Storage Solutions for our OUT-OF-CONTROL iTunes Libraries

[aced411]

Hate to keep it simple....but I'm not about to invest in enterprise strength storage solutions when I can meet my needs with a couple external drives.

I use a 1TB external firewire drive for my entire iTunes library, with a 1.5TB external USB drive backing up everything via Time Machine. No lag with Apple TV. By the time I run out of space, 2 or 3TB drives will be cheap.

 

[ascender]

I'm still no further forward with how to solve this problem. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking the solution is to replace the ATV with a Mac Mini and a locally attached massive HDD.

Then back this up to somewhere, perferably offsite. Instantly I solve the problems of streaming being slow or relying on a remote disk connected to another networked machine spinning up.

Unless there's a NAS device out there which supports audio & video streaming from iTunes as well as support for playlists etc. The Netgear ReadyNAS box and QNAP ones both look good, but I'm not sure on their full capabilities.

Also, when you have a NAS serving iTunes, how do you go about synching music to your iPod/iPhone?

Current setup:

• Apple TV downstairs, hard-wired to AEBS.
• iMac upstairs, hard-wired to AEBS, sharing a FW800-attached Drobo (4 * 1.5TB HDDs).

I'd rather not have the iMac on the whole time and I still think the Drobo is the weak link in the chain in terms of performance.

 

[ascender]

After a lot of time researching this, I've decided to go for a Mac Mini. The last straw was when ATV started playing up again over the weekend, refusing to play certain video files.

I'll go for a Mac Mini, connected to a Drobo over FW800. Mini will have Ethernet set to wake-on activity, so other machines can still connect to the iTunes library. The Mini has a surprisingly low power draw and the Drobo spins down after inactivity.

I love my Apple TV and when its working, its a brilliant piece of kit. But it still seems to have something programmed in to it which makes it throw a wobbly, just when you think its working perfectly. Even with an all-wired, all-Apple, up-to-date software and firmware setup, people are having problems. On the other hand, some people's setup works flawlessly no matter what they do to it.

In an ideal world, Apple would release some piece of software you could run on a NAS which would turn it in to a fully-functioned, proper iTunes home server. At the moment, any NAS solution I've read about seems to have some limitation or other, so its surprising Apple hasn't done something like this or even partnered with a firm to produce an official iTunes home server NAS box.

 

[starcat]

After a lot of time researching this, I've decided to go for a Mac Mini. The last straw was when ATV started playing up again over the weekend, refusing to play certain video files.

I'll go for a Mac Mini, connected to a Drobo over FW800. Mini will have Ethernet set to wake-on activity, so other machines can still connect to the iTunes library. The Mini has a surprisingly low power draw and the Drobo spins down after inactivity.

I love my Apple TV and when its working, its a brilliant piece of kit. But it still seems to have something programmed in to it which makes it throw a wobbly, just when you think its working perfectly. Even with an all-wired, all-Apple, up-to-date software and firmware setup, people are having problems. On the other hand, some people's setup works flawlessly no matter what they do to it.

In an ideal world, Apple would release some piece of software you could run on a NAS which would turn it in to a fully-functioned, proper iTunes home server. At the moment, any NAS solution I've read about seems to have some limitation or other, so its surprising Apple hasn't done something like this or even partnered with a firm to produce an official iTunes home server NAS box.

I would suggest you go with an unRAID and not Drobo. Get yourself the favor and buy a preconfigured system from lime-technology.com as they use the best parts available for the same price you can assemble then (so to speak, you do not pay the build). They will allow individual drives to failure and with two or more disk failures you won't loose all the array. They are able to spin up and down individual drives, not so with the Drobo or any other RAID5 based NASes out there. You would invest far too much in a Mini plus Drobo for what you would like to do.

 

[eegger]

I would suggest you go with an unRAID and not Drobo. Get yourself the favor and buy a preconfigured system from lime-technology.com as they use the best parts available for the same price you can assemble then (so to speak, you do not pay the build). They will allow individual drives to failure and with two or more disk failures you won't loose all the array. They are able to spin up and down individual drives, not so with the Drobo or any other RAID5 based NASes out there. You would invest far too much in a Mini plus Drobo for what you would like to do.

