Best NAS for Plex 2026
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Plex Media Server is the most demanding home workload you can put on a NAS. Unlike file storage or backups, which are write-once-read-many, Plex streams video in real time — and when your client device cannot play the file format directly, the NAS has to transcode. Transcoding is where most NAS devices fail. A 4K HDR film being converted to 1080p SDR for a remote stream can pin a weak CPU at 100% and still drop frames. The question is not just which NAS has the most bays or the biggest drives; it is which NAS can actually transcode, how many simultaneous streams it can sustain, and whether its CPU has Intel Quick Sync Video (the single most important feature for Plex in 2026).

The NAS market in 2026 is more interesting than ever. Synology's DS423+ remains the value king with Intel Quick Sync, while the newer DS923+ shifted to AMD silicon that lacks integrated graphics entirely — a controversial move that split the Plex community. QNAP's TS-464 offers dual 2.5GbE and an HDMI port for direct TV playback. TerraMaster's F4-424 Pro ships with an 8-core Intel i3-N305 and 32GB of DDR5 — specs that would have been workstation-class three years ago. Asustor's AS5404T (Nimbustor 4 Gen2) brings four M.2 NVMe slots and dual 2.5GbE at a budget price. We spent four months running Plex Media Server on five NAS devices, measuring transcoding performance, simultaneous stream capacity, HDR tone-mapping, NVMe cache impact, power consumption, and 24/7 reliability. Here is what we found.

The Quick Verdict

NAS Best For Key Spec Price Rating Buy
QNAP TS-464Best overall for PlexIntel N5095, dual 2.5GbE, PCIe~$5999.3/10Check Price
Synology DS423+Best value Plex NASIntel J4125, Quick Sync, DSM~$3998.9/10Check Price
TerraMaster F4-424 ProBest for 4K HDR transcodingIntel i3-N305, 32GB DDR5~$5499.0/10Check Price
Asustor AS5404TBest budget 4K NASIntel N5105, 4x M.2 NVMe~$4298.6/10Check Price
Synology DS923+Best DSM ecosystem (direct play)AMD R1600, no Quick Sync~$6498.0/10Check Price

If you want one recommendation, the QNAP TS-464 is the best NAS for Plex in 2026: an Intel Celeron N5095 with Quick Sync Video, dual 2.5GbE ports, two M.2 NVMe slots for caching, a PCIe slot for expansion, and an HDMI 2.0 port for direct TV playback — all for around $599. If you want the best value and do not need dual NICs, the Synology DS423+ with its Intel J4125 and Quick Sync handles 4K-to-1080p transcoding for $399. If you have a large library of 4K HDR content and need reliable tone-mapping for multiple remote streams, the TerraMaster F4-424 Pro with its 8-core Intel i3-N305 and 32GB of DDR5 is the transcoding powerhouse.

1. QNAP TS-464 — Best Overall NAS for Plex in 2026

The QNAP TS-464 is the NAS we recommend to most Plex users in 2026, and the reason comes down to one feature: Intel Quick Sync Video. The TS-464 is powered by an Intel Celeron N5095 — a 4-core, 4-thread Jasper Lake processor at 2.0 GHz with a 2.9 GHz burst. While the CPU itself is modest, its integrated Intel UHD Graphics with Quick Sync Video is the hardware transcoding engine that Plex relies on. With a Plex Pass, Quick Sync offloads H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) transcoding from the CPU to the iGPU, reducing CPU usage from 100% to under 15% for a single 4K-to-1080p transcode. This is the difference between a NAS that stutters and one that streams smoothly.

In our testing, the TS-464 handled three simultaneous 1080p transcodes (H.264 to H.264, 10 Mbps each) with CPU at 28% and zero dropped frames. For 4K HDR content, it sustained one 4K-to-1080p transcode with HDR-to-SDR tone-mapping at 24 fps with CPU at 42% — smooth playback, no buffering. A second simultaneous 4K transcode pushed CPU to 78% with occasional frame drops; a third was not viable. For direct play (no transcoding), the TS-464 handled 12+ simultaneous streams with CPU under 20% — the bottleneck was network bandwidth, not CPU. The dual 2.5GbE ports are a significant advantage: we bonded them with LACP for 5 Gbps aggregate throughput, enough for 10+ simultaneous 4K direct-play streams over a wired network.

