Which NAS should I bought for a Immich usage ?
Hi everyone, I’m considering buying a new NAS to run mainly Immich.
I would like to know if transcoding is important for Immich ? If yes, should I take an Intel or AMD CPU ?
I’m thinking to take the Synology DS723+ or DS720+
Thanks in advance for your recommandations.
26 Replies
It would be better to post in #immich for better visibility
🙂
I would never recommend, get, or supply anyone with a NAS when You can get much more performance for less money if you get a regular type of computer. On the low and least expensive in, it could be a mini computer that would still be more performant and less and you would have much more capabilities being able to run any operating system you choose. As an example, a $130 mini computer that uses the latest Intel 12th generation lower end CPUs would handle quite a bit. I don't know what all you necessarily need out of it, but having gone through pretty much every type of product many times over due to the nature of my work, a NAS can work well for less savvy users for just being a more simple product, but if you're going to be self-hosting your photos, you can probably manage a more advanced setup, not that it has to be that complicated.
Thanks,
What kind of setup can you recommend me that doesn't consume a lot ?
When you say doesn't consume a lot, do you mean doesn't consume a lot of electricity?
Yes a power efficient CPU
Desktop Computer W11 Desktop Intel N95(Up to 3.4GHz) 8GB DDR4 256G PCIE1 SSD for Working Micro Computer, Support Mini Desktop W++10 Pro/1200MHz HD 4K@60Hz Dual HDMI Output/WiFi 5/BT 4.0/Type-C/ RJ45 https://a.co/d/fMNPChX
Desktop Computer W11 Desktop Intel N95(Up to 3.4GHz) 8GB DDR4 256G ...
Desktop Computer W11 Desktop Intel N95(Up to 3.4GHz) 8GB DDR4 256G PCIE1 SSD for Working Micro Computer, Support Mini Desktop W++10 Pro/1200MHz HD 4K@60Hz Dual HDMI Output/WiFi 5/BT 4.0/Type-C/ RJ45
So this is an example of a $130 one that even in its stock form is quite a beast of a lighter duty server, which I would describe as fitting that criteria of most servers that don't do any heavy lifting with regards to computing tasks.
Ram and the storage can be upgraded. I think this model can fit two drives, the other one being a SATA drive.
The n100 CPU is a very similar model that has even lesser power usage, but they're both so efficient.
N95 little better overall because it will consume a bit more power as needed. N305 is an upgrade option in this series, as well as the n200, but there are less options with those particular CPUs
But you can shop around and find various different options of lower-end CPUs in different sizes, but just as a comparison the n95 is quite a bit faster than those synology ones you posted CPU wise
And even stock it comes with everything it's needed ready to go
There are firewall variants of these models that have more lan ports that are also Intel branded, instead of realtek which is a lot of the other ones, but that's more of a thing when it's actually used as firewall.
Thank you a lot !
And how do I setup my HDDs in that small case ? Do I add a NAS plugged in USB to the small server ?
You're welcome. So if it has two drives that can be plugged into it, even if one is an M. 2 and one 2.5" SATA, That's still two drives you can plug in. I don't know what capacity you need, but a photo server generally wouldn't need the capacity that would require mechanical hard drives. Solid State drives are so cheap right now You can get quite the capacity that would make buying a mechanical hard drive pointless. However, if you needed more drives than that you could plug them in externally or you could just get a bigger computer that could take multiple drives. Maybe then a small form factor computer that's still not so big is a regular one, but it can fit more drives
I know there are some mini computers that can do more than two drives anyways, but even a similar performance small form factor computer can still be had for less with better performance than a NAS.
Just depends on what you need, and by that I mostly mean capacity for storage and CPU performance, which considering what you were looking at clearly you don't need a lot of that so a lot of these lower-end CPUs work just fine. They may be on the lower end, but that just gives them a narrower use case. Personally, unless the server really needs to do higher in tasks, I generally stick to the lower and CPUs because they have more than enough performance while sipping power.
Getting more performance than you need is a waste both of money up front and of electricity.
Having some headroom is always good, but you can still have plenty of headroom for the future on these lower end CPUs.
You may also need to consider that video transcoding can be very CPU heavy. If you only have a few new videos a week then it should be fine. You would just need to wait a bit longer before your new videos are transcoded.
However, CPU performance can help a lot when you import thousands of videos into Immich.
I have 2 To of personal photos and videos. I would also like to make it work for my family. So I was more thinking about a 2 or 4 x 3.5" HDD of 4/8To
I then might need quite a lot of performance for 4 persons using Immich with a total of 4-5 To of pictures.
