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Message
Home NAS, Immich photos, Plex, Torrents, etc (help)
Posted on 10/27/25 at 10:34 am
Posted on 10/27/25 at 10:34 am
I'd like to set up all of the required shite to run Plex and torrent media, as well as set up a photo backup instead of relying on iCloud.
I saw the below post which prompted this, and either want to do this or whatever else is better/simpler.
Not a tech guru.
Aritlces, walkthroughs, youtube videos, etc. would be helpful since, again, none of this is something I'm familiar with.
I saw the below post which prompted this, and either want to do this or whatever else is better/simpler.
quote:
Home NAS with Immich for photos.
I initially set the NAS up for a media server so I could control what content my kids were getting pushed. And that has been wonderful. I use Plex which has apps for phone, TV, iPad, whatever.
From there I added on Immich for photos.
And Adguard Home is blocking ads on my whole home network.
I'm no techno wizard, I don't work in tech or anything. And I was able to get this set up without too too much trouble. Highly recommend to everyone.
Not a tech guru.
Aritlces, walkthroughs, youtube videos, etc. would be helpful since, again, none of this is something I'm familiar with.
4
Posted on 10/27/25 at 10:50 am to DukeSilver
It's not hard, but it's certainly not easy.
Do you have a spare computer lying around you can run 24/7 with a large amount of storage? That's where you need to start.
I've got a spare server that I could make pretty much plug and play for you, but 1, it wont be cheap and 2, you'd need to deal with a loud arse server in your house
Do you have a spare computer lying around you can run 24/7 with a large amount of storage? That's where you need to start.
I've got a spare server that I could make pretty much plug and play for you, but 1, it wont be cheap and 2, you'd need to deal with a loud arse server in your house
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:10 am to bluebarracuda
I think OP is looking for something simpler. Doesn't Synology have a docker container manager that might make it pretty simple?
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:12 am to DukeSilver
quote:slow down there cowboy
Home NAS, Immich photos, Plex, Torrents, etc (help)
you probably want to tackle this one project at a time.
plex server app is free; you might want to start there to see how you feel after getting things set up; do you have a decent collection of movies you want to serve, etc.
go ahead & pick up a cheap 16 or 18TB WD external drive to start; skip the RAID, these are just movies, if a drive fails you can get them back pretty easily.
strategize your media directories (movies, tv shows, music, etc) so you understand how that works w/ plex indexes.
fool around with optimization settings; try hitting your library remotely using the free plex app for smart tvs, phones, etc. nothing worse than setting everything up and your system cant handle streaming remotely.
make sure you can *SECURELY* remote into your device and you have it setup to handle power failures (aka, your hardware auto restarts after power failure, etc.) nothing worse than leaving the country for a month and your power goes out for 10 seconds the day after you leave and your server is down the whole time.
while on the subject, go ahead & figure out the Plex 2FA now. i was hacked by someone in india and they had deleted half of my library before i was able to contact a local friend and have him go to my house & physically pull the plug out of the wall (i was on vacation of course). fricking plex..how do you not send a 'are you sure?' email out before allowing someone to change the email associated with your account
that was years ago but i ended up going overboard on security afterward. if you like it, then you would probably want to trash all your work and set it up again from scratch on a solid piece of hardware; maybe you can cheat and go with a nvidia shield. important not to get too comfortable with your first attempt; thats a great way to reinforce bad/newbie habits that you're stuck with forever.
focus on plex/media serving and then worry about that other crap after you figure out if you can actually maintain this setup.
This post was edited on 10/27/25 at 11:29 am
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:15 am to Korkstand
quote:
Korkstand
kork makes a great point; plex isn't always the best answer; probably before you get ahead of yourself take a look at alternatives like jellyfin and emby.
plex is starting to frick up their business model by taking features away from the 'free' tier. i have had the premium for a decade so that's not been an issue for me but sooner or later you WILL need to upgrade and plex is making it so you pretty much have to.
i think jellyfin is still open source and no pricing model 'bait and switch' exists.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:20 am to Korkstand
quote:
I think OP is looking for something simpler. Doesn't Synology have a docker container manager that might make it pretty simple?
I don't use synology junk, so not sure about that. As far as docker manangers, Portainer or bust.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:25 am to CAD703X
quote:
go ahead & pick up a cheap 16 or 18TB WD external drive to start; skip the RAID, these are just movies, if a drive fails you can get them back pretty easily.
strategize your media directories (movies, tv shows, music, etc) so you understand how that works w/ plex indexes.
