Do you have a lot of movies and TV shows that you want to store and watch at home? Are you looking for the best nas for home media server to help make this happen? If so, then you have come to the right place. In this blog post, we will discuss the top three best nas for home media servers on the market today. We will also provide a buyer’s guide to help you choose the best nas for your needs. So, without further ado, let’s get started!
Here Are The Top 3 NAS for Home Media Server To Check At A Glance If You Are In A Hurry:
Top 8 Best NAS for Home Media Server Reviewed
The Seagate Portable 5TB external hard drive is a great way to add digital storage capacity to your PS4, PC, gaming console, or Mac. This USB-powered drive has a 5TB capacity and read speed of up to 120 megabytes per second, making it perfect for quickly transferring large files. The black Seagate Portable is compact and easy to take with you on the go, and its form factor makes it perfect for use with laptops.
The QNAP TS-231K is a 2-bay NAS optimized for home and small business multimedia applications. Powered by an Annapurna Labs AL-214 quad-core 1.7 GHz processor, the TS-231K provides excellent performance for tasks such as real-time transcoding of 4K videos, operating as a virtualization server, or running resource-intensive applications. The TS-231K features two Gigabit Ethernet ports that support failover and link aggregation modes to maximize throughput for data transmission.
The BUFFALO LinkStation 210 4TB NAS Home Office is a digital storage device that can hold up to 4 TB of data. It is compatible with devices PC, Mac, Android, and Apple iOS. The hard disk interface is Serial ATA-300. The brand is BUFFALO and the series is LinkStation LS210. This specific product is meant for personal use and connectivity technology is Ethernet. The hard disk form factor is 3.5 inches and the hard disk size is 4 TB.
The TERRA MASTER F2-210 2-Bay NAS Quad Core 1GB is perfect for small businesses and home users who need a reliable, high-performance storage solution. The Quad Core 1GB of RAM ensures smooth data transfers and fast access to files, while the pre-installed software makes setup easy. The TERRA MASTER F2-210 2-Bay NAS is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux devices, making it a versatile storage solution for any environment.
![Zyxel Personal Cloud Storage [2-Bay] for Home with Remote Access and Media Streaming, Disks not Included [NAS326]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41bNuAjxEjL._SL160_.jpg)
With ZyXEL Personal Cloud Storage, you can access your files from anywhere and share them with anyone. This brand-new storage solution from ZyXEL provides 2TB of storage space, so you can keep all of your photos, music, and videos in one place. Plus, the ZyXEL app makes it easy to access your files on the go. With ZyXEL Personal Cloud Storage, you’ll never have to worry about losing your data again.
The TerraMaster F5-221 NAS 5-Bay Cloud Storage is the perfect way to store your data in a safe and secure environment. The device comes with 2GB of RAM for quick access to files, and it can be accessed from any computer through FTP or WebDAV. The TerraMaster F5-221 NAS 5-Bay Cloud Storage features an easy setup wizard that will get you up and running in no time.
The Asustor AS1004T is a powerful entry-level home / personal 4-bay NAS for storage and multimedia. With a 1.6GHz Dual-Core processor and 512MB DDR3 RAM, this NAS packs a punch with up to 109MB/s read and 108MB/s write speed. The Asustor AS1004T also features the Asustor Backup Plan, which allows you to automatically schedule a backup of your data from any PC or MAC to your NAS.
The TS-451+ features hardware transcoding, which offloads the CPU and reduces power consumption when converting media files. It also supports multimode operation with Q’center for centralized management of multiple devices. With its hot-swappable drive design, the TS-451+ is easy to maintain and upgrade. The TS-451+ provides a wealth of multimedia applications in a compact and affordable device.
Buying Guide For The Best NAS for Home Media Server
1. RAID Arrays for Maximum Space & Performance
Not all NAS is the same, but most of them do come with some sort of redundant array of independent disks (RAID), which is especially useful if you are looking to set up a large media library on your device. The maximum number of drives that can be hooked up varies from device to device, but oftentimes it’s either four or five bays — making it easy to start plugging in hard drives even before you’ve bought your own NAS unit. In any case, the main benefit provided by using a RAID array with your storage is data redundancy and protection against disk failure. That way, should one of your disks fail, your remaining drives will detect this fact and allow you to easily replace the faulty disk without losing your data. This is done through a special operating system and RAID controller, which will do its best to prevent you from losing access to your files. As such, if one of your drives fails, that drive will either be repaired or reformatted and then present itself as a freshly-installed drive instead of causing any disruption in service.
2. Automatic Versioning System for All Your Movies & TV Shows
Most movies today come with at least some form of digital copy bundled with their disc release. If you buy those titles on BluRay or DVD, most media players these days will allow you to automatically start watching those digital copies without having to download them first. The same goes for downloaded videos purchased from the iTunes store — but what if you have a large digital movie collection and your NAS unit supports DLNA?
