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[Manfred]

My 8TB (User Data) QNAP NAS gets out of disk space < 1 TB less.

Currently I have what I call Scenario 1: NAS in separate room + HTPC, Windows based because of Blu Ray playing requirements (Living Room)+ PC (Home Office Room) for LS Mgmt. with LS path mounted from HTPC to the PC over the home network.

The easiest way is to simple upgrade the disks to higher cpacity disk.

But there is now the possibility to change the architecture to an AV server with in internal disks. Does it make sense?

What do you think/recommend?

Here are my thoughts:

Bricolage:
Scenario 1: No, Ethernet cable under wall plaster
Scenario 2: requires bricolage for at minimum a 6m HDMI cable from separate room to TV in living room and may be a long usb cable for BD ROM Drive

Required Size:
In both scenarios > 10 TB user data is possible

Noise:
Scenario 1: Spinning disk must be in a separate room → NAS (as is)
Scenario 2: Spinning disk must be in a separate room → AV server could not be in Living room

Dedicated GK for madVR:
In both scenarios possiblee

Electrical Noise:
Scenario 1: Only m.2 SSD induced Noise; if one believes in this?
Scenario 2: Internal SATA Disks generate more electrical noise, if one believes that electrical noise makes a difference with files playing from memory through Devialet AIR using Ethernet with internal disks in a media server?

Latency accessing files:
Scenario 1: Large for DSD files >1 sec, if loading whole file in memory before playing starts
Scenario 2: Near 0

Latency Metadata Update:
Scenario 1: Large data sets are retrieved to PC via the network and update must be send back through the network (I have mounted the LS path to a drive letter on my PC)
Scenario 2: same as in Scenario 1

BD ROM:
Scenario 1: In Living Room
Scenario 2: If positioned in living room it requires a long USB 3.0 cable > 5m (does that work?), otherwise if ripping or playing a disc one must go to a different room where the server resists

Reliability:
Scenario 1: QNAP NAS very stable, no reboot required in the last 5-6 years. Restart only required if updating to a new firmware.
Scenario 2: Experience shows: always Windows 10 Power State problems with HTPC which requires a restart of Windows, from my point of view not 24x7 ready

Price is not a most important criteria.

Thank you very much for your help!

[kr4]

I would go for 1:  Expand NAS.

[~OHM~]

I would go for 1:  Expand NAS.

+

tho you don't mention the amount of bays your Qnap has, IMHO if your to update the drives in the Qnap go bigger than the 10gigs as planed, why have to do it again in a few years? Seagate has released a new line of HD.

I have a Qnap in the main viewing room and if not for the lights I would never know it was there!

[astromo]

I would go for 1:  Expand NAS.

Depending on your current Qnap NAS, one of their expansion units could allow you to leave it as is and step out additional storage on a progressive basis:
https://www.qnap.com/en/product/items_by_series.php?CA=4

[kr4]

Tell us more about your current NAS setup.  How many drives and what size are they?  How many drive bays in the NAS?  Are you using RAID and, if so, what level?

[Manfred]

I have a "old" QNAP TS-419 P+, 4 Bay with 4 x WDRED 3 TB disks

[kr4]

I have a "old" QNAP TS-419 P+, 4 Bay with 4 x WDRED 3 TB disks

Is this in a RAID configuration?  If so, the easiest route may be possible.  After a full back up, replace each 3Tb drive with a 6Tb (or 4Tb or 8Tb) drive, one at a time. With each replacement, QNAP will rebuild the storage pool and expand it. 

Again, this depends on the current RAID setup.  If you are not using RAID, you would have to restore the data manually from the backup.

[blgentry]

This discussion is one of the reasons I don't want to use NAS at home.  I prefer large host attached drives.  Very easy to upgrade.  Very easy to migrate.  Just add a new big drive and copy from one to the other.

Maybe a similar NAS solution is worth considering?  Buy a new NAS with bigger drives and copy across them.  Do you have a backup strategy now?  If you don't, you really should.

Good luck.

Brian.

[Manfred]

It is Raid 5 configured.

[kr4]

It is Raid 5 configured.

If your firmware is up to date and you have a full separate back-up, you should be able to simply replace the drives, one at a time with larger drives.  In my experience with 5Tb drives, it will take a several hours each time to rebuild the pool and resynch the drives. 

[blgentry]

That "upgrade capacity in place" might work great.  Or it might not.  RAID controllers and devices can be a little strange sometimes.  Not always.  Just sometimes.

I would personally make sure I had a full backup of EVERYTHING before starting.  You can easily lose all of your data during a RAID rebuild.  ...and if you have a back anyway, why do an in place rebuild?  Just start with the bigger drives and copy from your backup to the new system.  Keep the old drives sitting in a box, safe and secure, for a few days until you're absolutely sure you got everything.  Those old drives are another form of backup.

Just some friendly advice.

Brian.

[Manfred]

To summarize it:
- most vote to upgrade the NAS instead to go for a media server.

Thank you very much to all who contribute to my post!

In the second half of 2017 I will decide, after I got the rest of my Dias ~2000 scanned and put them under the management of MC (13 000 audio FLAC files, 1400 video files incl. home videos, 12 000 images, 150 doc's).

[kr4]

That "upgrade capacity in place" might work great.  Or it might not.  RAID controllers and devices can be a little strange sometimes.  Not always.  Just sometimes.

I would personally make sure I had a full backup of EVERYTHING before starting.  You can easily lose all of your data during a RAID rebuild.  ...and if you have a back anyway, why do an in place rebuild? 

Because it is faster and less tedious.  I've done it twice (involuntarily) but it worked fine.

[blgentry]

Because it is faster and less tedious.  I've done it twice (involuntarily) but it worked fine.

I'm not trying to argue here.  But I kinda disagree.  With a multi-RAID-rebuild, you're going to have N events.  Where N is the number of drives you are replacing, and the number of RAID rebuilds that will happen.  Each one has a (small) probability of something going wrong.

With a restore from backup, it's just firing off the restore and waiting.  Sure, it might take 24 to 48 hours, depending on the size of the restore.  But it's just one thing to do.  Not 4 separate events.

Anyway.  You guys can certainly do whatever you want.  I'm just giving an opinion. 

Brian.

[mattkhan]

I agree. RAID is not a back up and rebuilding puts disks under increased load (which is when flaws tend to be exposed). I vote backup to a new, larger, store then switch to that as your live site.

[kr4]

I'm not trying to argue here.  But I kinda disagree.  With a multi-RAID-rebuild, you're going to have N events.  Where N is the number of drives you are replacing, and the number of RAID rebuilds that will happen.  Each one has a (small) probability of something going wrong.

With a restore from backup, it's just firing off the restore and waiting.  Sure, it might take 24 to 48 hours, depending on the size of the restore.  But it's just one thing to do.  Not 4 separate events.

Anyway.  You guys can certainly do whatever you want.  I'm just giving an opinion. 

Understood.  I was just giving mine..