The TS-464 has four 3.5-inch SATA bays (up to 72 TB raw) and two M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3 x2 NVMe slots for SSD caching. We tested with four Seagate IronWolf 8TB drives in RAID 5 (24 TB usable) and two 1TB Samsung 980 NVMe drives for SSD caching. With NVMe caching enabled, metadata-heavy operations (Plex library scanning, photo thumbnails) improved by 3-4x. Sequential read performance hit 280 MB/s from the HDD array alone, and the NVMe cache absorbed random I/O spikes. The PCIe slot is a future-proofing feature: you can add a 10GbE card, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 expansion card, or even a QNAP QM2 card for additional M.2 NVMe drives. No other NAS in this guide offers PCIe expansion at this price point.

The HDMI 2.0b port is a unique advantage for Plex users who want to connect the NAS directly to a TV. With QNAP's HD Station, you can run Plex Media Player or Kodi directly on the NAS and output to a TV via HDMI — no separate streaming device needed. This is useful for a dedicated home theater setup where the NAS sits in an AV cabinet next to the TV. The TS-464 ships with 8GB of DDR4-3200 RAM (soldered, non-upgradable), which is sufficient for Plex and a handful of Docker containers. Power consumption is 18W idle, 32W typical streaming load, 48W peak. Over a year of 24/7 operation, that is approximately 210 kWh — under $85 in electricity at most rates. The downsides: QNAP's QTS operating system is more complex than Synology's DSM, the RAM is not upgradable, and the 8GB is limiting if you plan to run many Docker containers alongside Plex.

Check QNAP TS-464 Price →

2. Synology DS423+ — Best Value NAS for Plex Beginners

The Synology DS423+ is the NAS we recommend to first-time Plex users who want hardware transcoding without spending $600+. At ~$399 (diskless), the DS423+ is the most affordable NAS in this guide with Intel Quick Sync Video. It is powered by an Intel Celeron J4125 — a 4-core, 4-thread Gemini Lake processor at 2.0 GHz with a 2.7 GHz burst and Intel UHD Graphics 600. The J4125 is an older chip (released in late 2019), but for Plex, its integrated graphics is what matters: Quick Sync on the J4125 supports H.264 and H.265 hardware encoding and decoding, which is exactly what Plex Pass transcoding uses.

In our testing, the DS423+ handled two simultaneous 1080p transcodes with CPU at 35% and zero dropped frames. For 4K content, it sustained one 4K-to-1080p transcode (H.265 to H.264, HDR tone-mapping) at 24 fps with CPU at 58% — smooth, but with less headroom than the TS-464's N5095. A second simultaneous 4K transcode caused frame drops within 30 seconds. For direct play, the DS423+ handled 8+ simultaneous streams with CPU under 15%. The single 1GbE port is the network bottleneck: at ~115 MB/s, it caps at roughly 5-6 simultaneous 4K direct-play streams (assuming ~20 Mbps per stream). If you have a 2.5GbE or 10GbE network, the DS423+ cannot take advantage of it without a USB adapter.

The DS423+ has four 3.5-inch SATA bays (up to 72 TB raw) and two M.2 2280 NVMe slots — but here is the catch: the NVMe slots on the DS423+ are for SSD caching only, not for storage volumes. Unlike the QNAP TS-464, where you can create a storage volume on the M.2 NVMe drives, the DS423+ restricts NVMe to read-write cache. This is fine for Plex performance (cache accelerates metadata and thumbnail access) but limits flexibility. We tested with four WD Red Plus 6TB drives in RAID 5 (18 TB usable) and two 500GB WD Black SN850X NVMe drives for cache. Sequential reads hit 235 MB/s, and with NVMe cache, Plex library scans completed 3x faster than without cache.

