If you own an extensive collection of movies, TV shows, and music and want to access it on all of your devices, Plex is one of the best solutions.
My plex server is running on a 2.6GHz i7 2012 mac mini with an ssd, 16gb ram, and 4 external 6TB WD My Books. Has no problem handling multiple streams. I do limit my remote streams to 720p 4Mbps though so that they don't constantly buffer (because everyone forgets to change their client settings). Turn a Mac mini into a media server with Plex If you have a large media collection, you may want to use a Mac as a dedicated device to run Plex. And the Mac mini is a perfect device for Plex.
To get the system up and running, you need to designate at least one of your devices as the server. But what are the best devices to use as a Plex media server?
In this article we run you through some of the options and list the pros and cons of each device.
What Is a Plex Media Server?
Plex comes in two parts. There’s the Plex Media Server app and the Plex Media Player app.
The Plex Media Server is responsible for accessing your videos and sending them to the Plex Media Player apps on other devices.
The device on which you’re running the Plex Media Server app needs a) to have access to all of your videos, and b) to be running 24/7.
Plex Media Server is available for free on Windows, Mac, Linux, NAS drives, and Docker. There’s also a unique Android TV version. Plex Media Player is available on everything from Amazon Alexa to Oculus Go.
Download:Plex Media Server (Free)
Which Is the Best Device to Use as a Plex Media Server?
Users are faced with a considerable number of choices. You could feasibly run the Plex Media Server app on a laptop, desktop, mini PC, Android TV device, Raspberry Pi, network-attached storage drive, or any other device on which you can install Linux.
Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of each of those devices in more detail.
1. Laptops
One of the most important things needed by the Plex Media Server is CPU power. If there isn’t enough available, your server is going to struggle to transcode videos and will be unable to handle simultaneous users.
As such, ancient, underpowered laptops might not be suitable. However, if you’ve got a semi-old device lying around, it’s worth considering.
It’s not recommended to run Plex on your main laptop. Overheating could quickly become an issue. If you’re using an old laptop, make sure you buy a cooling stand.
2. Desktops
The most significant benefit of using a desktop is power. Even a mid-spec desktop computer will comfortably be able to handle everything Plex can throw at it.
If you’re expecting several people to access your Plex media server at the same time, it is probably the best solution.
The same caveat about using your primary machine applies, however. You don’t want to be in the middle of working on an important document only for your fan to kick in because your wife and kids are all watching Plex on different screens.
3. Mini PCs
Mini PCs are often overlooked as potential Plex media servers. They have a few important benefits over regular desktops.
These benefits include lower power consumption, lower costs if you’re buying a new device, and, frequently, lower noise.
Mini PCs also strike a nice blend between size and portability. Sure, they’re not going to fit in your pocket, but they are easy to mount behind a TV or in a TV stand.
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Dozens of mini PCs are available across a wide range of specs and price points. You can see some of the best devices available in our list of the best pre-built and DIY Plex media servers.
4. Android TV
Is an Nvidia Shield good as a Plex server? I’m looking for something I can basically stick in a closet and rarely look at.
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Plex hasn’t been able to use Android devices as media servers since the demise of the Plex Media Center app a few years ago.
There is, however, one exception: the Nvidia Shield. Nvidia has entered into a unique partnership with Plex, and the devices can act as Plex media servers.
And because both the regular Nvidia Shield and the Pro version both have USB ports, you can easily connect an external hard drive which contains all your movies and TV shows and stream the contents. You don’t need to move your library onto the Nvidia Shield itself.
Unfortunately, the Nvidia Shield has one potential drawback. Several users have reported that this device is unsuitable for very large libraries. Some complain about insufficient space for streaming in 4K, while others say thumbnail generation chews through the memory.
5. Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi devices have some very unique advantages and disadvantages when you’re using them with the Plex Media Server app.
The most notable downside is the lack of CPU power. The Raspberry Pi 2 has a 900 MHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU along with 1GB of RAM. The Raspberry Pi 3 uses a 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A53 CPU and 1GB of RAM.
That’s well short of Plex’s recommended requirements for the Media Server app: an Intel Core i3 processor and at least 2GB of RAM.
However, the Raspberry Pi also has some massive upsides, the most notable of which is portability. The web is full of users looking for advice on the best cheap device to use as a Plex media server in hotels and offices. The Raspberry Pi is probably the best solution. Just don’t expect to transcode 4K content.
6. NAS Drives
For people who need to access all their Plex content remotely, a NAS drive is perhaps the best choice. Too many people have complained about unreliability in the Plex Media Server app when it’s used on a laptop or desktop for them to be a dependable option.
As a company, Plex is big on pushing its NAS drive solutions. There are custom versions available for NAS drives from Synology, Netgear, QNAP, unRAID, Drobo, Asustor, Seagate, Western Digital, and TerraMaster.
However, before you hit the store looking to buy one, there are some things you need to consider. According to Plex, your NAS drive will need an x86 CPU. And if you buy an ARM model, transcoding will not be available. Therefore, you’ll need to ensure your video media is saved in a format which your Plex Media Player can support.
For the most universal playability, Plex recommends an MP4 container, the H.264 video codec, AAC audio, and a bitrate of less than 8Mbps.
If you want a NAS drive for Plex, we recommend the QNAP TS-453Be 4-Bay Professional NAS, the Synology DS218play, and the TerraMaster F4-220 4-Bay NAS.
Which Is the Best Plex Media Server?
If you’re a very occasional viewer, you can use Plex on your primary computers without too much concern. More serious users should consider using a dedicated old computer or a mini PC. Anyone who does a lot of traveling should buy a Raspberry Pi. And if remote access is important, consider purchasing a NAS drive.
