Over the last few months, I’ve gotten into the home lab/server kick—mostly to learn, do some things for myself, and finally put to use a lot of the computer tech I’ve collected over the years. (I’ll make a blog post about that in the future.)

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how to make better use of my collection of over 700 DVDs and Blu-rays. I recently bought a Plex Lifetime Pass right before the price doubled, and I think it was a good investment. I know I could use Jellyfin, but not all of our TVs support it—whereas they do support Plex.

I’ve started adding newer DVDs and Blu-rays to my system in preparation. I’m moving back to physical media and away from streaming services because of all the nonsense—shows and movies disappearing for arbitrary reasons, content being pulled without warning, and the fact that you’re only licensing what you think you own. Well, guess what? I do own the physical media.

Which brings me to my question—and where I need some guidance: What kind of NAS should I get?

I don’t think my Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB will be sufficient (it’s already being used for other things). I currently have a Synology BeeStation for our photos and a limited set of backups, and it works well as a simple solution. But what about movies and comprehensive backups?

Should I go with Synology, UGreen, or some other brand? If I roll my own, should I use something like a Zimaboard? (I’ve been looking at that.) I’m a bit stumped. I’d like something with software that’s actively developed and regularly updated. I’m just unsure.

#HomeLab #PlexServer #NASStorage #SelfHosting