@UndSim Thanks for your detailed explanation!
I new to all of this, and learning a lot—so I appreciate your insight!
Based on what you explained, I think my setup works for my current needs, and as a learning platform. I’m sure the needs/hardware requirements will eventually change over time as I learn more/do more.
Cheers!
hey all. new here, first post! sorry it’s a bit long, please move it if it’s in the wrong place!
wonder if someone can help me? my requirements are minimal.
main computer is a mac mini 2018 running plex, external 1tb samsung t5 now full so looking for another system with more storage and flexibility. i have about 1tb of media, all 1080p; no interest in 4k video. share plex library with one other but would like share with up to five people.
was looking at synology ds220+ for a while then i found this site and the 290 / s01 threads.
would something like the s01 be a good choice for my needs? i would really like to have something like a 250gb ssd and a 4tb hd in the machine to store the library, rather than a separate nas / storage.
i’ve had a look on ebay for the s01 and it’s mostly pentium j4005 j4025 j5005 etc - is that powerful enough? i don’t see many here in the uk with g5900 or i3 / i5 cpus. also most of them seem to have an external power supply (no gpu option) so i guess there are quite a few versions of these things?
the cheapest one on ebay is this on here selling for £80
but then this one with the i5-9400 is £379!
but not being able to see inside the chassis of all these machines it’s not easy to tell if they have all the upgrade options like the model featured in this thread. sata ports etc… i’m so confused!
The J4005 is not enough. The i5-9400 is overkill…
This guide will probably not apply well to those in the UK/EU.
what about this one with a j5040 for £129?
Nope, none of the J series are worth buying for this purpose.
If I was going to follow this guide and put Ubuntu 20.04 and Plex, and nothing else, with media on another device, what size hard drive would I need?
I have about a terabyte of media. I guess I’m wondering how much space Plex and it’s thumbnails/metadata needs.
Is Ubuntu Desktop recommended? I’m relatively new to Linux but pretty comfortable with Server and simply ssh-ing into it.
You won’t need a huge drive for Plex metadata. Something as small as 120GB would be way more than enough for metadata storage for a hundred TB or more of media. Look for a good deal on an NVMe drive. As for which OS to choose, we usually recommend Desktop because the GUI is a little easier, but if you’re comfortable in the terminal, server works just fine. I use Server 20.04 for my Plex server.
Use desktop. 64gb hard drive is enough for Ubuntu, Plex, and metadata for 1tb. Just get 128gb ssd so that you never need to think about it again (and have something useful in the future if you need to repurpose it)
I was wondering if anyone else was having a problem with the drive connected to the the optical CD/DVD connector “disappearing” from the OS?
I tested the drive itself–drive passes the tests. I switch the optical drive caddy I am using to another, with the same results. Edit/Correction: The same drive via an external USB caddy also shows up, but not when connected to the internal/motherboard connector that was originally for the CD/DVD Drive.
So I am wondering if the issue is with my (OS) Debian Bullseye-based install? Or if it’s an intermittent hardware problem (the same thing happened a couple weeks ago—I did a reinstall and “found” the drive, and it has worked for the last couple weeks until now).
I don’t want to call HP like and idiot when the problem is on my end. So I would appreciate and insight as to what I should try, or the best way to troubleshoot this.
TIA
@Sea-Wolfe - I use 3 of them without any issues (so far) for nodes of proxmox cluster. given proxmox 7 that I am running is also debian 11 , i think our setups are comparable.
quick question - what hardware are you using for the caddy and you of cause have connected both cables to it (power and data) ?
Thanks for that info–I was wondering if it was a debian issue. I am on Debian Bullseye (11) though.
The caddy is just one of those cheap generic ones from Amazon. But I have 3 of them–and I have swapped and tested with another.
Yes, both cables are connected. This was working fine–the drive just suddenly stopped showing up…
good luck, hopefully you can figure it out. i had nothing in terms of issues from drives connected through similar caddy in the last few weeks I have been running proxmox…
Thank you! Do you per chance know which Bios is on your units?
Mine still has F.21 on it. I’m thinking of updating it.
It seems the HP Bios update utility is windows only though. So gotta get a window boot going to do it.
Also I switched the Bios from ACHI to Raid–I think Raid being older has better compatibility and still supports ACHI features. Is that what you are using? Trying everything here… I appreciate you trying to help!
I will check and respond - I recall downloading the upgrade files for BIOS but system telling me no update is needed (already running latest). Also I do not recall switching ACHI to RAID , I think I run it default as is - just swapped CPU for i7-10700 and put in 2 sticks of 16 GB ram each without ever logging to my node #2 and #3
checked. my setup is exactly as yours - BIOS is F.21 , ‘Sata emulation’=RAID. So I dont think that is the factor. check the caddy you are using? Any issues with it previously?
Links
…
- NVMe FAQ - Adapters: [Official] NVMe FAQ & Info - M.2, U.2, heatsinks, and more!
- Add 8GB RAM or 8GB RAM (pick whichever is cheaper)
I grabbed an HP S01 on eBay. Thanks guys! Just a quick question, do I need an adapter to put an NVMe drive in? And for the 8GB of RAM, is it recommended to purchase an 8GB stick and replace the 4GB the desktop comes with, or buy another 4GB stick and add it to the existing one?
You don’t need an adapter unless you want to install more than one m.2 NVMe drive, but you may want to add a heatsink from that post. And keep the 4GB stick installed in addition to the 8GB.
I run mine S01 models with 32 GB of RAM each (2 sticks x 16 GB per stick). i think it is the max the motherboard would support
How much RAM do you think I need for a dedicated Plex box?
For the hard drive, would something like this work? Seems so cheap which makes me cautious. But I guess 128 GB is pretty cheap nowadays.
There’s also some $14 listings for used Samsung NVMe pm951 models where the reviews are talking about Windows 7!
8GB is plenty for a dedicated Plex server. And that drive you linked could work, but you would need a length extender. That drive is 30mm long, the S01 only has mounting locations for 42 or 80mm drives.