Beiträge von Eryan

I am using the same Kingston SSDNow S200 30 GB in my build and couldn't be happier. Y paid 30€ for it and have been running strong for several months now. I really doubt that the SSD will fail after a couple of years. The SSD in my main computer (a Samsung 830 Series) have been running for the last 4 years, and is still going. If the longevity of the SSD is a concern for you, you can always install the flash plug-in to reduce the amount of writes to the SSD. I cannot say how much of a performance boost an SSD will mean, but based on the results I've got with the other computers I use (which have SSD as boot drive), I would say that the SSD is always a good way to go. Finally, the SSDs are silent and more power efficient.

If you want to go cheaper than that then you should get something that is second hand; or go for a Raspberry pi/Banana pi/Odroid build.

Hi, and welcome to the forum

You can use the flash plugin to install to a USB, although it is better to install to a HDD or SSD. Does it mean that the USB will last years? It depends on several things: is the USB old? Is it an El-Cheapo brand or not? Performance-wise, it should be better if you use a HDD (specially if you are using USB 2.0). If the mechanical drives that you have are still good and you have enough SATA ports in your MOBO, then I would suggest a HDD installation.

What kind of files are you trying to move? It will make a difference is you are trying to move small files or a big one. Make a couple of test using this tool to check the read/write speeds from and to your NAS.

Zitat von cazten

Both SMB speeds and copy/paste natively on the drive is slow as sin

Zitat von cazten

It never left the drive, even if I'm using a SMB share to access it.

So, let me see if I get it right: you are moving a file within the same HDD in your NAS? If that is the case, are you using a file manager in your NAS to move the file (like Midnight Commander) or are you doing it from a client PC (that is, Samba share in another computer)? In that case, if you are moving files using a client computer of course you'll have a throttle in the speed because your HDD has to read the file, push it to the client PC and then get it back from the client PC and write it back. I had the issue myself: I moved large movie files from the download folder to the movie folder (both shares in my NAS). If I do it thru my Windows PC it takes ages (both with Gigabit LAN and 300 Mbps 5 GHz WLan), but if I do it with a file manager within the NAS (like Midnight Commander), the speed is far better.

For the clients outside of your home network, chances are that Plex will transcode depending your the internet upload bandwidth. Plex does not transcode to use less data, it will simply transcode to provide the best possible audio/video quality. In this case, I believe the limiting factor is not only the client, but your maximum upload bandwidth (please somebody correct me if I am wrong, as I don't stream audio/video outside of my home network). Be aware that to stream over the internet you have to pay (for both Plex and Emby), and I am not really sure if you can use Kodi as front end. In that case, I think you need to use the Plex/Emby client in the computers outside your home network.

Inside of your home network, Plex will transcode only if the media format is not supported by the client.

Transcoding basically means that the server will convert your media files on the fly to whatever format the clients require. Transcoding is a CPU intensive task, and to transcode a 1080p video you need a CPU with a passmark of circa 2000. Transcoding becomes necessary if the clients are, for example, a chromecast. It natively support a handful of formats, meaning that if you have a video in a format incompatible with your chromecast, your server will convert it to a compatible one.

Now, if your clients are PCs running Kodi (or anything running Kodi) they can natively play any format that you throw at them because Kodi has its own codecs. That way, your server never has to transcode, and you don't need a powerful CPU.

My apologies. It seems that I am a little outdated regarding the AM1 platform. I read this a few weeks ago (I was thinking about replacing my current server for a Athlon 5350 based one), and I was not aware about the AM4 platform. Then, go for the J1900. As said, if your clients are going to be running Kodi, transcoding is not an issue for you and any of the CPUs will be fine. I run my OMV with a (severely outdated) Atom 330 with Kodi clients and several other stuff, and surprisingly it has enough muscle to do the job.

The problem is the pci port whitelist of your computer. Many of this brand-pc (HP, Dell, etc) use a whitelist to allow only certain hardware to be installed in the pci-e port (I made the experience with a HP dc 7800). It is hard coded in the bios and although it is possible to modify it, doing so requires a modified Bios.

