NEVER finished backing up my files even after I seeded my backup with an external drive they sent me..... And consequentially I lost a LARGE number of files..... Lastly, I also wonder about future migration paths to a new OS (Windows 10) and replacing/upgrading drives.... From what I've read it is as simple as installing a new OS and installing DrivePool again and it will recognize the pool? On the drive issue, I understand as long as I have enough free space in my pool or if I can easily add another drive then it is as simple as removing the old drive and adding the new (or if not enough space, adding the new drive and removing the old)? Thanks in advance! M