At this point my wife has something like 15,000 photos. My kids are only 3 and 6 so I'm expecting to have some crazy amount of pics before they can drive HAHAHA. She has all these photos on her MBP and I'm really getting worried. Yes she backs up to time machine but still, that's just to much on her little laptop. Also, we can't see any of them on our tv's. OK so her are my goals...

 

One location to store large amounts of photos, music and movies

Have this location safe and backed up

Be able to access this media from other computers and tv's

Can be used with iPhoto and iTunes

 

So does this application have a front end UI to access the media or would I still need another computer that has Plex installed on it that is connecting to this media locker as it's source of media?

Plex can be installed on unraid.  I would also recommend an off site back up like crashplan witch can also be installed on unraid.

 

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Nice, so I can install Plex on this machine and not need another machine to install Plex on. I would still need another machine to access the Plex that is installed on my unRAID correct? But that machine could just be a simple little cheap job right? No real heavy duty processing is being done on the machines that is accessing the data right? So if I want to listen to some music or watch a movie I would need another computer that is not very powerful?

So if I want to listen to some music or watch a movie I would need another computer that is not very powerful?

Some smart TVs can connect directly to Plex, and there are several small media players as well.

When you mean small media players are you talking like a Google Chromecast type of thing? So I wouldn't even need a computer to access this media but maybe one of these simple devices? Wow that would be ideal!

 

So this would work to view Plex that is installed on unRAID?

http://www.roku.com/products/roku-3

Your question and the discussion are going in slightly different directions.  UnRAID is an excellent choice for creating a moderately large NAS to store media files;  but is not what I'd consider ideal for hosting a collection of pictures.    For that, I'd consider one of the cloud-based backups that also make it very easy to access your collection from any other device anywhere you may be.

 

Carbonite works well for a Mac;  MiMedia is very attractive and works nicely, but is unfortunately only available for PC and iOS based devices at this time.  These have the advantage, of course, of zero support infrastructure for you (i.e. no extra computer) and are a far better backup, since the backups are by definition "off site".

 

I'd still keep a good backup of your photos locally => for for photos a single 4TB external drive will hold all the photos you're ever likely to take !!

 

 

Chromecast doesn't appear to be supported yet, but people are asking for it.

Here is the official list on the plex site.

Your question and the discussion are going in slightly different directions.  UnRAID is an excellent choice for creating a moderately large NAS to store media files;  but is not what I'd consider ideal for hosting a collection of pictures.    For that, I'd consider one of the cloud-based backups that also make it very easy to access your collection from any other device anywhere you may be.

 

Carbonite works well for a Mac;  MiMedia is very attractive and works nicely, but is unfortunately only available for PC and iOS based devices at this time.  These have the advantage, of course, of zero support infrastructure for you (i.e. no extra computer) and are a far better backup, since the backups are by definition "off site".

 

I'd still keep a good backup of your photos locally => for for photos a single 4TB external drive will hold all the photos you're ever likely to take !!

 

So unRAID is more for music and video? Not really the correct place for photos? I'm sorry for these basic questions but just want to know what I'm getting into before I start building something and think I'm doing the right thing. I still think an unRAID is the way I'll go for all the family music and videos fronted by PLEX. I just want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. I really thank you all for your responses and helping me with this

Didn't mean to imply that.  It's fine for photos => I was just noting that your question was only about your wife's photo collection; and if you're building a box JUST for photos, you don't need the capacity that UnRAID can achieve.    If you're going to built it for general media storage, you can certainly keep backups of the photos there too.

 

HOWEVER ... you should also have an off-site backup of your photos.  That's where something like Carbonite is excellent ... not only does it provide a complete backup, but is easily accessible from anywhere in the world, so you always have access to your photos (or any other data you backup through that service).

 

Didn't mean to imply that.  It's fine for photos => I was just noting that your question was only about your wife's photo collection; and if you're building a box JUST for photos, you don't need the capacity that UnRAID can achieve.    If you're going to built it for general media storage, you can certainly keep backups of the photos there too.

 

HOWEVER ... you should also have an off-site backup of your photos.  That's where something like Carbonite is excellent ... not only does it provide a complete backup, but is easily accessible from anywhere in the world, so you always have access to your photos (or any other data you backup through that service).

 

Thank you for clarifying this for me Yes I totally agree about your back up statements, very true! I'm just glad that storing photos can be done on unRAID as well because the goal is also to have one place for everything. This way it's not only all stored in one place, we can share the media a lot easier and stream it to connected devices. It would be cool to see pics from vacation with my family from a Roku streaming PLEX from this unRAID box. I'm liking this more and more I know I could also just store all this information on my Ubuntu box but it's the peace of mind that if a drive goes that I don't lose all my stuff that is really making me look to unRAID

Unraid is fist and for most a file server for a centralized location to access files, it shouldn't be used as a backup unless it is at a different locaton like a friend's or family's house.  Anything past that is only supported by third pary plugins.  But unraid will do what you want but you will need to use plugins to get it to work.

 

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Unraid is fist and for most a file server for a centralized location to access files, it shouldn't be used as a backup unless it is at a different locaton like a friend's or family's house.  Anything past that is only supported by third pary plugins.  But unraid will do what you want but you will need to use plugins to get it to work.

 

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Very good point and I also agree with this. I will still need to have this machine backed up for complete protection. Thank you.

... but it's the peace of mind that if a drive goes that I don't lose all my stuff that is really making me look to unRAID

 

Remember one very important detail:  UnRAID (or any other RAID) is NOT a backup.    It's a very good, fault-tolerant system, but things can still happen that cause dual drive failures ... with subsequent loss of data.    ANY data that is important to you should always be backed up !!  Ideally off-site, although few individuals do that.  For modest amounts of data, the cloud-based services like Carbonite, Mozy, MiMedia, etc. make this very easy these days.  For large amounts (TB's) of data, those aren't very useful; but a 2nd UnRAID server at an alternate location; or a set of backup disks in a UL-listed data-safe Safe works well (the latter is what I do -- I update the disks about once/month and they're stored in a fireproof, waterproof data-rated safe).

 

... but it's the peace of mind that if a drive goes that I don't lose all my stuff that is really making me look to unRAID

 

Remember one very important detail:  UnRAID (or any other RAID) is NOT a backup.    It's a very good, fault-tolerant system, but things can still happen that cause dual drive failures ... with subsequent loss of data.    ANY data that is important to you should always be backed up !!  Ideally off-site, although few individuals do that.  For modest amounts of data, the cloud-based services like Carbonite, Mozy, MiMedia, etc. make this very easy these days.  For large amounts (TB's) of data, those aren't very useful; but a 2nd UnRAID server at an alternate location; or a set of backup disks in a UL-listed data-safe Safe works well (the latter is what I do -- I update the disks about once/month and they're stored in a fireproof, waterproof data-rated safe).

 

+1 to all your points and I fully agree. All this information has really helped me figure out how I will design my home system. I thank you