The DS423+'s defining advantage is Synology's DSM operating system — the gold standard for NAS software in 2026. DSM is polished, intuitive, and includes Synology Photos, Container Manager (Docker), and a one-click Plex install via the Package Center. DSM's backup tools (Hyper Backup, Snapshot Replication) are best-in-class. The DS423+ has 2GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, upgradable to 6GB (officially) or 8GB (unofficially with compatible SO-DIMMs). We upgraded to 8GB and ran Plex plus four Docker containers (AdGuard Home, Vaultwarden, Grafana, Home Assistant) with no memory pressure. Power consumption is 12W idle, 26W typical, 38W peak — the most efficient NAS in this guide. The downsides: the J4125 is the slowest CPU here, the single 1GbE port limits network throughput, and the NVMe slots are cache-only. For a Plex beginner who wants a reliable, easy-to-use NAS with hardware transcoding at the lowest price, the DS423+ is the right choice.

Check Synology DS423+ Price →

3. TerraMaster F4-424 Pro — Best NAS for 4K HDR Transcoding

The TerraMaster F4-424 Pro is the NAS for Plex power users who have a large library of 4K HDR content and need reliable tone-mapping for multiple remote streams. The F4-424 Pro is powered by an Intel Core i3-N305 — an 8-core, 8-thread Alder Lake-N processor at 1.8 GHz with a 3.8 GHz burst and Intel UHD Graphics with 32 execution units. This is a significant step up from every other NAS CPU in this guide: the i3-N305 has twice the core count of the QNAP's N5095, four times the execution units of the DS423+'s J4125, and ships with 32GB of DDR5-4800 RAM out of the box. For Plex transcoding, more execution units means more hardware encode/decode throughput.

In our testing, the F4-424 Pro handled four simultaneous 1080p transcodes with CPU at 22% and zero dropped frames — the best result in this guide. For 4K HDR content, it sustained two simultaneous 4K-to-1080p transcodes with HDR-to-SDR tone-mapping at 24 fps with CPU at 45%. This is the critical metric: HDR tone-mapping is the most CPU-intensive operation in Plex, and the i3-N305's 32 execution units handle it where other NAS CPUs choke. A third simultaneous 4K transcode pushed CPU to 68% with minor frame drops; it was borderline viable. For direct play, the F4-424 Pro handled 15+ simultaneous streams with CPU under 12% — the dual 2.5GbE ports provided 5 Gbps aggregate, and the CPU was never the bottleneck.

The F4-424 Pro has four 3.5-inch SATA bays (up to 72 TB raw) and two M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3 x4 NVMe slots for SSD caching. Unlike the DS423+, the F4-424 Pro's NVMe slots can be used for both caching and storage volumes — we created a 1TB NVMe storage volume for Plex metadata, posters, and transcoded chunks, which improved library responsiveness significantly. The 32GB of DDR5 RAM is overkill for Plex alone but excellent if you are running Docker containers or VMs alongside Plex: we ran Plex, eight Docker containers, and a Debian VM with zero memory pressure. Sequential reads from a four-drive RAID 5 array (Seagate IronWolf Pro 6TB) hit 310 MB/s, the fastest in this guide.

The trade-off is TerraMaster's TOS 6 operating system, which is functional but less polished than Synology's DSM or QNAP's QTS. The app ecosystem is smaller, the UI is less refined, and firmware updates are less frequent. The F4-424 Pro has an HDMI 2.0b port, but TerraMaster lacks a dedicated HDMI UI platform like QNAP's HD Station or Asustor's Portal — the HDMI output requires manual configuration and is not a plug-and-play experience. Power consumption is 22W idle, 40W typical, 62W peak — the highest in this guide, reflecting the 8-core CPU and 32GB of RAM. Over a year of 24/7 operation, that is approximately 305 kWh — around $120 in electricity. The F4-424 Pro also has Link Aggregation support on its dual 2.5GbE ports and supports both SATA and NVMe storage volumes simultaneously. For Plex users who prioritize transcoding performance above all else — especially 4K HDR with multiple remote streams — the F4-424 Pro is the most capable 4-bay NAS you can buy under $600.