Sure spend $1200 on a server with no hard drives included, and still have no backup


I've just upgraded my Mac Pro with 2 2TB HD's for storage only, I have about 1.1TB Free , for backup I have 1 2TB drive that has a complete backup of one of the 2TB Drives and a 1TB External for backings up the 2nd 2TB Drive. So I have all my data mirrored onto drives that are not running. I wish I would have purchase 4 of the 2TB drive from newegg when they were $140 each but oh well.

I color label the files that are backed up and any new file is clearly visiable and I know what will have to be backup up ( data is only being added to one of the drives)

Total cost for 4TB of storage with 3TB backup

(3) 2TB HD's = 420
Case for external $40
(1) 1TB HD (2 X 500GB) = 80

Total $540 pretty hard to beat


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817347021&cm_re=macally-_-17-347-021-_-Product


Most people should just get 2 of the above cases and 4 HD and have one active and one as backup, forget the Raid/Unraid/Drobo/Servers, any other crap etc.

I did have 2 1.5TB and 2 1TB drives, I ebayed those when I got the 2TB drives and it only cost me less than $100 to upgrade to more spaces and less drives.

 

[milton.sheaf]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817347021&cm_re=macally-_-17-347-021-_-Product

You must be mistaken, that is a USB enclosure you've linked to here. USB sucks for data storage. It's horribly slow, and it sucks. If you're going to get an external disk, you want Firewire at a bare minimum. USB is just an embarrassment for attaching hard drives it's so slow.

Fw400 is quite noticeably faster than USB2, and Fw800 delivers more than double the speed of USB2. eSata is faster still. Leave those USB ports for the keyboards and mice, because well, that's about all they're good for.

 

[starcat]

Sure spend $1200 on a server with no hard drives included, and still have no backup


I've just upgraded my Mac Pro with 2 2TB HD's for storage only, I have about 1.1TB Free , for backup I have 1 2TB drive that has a complete backup of one of the 2TB Drives and a 1TB External for backings up the 2nd 2TB Drive. So I have all my data mirrored onto drives that are not running. I wish I would have purchase 4 of the 2TB drive from newegg when they were $140 each but oh well.

I color label the files that are backed up and any new file is clearly visiable and I know what will have to be backup up ( data is only being added to one of the drives)

Total cost for 4TB of storage with 3TB backup

(3) 2TB HD's = 420
Case for external $40
(1) 1TB HD (2 X 500GB) = 80

Total $540 pretty hard to beat


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817347021&cm_re=macally-_-17-347-021-_-Product


Most people should just get 2 of the above cases and 4 HD and have one active and one as backup, forget the Raid/Unraid/Drobo/Servers, any other crap etc.

I did have 2 1.5TB and 2 1TB drives, I ebayed those when I got the 2TB drives and it only cost me less than $100 to upgrade to more spaces and less drives.

You got what you pay for dude! Wish you luck with your USB enclosures!!

 

[eegger]

You got what you pay for dude! Wish you luck with your USB enclosures!!

Your right, I got what I payed for, the best solution, does everything yours does better and cheaper with a backup of the data,


USB is only for backup purposes, and can be taken off site, something your precious unraid system doesnt have/cant do!


True backups are not contained in the same system, so go ahead and spend another $1200 + HD's to backup your unraid.


Lets See $2400 for 2 unraids + HD's or $600, you choose

What a Deal and cluster F_CK for most users that want a simple solution for a simple problem.

 

[eegger]

You must be mistaken, that is a USB enclosure you've linked to here. USB sucks for data storage. It's horribly slow, and it sucks. If you're going to get an external disk, you want Firewire at a bare minimum. USB is just an embarrassment for attaching hard drives it's so slow.

Fw400 is quite noticeably faster than USB2, and Fw800 delivers more than double the speed of USB2. eSata is faster still. Leave those USB ports for the keyboards and mice, because well, that's about all they're good for.

While you do state the obvious, that USB < FW400 < FW800 < Etc

There are many case that will work or have more features, the point is to just use an external case with large HD's Vs the Raid/Unraid Solutions


It's working just fine for me, speed isn't an issue, when your streaming files/backing up things,

 

[mstrze]

Guys,

We are talking iTunes libraries...not editing HD video here. USB 2.0 is plenty fast enough for music storage and to stream a video file for playback.

 

[NightStorm]

Guys,

We are talking iTunes libraries...not editing HD video here. USB 2.0 is plenty fast enough for music storage and to stream a video file for playback.