Once you’ve hooked up your device to your home media server, you can start adding all those digital movies and TV shows that aren’t included in any physical release. You can take them from your laptop or desktop computers, as long as they are on the same network; NAS devices will support this functionality natively, without requiring additional software or services. This will allow you to automatically build a versioning system for all of those files over time: should one of those titles ever become unavailable (due to unforeseen circumstances), it will be easy to remove it from the library through your media server’s user interface. Of course, this is a lot simpler to do if you also have a proper media center software front-end in place, because then all your files will already be indexed and ready for quick access.
3. Access Your Files from Anywhere
Most NAS devices come with some sort of built-in web server which can not only allow you to configure the device itself, but also turn it into a temporary backup location for all your important documents. This way, should one of your computers break down or get stolen, you won’t need to worry about losing any past or present work. Just hook up a USB key onto the NAS’s USB port and its web server interface will allow you to upload all those files directly — preferably encrypted through an automated process so that no other users can access them without your key.
This also works the other way around; you can use that web interface to upload any locally-stored files onto the NAS which you would then be able to share with your family or friends through a simple URL. If those people don’t have their own NAS device but they do have an internet connection, they will be able to download those files as long as the original uploader is online — because all traffic goes through a secure tunnel which should not expose any data in transit under most circumstances. Of course, this feature should only be used for smaller files and should never be considered a replacement for traditional backups!
4. Free UP Space on Your Backup Drives & Computers
Even if you already have your files backed up on external hard drives, a NAS unit will allow you to free up some additional space in the process. This is done through its own internal hard drive which can be used as a temporary backup location for all your critical data, allowing you to copy them onto a separate device afterward. Unlike regular USB ports found on older computers and laptops, this solution cannot easily run out of disk space since it’s been designed from the ground up to offer large amounts of storage without constant upgrades.
In addition, that built-in webserver I mentioned earlier can also be used to automatically upload any new or modified files from one or more computers onto the NAS itself thus freeing up whatever disks were previously hosting those files. The best part is that this operation can be run in the background at all times, so both your computers and your backups will always have fast access to the most recent version of every file.
5. Automatically Backup Your Computer
There are two easy ways to automatically backup your main computer onto any NAS device you might have, either through its built-in FTP server or through a plug-and-play external drive. Once again shutting down this option should only be considered after having made sure that all important documents have been saved elsewhere beforehand!
3 Benefits Of NAS for Home Media Server
1. Budget vs Cost Effectiveness
Many believe that since they already have a computer, buying a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device will be an easy way for them to connect it and gain access to all of their data wherever they want through streaming services like Plex or Kodi. However, the real cost-effectiveness of NAS devices is not in saving on hardware costs; it is in adding on drive space to your existing setup at relatively low costs.
2. Connectivity and Availability
Since we are talking about streaming, the ability to access your content from anywhere in the world is a very important factor (if it isn’t such an important factor for you, then there’s no point in reading this article). However, many people forget that their home media server needs to be connected to their main TV screen somehow. If this is not possible due to limitations of wiring and other factors like long distances or obstructions (which often occur in large homes), then what do they do? They settle for mediocre video quality and end up extremely frustrated with their “sweet new toy”. Accessibility shouldn’t be compromised because it comes down to it, something is better than nothing at all.
3. Expanding Your Content Library
As mentioned, media duplication is an important factor to consider when setting up a home media server. Keeping everything on-premise means that you can expand your content library whenever and however many times you want because the only limit will be how much money and storage space you have at your disposal (cost-effectiveness notwithstanding). The thing about NAS devices is that they use RAID setups and what this means is that each time you add another drive to increase capacity, it also increases “read/write lag”. You could end up spending years trying to get all of your content onto the RAID array before even considering adding another one!
4. Troubleshooting / Understanding Technology
Troubleshooting a home media server with a NAS device is extremely difficult because you won’t have the same level of control that you would have otherwise. If something goes wrong, it’s going to be down to what the manufacturer has decided for you and there isn’t much room for customization when it comes to software, which means if something does go wrong, what will your next step consist of?
5. Spreading Yourself Too Thin
Lastly, many people believe that they only need one home media server in order to serve all of their needs. What they fail to take into consideration is that this just isn’t possible and not even multi-threading performance can help with some things like streaming and playing content at the same time. In short, you’ll either need several NAS devices or one exceptionally high-end device that costs at least a couple of thousand dollars to get the job done right.
Conclusion
So, what is the best NAS for a home media server? The top pick goes to the WD My Cloud Home. It was our favorite for its combination of features, performance, and price. If you are looking for a great all-around option that will work well with both your Windows and Mac devices, this is the NAS to choose. We hope this article has helped you determine which NAS is right for your home media server setup!