It is a matter of taste. The J1900-based mobos are really nice, but they have a big "but": you can't replace the CPU. Therefore, if at some point you will want to upgrade, you'll end up having to replace not only your CPU, but also the mobo. In the other hand, AFAIK AMD will release new AM1 based CPUs this year, and perhaps there will be a couple of more powerful options.

Regarding transcoding, you mentioned that your media clients are PCs running Kodi + Emby/Plex addon. That means that you don't need transcoding at all! Being that the case, I'll go for the AM1 since I personally find it a little bit more "future proof" (I may be also a little biased because here in Germany the prices for the Athlon based solution are considerably lower than the Intel based ones, and I am an AMD fan ).

Quite a lot of work there, nice build!

+1 for the Athlon 5350. It should have enough muscle to handle 1080 transcoding. On top of that, you can get a relatively inexpensive motherboard like the ASRock AM1H-ITX, which has 4 SATA ports, USB 3.0 and can be directly powered thru a DC jack with a laptop PSU. The Athlon 5350 has a 25 W tdp, making it ideal for low power builds.

It seems that Plex was the one keeping the HDD awake. I disabled the service 2 days ago, and now the HDD is spinning down as expexted. I'll move Plex to the RAM also and see how it works.

You can install in a sata DOM, but it must be bent. However, be aware of the bend direction. When I get home, I can load a picture of the original DOM that came with mine, and there you can check the direction.

The straight one is simply to high and the case won't close once you install it.

EDIT:

I just noticed that you will use a Kingspec SSD. From my experience, those things are like a lottery. I got a usb SSD from them and it worked properly, then I got a 1.8'' SSD from them for my Optiplex server and it failed after 2 days (check the first posts of this thread).

So yes, it is only 22 bucks, but I would recommend to steer away from Kingspec. Remember, if you buy cheap you buy twice.

I just found this thread were the problem with jbd2 is also described. As you said, it seems to be an inherent problem from EXT4. I think that I'll move to XFS. Have to order a new hard drive for my main computer, so I'll use that one to back up the data, reformat the server HDD, and then give it a shot. In any case, if RAM is an issue I can probably upgrade to 4 GB (although that will be a tight squeeze in my thin-ITX server).

I'll try over the weekend and report back my findings. Thanks for the help!

I am on EXT4, but my system has only 2 GB of RAM, and AFAIK XFS uses huge amounts of RAM. I could eventually upgrade to 4 (limited by my system). So, are you saying that the EXT4 journaling is the one keeping the HDDs spinning?

So, as per the suggestion from @Reed, I moved the init.d/samba to work from the RAM and deactivated Plex to see if that solved my problem (before making the changes you suggested, I decided to try deactivating the Plex Plugin). Unfortunately, it didn't. I have exactly the same 3 processes that @vomov showed in the first post accessing my HDD. I've set the spin down time to 30 minutes (for testing purposes, it should be around 1 to 2 hours), but still the drives are not going down. There are only 2 clients accessing OMV, and both are off. But still, today in the morning the HDD was spinning. SMART is also set to Standby, with a check interval of 30 minutes.

It seems like I can get it directly from HardKernel for $74 + $19 shipping (including the 5V 4A PSU) which roughly translates to 85€. Tempting, tempting, but nut sure. I was thinking to get a AM1 based system (Athlon 5350), but the XU4 made me reconsider it.

Sweet!!!!!

That might well be my next home server. Chances are that the power consumption is below my current Atom-based setup, but with much more muscle. Thanks for the clarification. Now I'll have to wait for the prices to drop. The XU4 costs around 100€ with shipping here in Germany.

Your temperatures are slightly lower than mine, bit it might be because of where my server is. On top of that, I have 2x2.5'' drives inside the case (both of them are unusually warm, the HDD is around 36° and the SSD remains around 41°), meaning that everything is kind of crowded inside the case. A little bit of cable management could help perhaps.

Sweet! Something to try during the weekend. However, I have to ask: when you get a Plex update, do the changes you made keep working or do you have to do it again?