Shunz Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Any comments on which would be better? I'm about to upgrade from a v5 installation to a v6, and this should be a great occasion to replace my existing Cache Drive (and especially the Plex Library and transcode folders) with an SSD. Usage Patterns: Array WD Red x6 + 1 HGST Parity, core i3 4150 16gb, on X10SL7-F Currently mostly used as a Media Server, using PLEX. Maximum 3 streams at a time. My transfers to the Cache drive varies from about 50gb, to 200+ gb at a time Ideally one should now use a 2x SSD Cache Pool, running plex off the pool... Existing Setup, on unraid v5: Cache WD Black 750gb (2.5-inch, 1.5 years old) > Includes Plex Library and Transcode Folders (all in a share-only App folder). Covers and menu currently takes some time to load!! Upgrade option 1, on unraid v6 Benefit: no more spinners for cache drive; straightforward clean upgrade from unraid v5 to v6 Upgrade Cache Drive to Samsung 850 Evo 500gb SSD > Includes Plex Library and Transcode Folders (all in a share-only App folder) Upgrade option 2, on unraid v6 Benefit: I get to upgrade my PC gaming drive from a 256gb to a 500gb No change to Cache Drive WD Black 750gb (2.5-inch) Add 2-year old SSD from PC (about 6.5TBW) Samsung 840 Pro 256gb SSD For Plex Library and Transcode Folders Upgrade option 3, on unraid v6 Benefit: Same as 1 and 2, but at 1/2 the Cache Swap Cache Drive Add 2-year old Samsung 840 Pro 256 gb (about 6.5TBW) > Includes Plex Library and Transcode Folders (all in a share-only App folder) Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 If you have enough RAM you can set your transcode folder to /tmp. Memory is even faster than SSD. Quote Link to comment
ljm42 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 I have a limited number of drive slots and I didn't want a spinner on 24x7, so I went with the 512 GB SSD cache drive option. A 256 might work, but this leaves plenty of room for VMs and doing things like this: https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=33864.msg393993#msg393993 For Plex transcoding specifically, see https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=37553.0 Quote Link to comment
HellDiverUK Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 My setup of a pair of 500GB Crucial BX100 is working really well. The BX100s are running off the Intel chipset SATAs. All the array drives run off a LSI card. Performance is great in Plex, instant browsing and it transcodes pretty well. Quote Link to comment
Shunz Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Thanks guys! Interesting stuff! I'd wonder if 16gb of RAM is enough - my Plex transcodes to the Roku is always done at 20mbps. I would love to upgrade to 32gb, though at the moment purchasing another 16gb ECC memory would hurt a little, haha. Quote Link to comment
StevenD Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 If you have enough RAM you can set your transcode folder to /tmp. Memory is even faster than SSD. This is what I do and I have not experienced any issues. Quote Link to comment
dirtyofries Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 If you have enough RAM you can set your transcode folder to /tmp. Memory is even faster than SSD. This is what I do and I have not experienced any issues. Sorry for the stupid question but where do you set this location? Quote Link to comment
bigsing Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I created a volume mapping for it as /transcode -> /tmp Then in your plex server settings under transcoder (make sure you click show advanced) set the "Transcoder temporary directory" to your docker volume mapping. This will allow you to swap the Host path to anything you want (/tmp for RAM or anywhere else on your system) Quote Link to comment
dirtyofries Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I created a volume mapping for it as /transcode -> /tmp Then in your plex server settings under transcoder (make sure you click show advanced) set the "Transcoder temporary directory" to your docker volume mapping. This will allow you to swap the Host path to anything you want (/tmp for RAM or anywhere else on your system) OH! That's brilliant! Thank you! Quote Link to comment
ljm42 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I created a volume mapping for it as /transcode -> /tmp Then in your plex server settings under transcoder (make sure you click show advanced) set the "Transcoder temporary directory" to your docker volume mapping. This will allow you to swap the Host path to anything you want (/tmp for RAM or anywhere else on your system) OH! That's brilliant! Thank you! Also see https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=37553.0 Quote Link to comment
Shunz Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Does migrating from 32bit to 64bit of plex work okay on the existing 32bit library files? I don't want Plex to sift through the entire library again; and more importantly, re-do all the manual edits to the Plex libraries all over again!!! https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/88712/migrating-plex-from-32-to-64-bit-on-ubuntu-should-i-expect-issues I'm replacing my file server's dusty Pentium-based innards with some beefier Core i5 hardware. I'm currently running Ubuntu x86, but plan on a clean install with the x64 version. My question: can I expect to install PMS x64 and simply plop my existing 32-bit "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server" directory in the same spot? Will that work for maintaining my settings, preferences etc... or are there significant changes/issues I should be aware of? Thanks for any insight. Quote Link to comment
bigsing Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I had no issues following this document when i moved from Phaze's v5 plugin to needo's plex container. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201370363-Move-an-Install-to-Another-System Quote Link to comment
Shunz Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 Finally moved to unraid v6!! Setting up unraid and plugins up was much easier than I expected!! Did a clean install (with several safe .cfg files from v5) on an 850 EVO. Not sure whether I've made the right choice in using LimeTech's Plex docker install, than Needo's. Took a while to figure out the mapping of Plex Library directories. Needed to install and run Plex once to see where the Library directory goes, then used the command line to copy the Plex libraries from the old cache drive over to the new SSD. Plex posters now load so much faster! Quote Link to comment
Bony Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 On 8/7/2015 at 12:07 PM, Shunz said: Finally moved to unraid v6!! Setting up unraid and plugins up was much easier than I expected!! Did a clean install (with several safe .cfg files from v5) on an 850 EVO. Not sure whether I've made the right choice in using LimeTech's Plex docker install, than Needo's. Took a while to figure out the mapping of Plex Library directories. Needed to install and run Plex once to see where the Library directory goes, then used the command line to copy the Plex libraries from the old cache drive over to the new SSD. Plex posters now load so much faster! so let me just confirm you went with Option #1 it looks like and used a 500 GB SSD as an Unraid Host & Cache/Transcode drive? I'm looking to do something similar and was wondering. I have 2x 250GB SSD and was thinking should i use 1 as Unraid Host + Plex docker storage and 2nd 250GB SSD as Transcoding/ Cache ? will this be a recommended in my case , thanks guys. Quote Link to comment
Zonediver Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 ...this post is 3 years old hehe Quote Link to comment
bonienl Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Simplest is to create a cache pool of 2 SSD disks. This pool can be used by plex to store database information and as transcoding cache. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.