The degraded mode is where the volume is in an “unsafe” state where my data is available only on the other healthy drive. A couple of years ago my Synology NAS server turned into a degraded mode and I lost all the files inside one of the two hard drives. Here is an example why backing up your media files is so important. I’ve also added photos folder from the Synology NAS to my Plex Media Server so that I can view photos as seamlessly as other media files such as recorded TV on other devices. Then, I map network folders from the Synology NAS to my computers to access all documents and photos.

To make sure I have reliable backups for the most important files such as my documents and photos, I use a Synology Network Attached storage with hard drives mirroring all files to both hard drives all the time. In other words, a NAS server allows you to share media files between several computers and portable entertainment devices. NAS (Network Attached Storage) is an abbreviation of the term network attached storage, which is a file server that can be accessed over a home network as opposed to a single computer access. Then, I use Plexbmc Kodi add-on on my living room and bedroom HTPCs to access all recorded TV shows from my media server (running Plex). I use my Windows 10-based value HTPC as a media server to record, store, and stream all media files with Argus TV, MCEBuddy and Plex software.

It is also a much more affordable solution than buying a powerful commercial NAS server as a media server. If you plan on using back-end applications like Plex Media Server to store and transcode your media on the fly, then I would recommend that you build a media server yourself as it is going to be the most cost effective approach.ĭIY media server will do all the heavy lifting such as recording live TV, scraping metadata, and transcoding video files and online video streams. The front-end does not need to have any storage for media files, TV tuners, or DVD/Blu-ray drive.

Your main front-end should be a super silent Home Theater PC (HTPC). WD Red hard drives to store your media files.Synology DiskStation DS216j or DS416j as a NAS storage.Custom-built HTPC or NVIDIA Shield TV as a streaming media player.

Here is a summary of recommended products needed: It is useful to think of your home theater as a modular setup with a separate front-end and back-end.

Network attached storage music server