+1

 

[prostuff1]

Your right, I got what I payed for, the best solution, does everything yours does better and cheaper with a backup of the data,


USB is only for backup purposes, and can be taken off site, something your precious unraid system doesnt have/cant do!


True backups are not contained in the same system, so go ahead and spend another $1200 + HD's to backup your unraid.


Lets See $2400 for 2 unraids + HD's or $600, you choose

What a Deal and cluster F_CK for most users that want a simple solution for a simple problem.

To each there own...

It is all up to the user and how he sees his needs. Obviously, you think your solution works best, while starcat and I lean towards a centralized solution like unRAID. And as for your "off site backup" jab to unRAID that can be thrown out the window if you install CrashPlan on the unRAID server. I use it to backup any "important" stuff I have to the cloud, that way I can get it back in the case of an emergency. That did not cost me $1,200 more, it only cost me $100 or so for the Family plan for a year. I use that family plan to backup my laptop, my sisters laptop, my parents desktop, and the unRAID server to the Crashplan cloud. I also use the Crashplan software to backup my laptop, my sisters laptop, and my parents desktop to the unRAID server, this in effect gives me MULTIPLE (3 really) copies of every computer I own (except the unRAID server). The best part is that if I only want to backup the other computers to the unRAID server then it is completely FREE to use. It is an inexpensive solution and short of having to wait for the data to upload is not hard to get running.

And for reference you do not need to spend $1200 on the server. The ones Lime-Technology sells are very high quality (and basically at cost for the pieces) and allow for future expansion very easily. I built my server and bought 2 750GB drives (best bang for the buck at the time I built) for right around, if not just shy of, the $600 you are so proud to tout. By watching for deals and the like I was able to build a server that now has 10 hard drives (2x2TB, 2x1.5TB, 1x1TB, 2x750GB, 2x500GB) which gives me right around 8.5TB of storage WITH parity protection against one failed drive.

I use my server for more then just iTunes though, so it was the correct choice for me. Mine houses my entire DVD collection in ISO format so that I can play any DVD on any computer and through the HTPC I have hooked up to my TV in the living room.

 

[mstrze]

I will add that having some sort of back-up solution 'in the cloud' is probably a good thing. Having an offsite backup is smart, especially for critical data.

 

[ascender]

I will add that having some sort of back-up solution 'in the cloud' is probably a good thing. Having an offsite backup is smart, especially for critical data.

I've been recommended Crash Plan for my computers, but I was wondering if there was any sort of off-site backup which will happily take 3TB+ of music & video files.

 

[eegger]

To each there own...

It is all up to the user and how he sees his needs. Obviously, you think your solution works best, while starcat and I lean towards a centralized solution like unRAID. And as for your "off site backup" jab to unRAID that can be thrown out the window if you install CrashPlan on the unRAID server. I use it to backup any "important" stuff I have to the cloud, that way I can get it back in the case of an emergency. That did not cost me $1,200 more, it only cost me $100 or so for the Family plan for a year. I use that family plan to backup my laptop, my sisters laptop, my parents desktop, and the unRAID server to the Crashplan cloud. I also use the Crashplan software to backup my laptop, my sisters laptop, and my parents desktop to the unRAID server, this in effect gives me MULTIPLE (3 really) copies of every computer I own (except the unRAID server). The best part is that if I only want to backup the other computers to the unRAID server then it is completely FREE to use. It is an inexpensive solution and short of having to wait for the data to upload is not hard to get running.

And for reference you do not need to spend $1200 on the server. The ones Lime-Technology sells are very high quality (and basically at cost for the pieces) and allow for future expansion very easily. I built my server and bought 2 750GB drives (best bang for the buck at the time I built) for right around, if not just shy of, the $600 you are so proud to tout. By watching for deals and the like I was able to build a server that now has 10 hard drives (2x2TB, 2x1.5TB, 1x1TB, 2x750GB, 2x500GB) which gives me right around 8.5TB of storage WITH parity protection against one failed drive.

I use my server for more then just iTunes though, so it was the correct choice for me. Mine houses my entire DVD collection in ISO format so that I can play any DVD on any computer and through the HTPC I have hooked up to my TV in the living room.

Wow you first got 1.5TB for about 600, and I get 7TB for $600

+1 to you my friend.