If you would like to learn more about using Plex, check out our article listing the best Plex plugins for power users and our list of reasons why you don’t need a Plex Pass.
Read the full article: The Best Devices to Use as a Plex Media Server
It's been over 7 years that I've been running my Plex server off my trusty old 2011 Mac Mini. With it's SSD starting to fail, the time has come to retire it and move my Plex server to my new Synology DS918+, with an upgraded 8GB of RAM. With nearly a decade worth of watch history and friends who are using the server on the regular, it was key to not loose any of the history and libraries.
Given this would be the first time moving Plex from Mac to Linux, instead of Mac to Mac, the migration would require a bit more work. Luckily, I came across a great post by Mo_Gas on the Plex forums, making this process quite painless.
Prepare your Synology NAS
First, we need to get Plex up and running on your Synology NAS.
Install Plex Media Server on your NAS
As I have a DS918+, thus an Intel based NAS, I wanted to make sure that I can take full advantage of hardware transcoding, so I downloaded the Intel 64bit PlexPass version from the Plex website.
I then proceeded to install this by going to the Package Center app and selecting Manual Install and selecting the file I just downloaded.
Configure your new Plex Media Server
With the installation of Plex Media Server completed, go through the setup wizard , but don't add any folders to any library. It is also key to make sure to disable empty trash and automatic library updates in the server's Library settings.
Stop PMS on Synology
With the new server initiated, it's time to stop it. Simply go to the Package Center, look for the Plex Media Server app and press Stop.
Your Synology NAS is now ready for you to import your existing Plex data.
Package up your Plex Server on your Mac
Now that your Synology is ready, it's time to get your existing Plex data off Mac.
Disable Empty Trash / Library Updates on your Mac.
As a first step, go to your existing Plex Server's configuration, under Library, once again disable Empty trash automatically after every scan and Scan my library automatically as well as Scan my library periodically. Save these changes.
Stop Plex Media Server
Simply stop your Plex Media Server on your Mac.
Optional - Transfer content
If you are storing your Plex content locally on your Mac, this is the moment where you may want to transfer it to your NAS. Keep in mind, that your content should be accessible by your Synology at the end of this.
Package up your Plex Media Server data
Time to pack it up! In a terminal window, package up your Plex Server data, excluding the Plug-ins folder, by running the following commands:
You can change the ./backup.tar.gz part of the command above to store your backup elsewhere besides the folder itself. I actually ended up saving it to a mounted drive on the NAS, allowing me to access it directly from the NAS.
In my case, the command above took several hours to complete due to the large amount of small files.
If you store it locally as per the command above, copy the backup.tar.gz file over to your NAS once the command completes.
Get your Plex Media Server identifiers
Now we need to make sure we get the Plex Media Server identifiers, so that we can have your new Synology Plex server maintain the same identity and shares.
Start with converting your Plex configuration file into a readable format by executing the following command in Terminal: plutil -convert xml1 com.plexapp.plexmediaserver.plist
Now open the com.plexapp.plexmediaserver.plist file in a text editor and look for MachineIdentifier and ProcessedMachineIdentifier entries and copy their value to temporary document. We'll get back to these later.
Restore your data on your Synology NAS
We've finally gotten to the step where we are restoring Plex onto your Synology NAS.
The easiest here is to do the following steps through SSH, however it's also possible to do this via the Synology Web Interface.
Extract your Backup, overwriting existing data
My Plex was installed on volume1 and I had copied the backup.tar.gz to my user's home directory, however you may have to slightly adapt the file paths in the commands below. Run them one at a time:
This will now start unpacking your data into your Plex Server directory. Once that's done, run the following command:
This will make sure your Plex Server has the correct access to these files.
Update the Plex configuration files
Now that your data has been restored, you'll need to restore the identifiers.
Plex Mac Os
Open Preferences.xml under [PATH_TO]/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/. Look for the MachineIdentifier and ProcessedMachineIdentifier in that file and change values to the values you have copied from your Mac into your temporary document before.
Fire up Plex and clean up
Now that all your data has been restored and configured, you can fire up Plex. In Package Center, start the Plex Media Server app again.
Now you should be able to go to your Plex dashboard and find your Synology NAS with all the same data as your old Mac.
Add new Library folders
As your file paths for your library's data have changed, you will now have to go into every Library's configuration and add the new filepaths. Do NOT remove the old ones just yet.
Once you've done that for all your libraries, manually refresh all your Libraries. Double check if all your files are showing up in your libraries and are playing.
Plex For Mac Mini Computers
Remove old Library folders
Now that you have mapped all your folders again and refreshed your library, you can remove those old folder locations.
Now refresh your libraries once more.
Once that is complete, give your library another check. You may see some items with a red trash can. I'd recommend checking those items. In my case these were some files that had 2 paths originally that now only had 1, but always worth double checking.
Re-enable automatic updates and the trash
Now that all data has been restored, you can go back to the Library server configuration and re-enable automatic library updates and the Empty Trash functionality if you want to use those features.
Optional - Enable Hardware transcoding
The following step only applies to the Intel based Synology devices and PlexPass users. If that's you, I would highly recommend that you enable hardware accelerated transcoding.
For this, head to the Transcoder section in your server settings, hit Show Advanced at the top and select Use hardware acceleration when available.
This will enable hardware transcoding, which will significantly decrease your CPU load for video transcoding.
Closing
That is all! By now you have hopefully successfully migrated your Plex Media Server from your Mac OSX machine to your Synology NAS.
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Personally, I've been very happy over the last few days with my DS918+, not really experiencing any issues when it comes to transcoding 1080p content.