Somewhat agree with taking baby steps, but hodge-podging the storage solution isn't something I'd recommend. Storage expansion has gotten much better with ZFS (probably with other AIO companies too), but there's more risk than going with what you need storage wise out of the gate.
OP also needs to know that RAID isn't a backup, it's redundancy. They will still need to store important data (ie photos) in a secondary location to not lose it
This post was edited on 10/27/25 at 11:26 am
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:28 am to bluebarracuda
quote:preferably offsite so a house fire doesn't take out that 'backup' you setup in another room of the house.
They will still need to store important data (ie photos) in a secondary location to not lose it
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:29 am to bluebarracuda
I don't use Synology either, just figured it was the easy/safe choice for someone starting out.
I'm not about to recommend/explain the path I chose.
I'm not about to recommend/explain the path I chose.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:31 am to CAD703X
Even an onsite backup is better than nothing.
My setup is NAS>full Back up NAS>important date off site NAS and then a cold storage USB drive with some import data and important photos
My setup is NAS>full Back up NAS>important date off site NAS and then a cold storage USB drive with some import data and important photos
Posted on 10/27/25 at 11:31 am to Korkstand
quote:
I'm not about to recommend/explain the path I chose.
Probably best I don't do the same
Posted on 10/27/25 at 12:28 pm to CAD703X
quote:
plex is starting to frick up their business model by taking features away from the 'free' tier.
They just jacked up their price on the lifetime pass to $250. I think I got it for $99 more than a decade ago. I'm guessing they still run regular sales on it around holidays.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 12:30 pm to LemmyLives
quote:
I think I got it for $99 more than a decade ago. I'm guessing they still run regular sales on it around holidays.
i think i paid $75 during one of those 'cyber monday' sales and glad i did now
Posted on 10/27/25 at 1:17 pm to CAD703X
quote:
slow down there cowboy
Yeah I by no means think this is going to be a quick or easy process.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 1:46 pm to DukeSilver
Just avoid getting any info from YouTube or gamers. They’re looking for clicks and flash, but you’ll want to do things the boring way.
AI is fine, app documentation is better.
You’ll need to set up a domain and an access method. You don’t need to make it complicated. NPM docker can get you https access in minutes but you need to harden your LAN if you have opened it up in the past. No more windows sharing or anything like that. Need all PCs on “public network” mode and never direct NPM to a service that doesn’t have authentication enabled. Don’t expose anything you can’t lose or share with world.
Any hardware if fine. I recommend a little $250 i3 1220p mini or $330 1250p mini if you want dual quick sync. They won’t make noise or heat up your house.
AI is fine, app documentation is better.
You’ll need to set up a domain and an access method. You don’t need to make it complicated. NPM docker can get you https access in minutes but you need to harden your LAN if you have opened it up in the past. No more windows sharing or anything like that. Need all PCs on “public network” mode and never direct NPM to a service that doesn’t have authentication enabled. Don’t expose anything you can’t lose or share with world.
Any hardware if fine. I recommend a little $250 i3 1220p mini or $330 1250p mini if you want dual quick sync. They won’t make noise or heat up your house.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 1:51 pm to DukeSilver
If you want simple, You can get one of these, install TrueNAS, and use their built-in apps to run whatever you need. You would only need to buy some large spinners to install into the machine
Posted on 10/27/25 at 1:59 pm to DukeSilver
WD MyCloud can help you keep it simple.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 2:03 pm to CAD703X
quote:
i think jellyfin is still open source and no pricing model 'bait and switch' exists.
Jellyfin is still free/open but getting the library metadata to populate is nowhere near as simple as Plex.
I'm still a free Plex user and have also used jellyfin a ton. If you just want basic, DLNA type experience with little effort, jellyfin is fine. If you want something tracking your watch history, properly pulling metadata, and a nice visual experience with very little effort, Plex is still king of the free world.
This post was edited on 10/27/25 at 2:05 pm
Posted on 10/27/25 at 2:45 pm to notsince98
quote:ive never played with it but i'm keeping my options open.
properly pulling metadata, and a nice visual experience with very little effort, Plex is still king of the free world.
right now plexamp is the center of my musical universe; every album meticulously uploaded in FLAC and none of the nonsense.
i cant imagine moving to apple music or spotify.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 3:04 pm to Dallaswho
quote:Tailscale is free and pretty easy and avoids the security issues of poking holes in the firewall.
You’ll need to set up a domain and an access method. You don’t need to make it complicated. NPM docker can get you https access in minutes but you need to harden your LAN if you have opened it up in the past. No more windows sharing or anything like that. Need all PCs on “public network” mode and never direct NPM to a service that doesn’t have authentication enabled. Don’t expose anything you can’t lose or share with world.
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