I stream to 2 ATV in my house,( it's called a network) I use my computer too, for more than Itunes too It has my whole DVD/Music collection too Good luck downloading 8.5TB from the cloud


Lets See here

Large HD and Externals

HD Fails (has duplicate HD offline)
Case Fails, (Take HD out and Put in New Case, Any case will do)
Simple


Server or NAS/RAID

1 HD fails (Raid/Server OK)
2 or more ( Cry and hope you had it backed up)
NAS/Raid Fail ( need to replace with same controller or case,)
Server parts Diemany parts can fail)
OS issues
Motherboard Died
Raid/HD Controller
PSU
Needs to run 24/7 in most cases
Complicated
Time and $$$$$$$$$
nothing more Gained

 

[prostuff1]

I've been recommended Crash Plan for my computers, but I was wondering if there was any sort of off-site backup which will happily take 3TB+ of music & video files.

Crashplan will happily store that much stuff, uploading all of that on the other hand will be painful. Crashplan does offer a way to send in some of your data to start an initial seed, so you are not backing up so much every single time.

Wow you first got 1.5TB for about 600, and I get 7TB for $600

+1 to you my friend.

Get off your **** high horse. I was trying to keep this civil but you seem to want to "poke the bull" so to speak.

I stream to 2 ATV in my house,( it's called a network) I use my computer too, for more than Itunes too It has my whole DVD/Music collection too Good luck downloading 8.5TB from the cloud

If you would read the who post I made you would have read that I am only backing up a PORTION of the server. I don't need backups of my DVD rips, that is pointless. I have the DVD's and can re-rip them if need be, granted it would take a while and be a pain but it can be done.

Large HD and Externals

HD Fails (has duplicate HD offline)
Case Fails, (Take HD out and Put in New Case, Any case will do)
Simple

You do realize that I can do the EXACT same thing with my unRAID server right... I can just keep the drive in the server and disconnect the power to the drive so that it is in "cold storage"

Server or NAS/RAID

1 HD fails (Raid/Server OK)

correct

2 or more ( Cry and hope you had it backed up)

Not quite the case with unRAID. If 2 drives fail I can still get to the data that is on the other drives no problem

NAS/Raid Fail ( need to replace with same controller or case,)
Server parts Diemany parts can fail)
OS issues
Motherboard Died
Raid/HD Controller
PSU

ALL are NONE ISSUES with unRAID as all I need to do is get a new part and start the server back up. A little work will need to be done to rearrange the drives probably so they are in the correct spot but once that is done the array can be started without a problem.

Needs to run 24/7 in most cases

Mine does indeed run 24/7 but there are people that have "Suspend to RAM" and S3 standby working with there unRAID servers. Not to mention that any drive that is not in use gets spun down to save power.

Complicated

Sure, I will give you a little leeway with that statement.

Time and $$$$$$$$$

At the initial outset, probably, but once it is set up there is not more work then what you do in juggling your drives back and forth to make sure you have a backup.

nothing more Gained

Again, in the eye of the beholder. I feel that having all the stuff on the NAS makes my life much simpler.

 

[eegger]

Crashplan will happily store that much stuff, uploading all of that on the other hand will be painful. Crashplan does offer a way to send in some of your data to start an initial seed, so you are not backing up so much every single time.



Get off your **** high horse. I was trying to keep this civil but you seem to want to "poke the bull" so to speak.


If you would read the who post I made you would have read that I am only backing up a PORTION of the server. I don't need backups of my DVD rips, that is pointless. I have the DVD's and can re-rip them if need be, granted it would take a while and be a pain but it can be done.


You do realize that I can do the EXACT same thing with my unRAID server right... I can just keep the drive in the server and disconnect the power to the drive so that it is in "cold storage"


correct

Not quite the case with unRAID. If 2 drives fail I can still get to the data that is on the other drives no problem

ALL are NONE ISSUES with unRAID as all I need to do is get a new part and start the server back up. A little work will need to be done to rearrange the drives probably so they are in the correct spot but once that is done the array can be started without a problem.

Mine does indeed run 24/7 but there are people that have "Suspend to RAM" and S3 standby working with there unRAID servers. Not to mention that any drive that is not in use gets spun down to save power.

Sure, I will give you a little leeway with that statement.