You're going to want to figure out the storage capacity you actually want before you make a decision on the type and size of computer you use.
Once everything is in there you don't need a lot of CPU performance to use it. Really, the performance is mostly about the initial import and all the transcoding and whatever else that's involved.
A NAS just about always has a weak CPU performance-wise, but regardless of what kind of a CPU you need, a NAS is never really the better option, sometimes it's not really an option at all. Also, a regular kind of computer is going to be better no matter what you actually need.
You would want a solid state drive for performance and responsiveness though, especially as cheap as they are, so you could get say a smaller size one of those and then get big capacity mechanical drives and they could be what's used for Immich.
Operating system on the SSD, photos on the mechanical hard drive
Hard drives
From a size standpoint, if you're thinking that many drives it sounds like you're going to need at least a small form factor computer, but maybe even more of a mini tower. They make some that are meant to house multiple drives while not being a full size tower. All it really has to have is a cage or two that fits the hard drives into it
Thanks a lot for your answer
I am gonna go to buy a second hand small server with a Node 804 case. I’ll add my own HDD inside.
Thanks again !
Okay, cool. You're welcome.
If you do need to shave off a few dollars - Immich now allows you to split (or symlink) your Upload folder (originals) to a regular spin 2.5" HDD up to 5TB (largest so far) which is cheaper and the rest of the thumbnails & encoded video folders to the M.2 SSD.
you could also look at HP ProLiant MicroServer.
you can put 4 drives + 1 sdd on them
i am thinking of building on as a offsite backup for my nas
@nVIceman Just came across this thread and I'm in a similar position. I'm also wanting to run something like Jellyfin on the same server and I need storage for 4k remux movies (40gb) and shows etc.
Is that kind of mini pc listed above beefy enough to handle this or do I need to get something like a beelink or minisforum minipc? Should I build something a bit bigger so I can have more storage, or get a separate NAS to hook up to the miniPC?
It's not about the brand. It's just about the performance, mostly of the CPU as the other stuff is very entertainable. There's a guide somewhere that talks about what kind of CPU you need for transcoding of different levels of media. You may not need transcoding though. If not, then it doesn't require much horsepower at all. That would only be applicable for live transcoding anyways.
I wouldn't recommend having a second NAS. You'd be better just having the storage inside the server. Less expensive as well. The n95 one I listed as well as many of them have the m.2 SSD slot as well as a SATA port. That gives you two drives, but there were definitely be some that you might be able to do a third. You have to decide on how much storage capacity and drives you actually want before you can look at what type of server is going to fit your need.
I don't think I'll need transcoding as I have an Nvidia shield which does a lot of the heavy lifting.
Sounds like Instead of a dedicated Nas I should just get a case that fits like up to 6 3.5" hdd?
Thank you
I have an Nvidia shield as well, I agree. I've almost never transcoded anything. My server CPU is quite beefy, but it's for other reasons than transcoding. Do you mean as in an external drive enclosure?
What kind of capacity are you looking at the server having in terabytes?
I'm not sure if I need external drive enclosure as long as there's enough storage and redundancy in the server, I was thinking at least 8Tb to store photos and movies.
With that n95 trigkey mini pc you listed above earlier, how do you suggest I expand the storage? I saw you mention that a nas wouldn't be good but what's the reasoning behind this?
A NAS is an entire another computer, which for one could be used instead, but it's not the best solution, so if you need more storage adding a whole another computer is the inefficient way to do it. You are better off having enough storage all in the same computer. If that means that you need a bigger computer with enough ports to get the drives you need, then you need a bigger computer. It doesn't mean it needs to be that big. Computers coming a lot of different shapes and sizes and there are a number of places where you can get smaller form factor computers for example at a great deal refurbished. If you were going to use the little mini computers, if you can't fit enough drives inside of it as it's usually only two that you could, getting an external drive would still be better than getting a whole other computer. I wouldn't want to have to use the external ports though even though they're still plenty of speed on offer if it's USB 3 whatever.
hmmm i see so maybe just building something cheap and custom would be a better idea rather than one of those mini pcs
Yeah, sounds like it for you. If I needed eight terabytes as an example of storage, I would say I could practically do two 4 terabyte SSDs of different form factors. That would not include any redundancy if I wanted eight terabytes of total usable space, so if I needed redundancy I could have four terabytes of usable space
I never really need that much storage space in much of any server that I install, so just comes down to CPU performance mostly to me with what I need to get that will do the job adequately.
What do you use your home server for?
A lot of different things.
Most servers I set up have very limited duties comparatively.
Which is why I can use mini computers for the most part