At the initial outset, probably, but once it is set up there is not more work then what you do in juggling your drives back and forth to make sure you have a backup.

Again, in the eye of the beholder. I feel that having all the stuff on the NAS makes my life much simpler.

If you call stating the obvious a Poke, Then

Poke

 

[eegger]

Crashplan will happily store that much stuff, uploading all of that on the other hand will be painful. Crashplan does offer a way to send in some of your data to start an initial seed, so you are not backing up so much every single time.

Why trust someone else with your data?

Get off your **** high horse. I was trying to keep this civil but you seem to want to "poke the bull" so to speak.

Poke

If you would read the who post I made you would have read that I am only backing up a PORTION of the server. I don't need backups of my DVD rips, that is pointless. I have the DVD's and can re-rip them if need be, granted it would take a while and be a pain but it can be done.

I guess Your Ok with Data Loss and waisting Days and Days of your Time

You do realize that I can do the EXACT same thing with my unRAID server right... I can just keep the drive in the server and disconnect the power to the drive so that it is in "cold storage"

But you are not, Then why use unraid

Not quite the case with unRAID. If 2 drives fail I can still get to the data that is on the other drives no problem

See above, you are not doing this = Data Loss

ALL are NONE ISSUES with unRAID as all I need to do is get a new part and start the server back up. A little work will need to be done to rearrange the drives probably so they are in the correct spot but once that is done the array can be started without a problem.

Time and $$ and no fun

Mine does indeed run 24/7 but there are people that have "Suspend to RAM" and S3 standby working with there unRAID servers. Not to mention that any drive that is not in use gets spun down to save power.

So whats your point?

Sure, I will give you a little leeway with that statement.

I agree

At the initial outset, probably, but once it is set up there is not more work then what you do in juggling your drives back and forth to make sure you have a backup.

Barely any of my time, 4 screws and done, time machine automated

how about you?

Again, in the eye of the beholder. I feel that having all the stuff on the NAS makes my life much simpler.

I feel the same way having my stuff on Hard Drives too

 

[starcat]

prostuff1, why trying eeger to help -- by reading his comments it is obvious that he doesn't need the help as he knows everything (or actually not judging by his comments). Just let him do his USB stuff and have fun with it.

 

[ascender]

The reason I mentioned Crash Plan or similar is that you could have 20 servers in your house with mirrored copies of your data, but they could be worthless in the event of a fire or other awful event.

 

[prostuff1]

The reason I mentioned Crash Plan or similar is that you could have 20 servers in your house with mirrored copies of your data, but they could be worthless in the event of a fire or other awful event.

Agreed, and that is the reason I backup the important stuff to CrashPlan. You could as easily set up another unRAID server and use Crashplan to backup to it, for free. You only have to pay to use there cloud service, everything else is free.

Like I said, 3TB over any Internet connection is going to take forever. CrashPlan allows you to seed a certain amount and then backup the rest. You could build another server, copy it locally, then move it off site and use Crashplan then to keep it in sync.

 

[starcat]

The reason I mentioned Crash Plan or similar is that you could have 20 servers in your house with mirrored copies of your data, but they could be worthless in the event of a fire or other awful event.

In that case everything is insured and you easily get replacement including components, media, etc, except for personal pics and videos for which one should have a 2nd copy in a different place, but not on a internet backup platform, because if you read carefuly they conditions, you will notice that there is no guarantee whatsoever for your data and especially not for the long term.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Hate to keep it simple....but I'm not about to invest in enterprise strength storage solutions when I can meet my needs with a couple external drives.

I use a 1TB external firewire drive for my entire iTunes library, with a 1.5TB external USB drive backing up everything via Time Machine. No lag with Apple TV. By the time I run out of space, 2 or 3TB drives will be cheap.

Yeah, if that's where you're at now, externals should suffice just fine.

I started off a few years back with an 80GB drive and thought I was set for life. Of course, a year or two later I went to a 250GB drive, then a 500GB, then a 1TB, and now I'm out of space and trying to figure out what to do next. They make 2TB externals, but I figures at the rate I'm at that will be filled in 6 months.

The externals USB drives have done well for me for a few years. As of now, I'm limiting my media on my 1TB drive and backing it up to another 1TB drive, but I've also got my lossless files on a separate 500GB drive (it too backed up to another 500GB drive). It's getting to be a chore and I need everything in one iTunes library and to be able to not worry about backing it up manually. A drobo with three or four 2TB drives sounds nice, but the proprietary format is a bit offputting... it's something I'll have to think of.

 

[eegger]

Yeah, if that's where you're at now, externals should suffice just fine.

I started off a few years back with an 80GB drive and thought I was set for life. Of course, a year or two later I went to a 250GB drive, then a 500GB, then a 1TB, and now I'm out of space and trying to figure out what to do next. They make 2TB externals, but I figures at the rate I'm at that will be filled in 6 months.

The externals USB drives have done well for me for a few years. As of now, I'm limiting my media on my 1TB drive and backing it up to another 1TB drive, but I've also got my lossless files on a separate 500GB drive (it too backed up to another 500GB drive). It's getting to be a chore and I need everything in one iTunes library and to be able to not worry about backing it up manually. A drobo with three or four 2TB drives sounds nice, but the proprietary format is a bit offputting... it's something I'll have to think of.

Storage needs are always growing,

Look for a External Case that holds 2 Hard drives, if you put 2 2TB HD's in there you have a 4TB Volume in one case. Double it and you have a backup. as you need more, you just replace with bigger hard drives over the next year or two as your need surpass the current setup

Even if you have a Drobo/unraid, you dont have a backup, you have some safety in hard drive failure. but not data failure !!!!!!!

 

[DAMAC3]

Wow you first got 1.5TB for about 600, and I get 7TB for $600

+1 to you my friend.


I stream to 2 ATV in my house,( it's called a network) I use my computer too, for more than Itunes too It has my whole DVD/Music collection too Good luck downloading 8.5TB from the cloud


Lets See here

Large HD and Externals

HD Fails (has duplicate HD offline)
Case Fails, (Take HD out and Put in New Case, Any case will do)
Simple


Server or NAS/RAID

1 HD fails (Raid/Server OK)
2 or more ( Cry and hope you had it backed up)
NAS/Raid Fail ( need to replace with same controller or case,)
Server parts Diemany parts can fail)
OS issues
Motherboard Died
Raid/HD Controller
PSU
Needs to run 24/7 in most cases
Complicated
Time and $$$$$$$$$
nothing more Gained

Based on your comments it looks like you really don't understand unRAID, its advantages/disadvantages, features, etc. I spent about $200 on my system (minus the drives). It is capable of handling eight drives with out adding any controller cards. I only have 2 2TB drives and 2 1TB drives currently, but I will probably be adding drives as my Blu-ray collection is growing fast. This type of system isn't for everyone, but it has so many advantages over the method you are using. It is just a matter of whether those advantages are important and/or necessary for what you are doing with your data.

Your storage method isn't dumb by any means, but your attitude toward what other people are doing with there data is very dumb. Just about every one of the negatives you listed against "Server or NAS/RAID" shows a misunderstanding of the system.

It isn't that hard to set up (I knew very little programming or Linux commands when I did it).

If two or more hard drives fail then you lose part of the data on those two drives (what happens if your drive and its backup fails?).

If any part dies, you replace the part and the system is back to normal without any changes to the OS (which runs off of a flash drive; I have a backup of my flash drive as well).

The file system is not linked to any controller or RAID card, so you don't have to go finding a replacement exactly like what you had.

It isn't that complicated. Surprisingly, it is very simple and reliable after you set it up (which is no more difficult that building your own PC).

You could argue that it saves time from continually hooking up drives for archival purposes. The redundancy is done automatically. I have already had drive failures, and it was a very easy recovery.

You gain quite a bit over a simple external drive system. Your data is not tied to any specific computer. I have found that sharing your data to both Windows and Mac systems with unRAID is so much simpler than using external drives connected to one system. And are you saying it is simpler to keep up with all archiving of drives rather than just letting a system do it for you?

I'm glad you found a system that works for your needs, but that doesn't mean what works for you is even close to the best system for everyone else. I set up a Mac Mini home theater system with Plex for a friend of a friend so he could house his large DVD collection on some type of storage system and use Plex as the interface. I decided not to go the unRAID for him because he needs something very simple, so I set up a DROBO for him. It met his needs well. Either of those systems is superior to external drives. Otherwise, people wouldn't pay for them. But it comes down to what someone needs.