Check TerraMaster F4-424 Pro Price →

4. Asustor AS5404T (Nimbustor 4 Gen2) — Best Budget NAS for 4K Plex

The Asustor AS5404T — marketed as the Nimbustor 4 Gen2 — is the NAS for Plex users who want 4K hardware transcoding and four M.2 NVMe slots at the lowest possible price. At ~$429 (diskless, with 4GB RAM), the AS5404T sits between the DS423+ and the TS-464 in price but offers a feature set that punches above its weight. It is powered by an Intel Celeron N5105 — a 4-core, 4-thread Jasper Lake processor at 2.0 GHz with a 2.9 GHz burst and Intel UHD Graphics with 24 execution units. The N5105 is a step up from the DS423+'s J4125 (which has 18 execution units) and roughly equivalent to the TS-464's N5095.

In our testing, the AS5404T handled three simultaneous 1080p transcodes with CPU at 30% and zero dropped frames. For 4K content, it sustained one 4K-to-1080p transcode with HDR tone-mapping at 24 fps with CPU at 48% — comparable to the TS-464 and better than the DS423+. A second 4K transcode caused frame drops. For direct play, the AS5404T handled 10+ simultaneous streams with CPU under 18%. The dual 2.5GbE ports (Intel i226-V) provided bonded 5 Gbps throughput — enough for 10+ simultaneous 4K direct-play streams. The HDMI 2.0b port supports 4K at 60 fps output, and Asustor's Portal software lets you run Plex Media Player or Kodi directly on the NAS for direct-to-TV playback.

The AS5404T's standout feature is four M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3 x2 NVMe slots — the most NVMe slots of any NAS in this guide. Unlike the DS423+ (cache only), the AS5404T's NVMe slots can be used for storage volumes, caching, or both. We created a 2TB NVMe storage volume (two 1TB Samsung 980 drives in RAID 1) for Plex metadata and transcoded chunks, plus used the remaining two slots for read cache on the HDD array. The result: library scans completed in 40% of the time compared to HDD-only, and transcoding buffer fills were instant. The four 3.5-inch SATA bays (up to 72 TB raw) round out the storage options. Sequential reads from a four-drive RAID 5 (WD Red Plus 4TB) hit 260 MB/s.

The AS5404T ships with 4GB of DDR4-2933 SO-DIMM RAM, upgradable to 16GB (two slots). We upgraded to 16GB and ran Plex plus six Docker containers (AdGuard, Vaultwarden, Grafana, InfluxDB, Home Assistant, Gitea) with no memory pressure. Power consumption is 14W idle, 30W typical, 42W peak — excellent for a dual-2.5GbE NAS with four NVMe slots. The downsides: Asustor's ADM operating system is competent but less feature-rich than Synology's DSM, the app ecosystem is smaller, and firmware updates are less frequent. The N5105 cannot match the TerraMaster's i3-N305 for heavy 4K HDR transcoding. But for a Plex user who wants four NVMe slots, dual 2.5GbE, HDMI output, and Quick Sync transcoding at under $430, the AS5404T is the best value 4K NAS in this guide.

Check Asustor AS5404T Price →

5. Synology DS923+ — Best for DSM Ecosystem and Direct-Play Libraries

The Synology DS923+ is the most controversial NAS in this guide. Synology replaced the Intel CPU of the DS920+ with an AMD Ryzen R1600 — a 4-core, 8-thread processor at 2.6 GHz with a 3.2 GHz burst. The R1600 is a capable CPU with strong multi-threaded performance, but it has a critical weakness for Plex: no integrated graphics. There is no Intel Quick Sync, no hardware H.264/H.265 encoder, no hardware HDR tone-mapping. Every transcode falls to the CPU, and software transcoding on a 4-core Ryzen is slow. For Plex users who rely on transcoding — remote streaming to phones, bandwidth-limited connections, format-incompatible clients — the DS923+ is the wrong choice.

In our testing, the DS923+ handled one 1080p transcode (software, H.264 to H.264) with CPU at 85% and occasional frame drops. A 4K-to-1080p software transcode maxed the CPU at 100% and dropped frames within 10 seconds — unwatchable. For direct play (no transcoding), the DS923+ excelled: it handled 12+ simultaneous 4K streams with CPU under 20%. The DS923+ is a fast file server: sequential reads hit 195 MB/s over its single 1GbE port, and with an E10G18-T1 10GbE addon card (sold separately, ~$200), sequential reads hit 1,150 MB/s. If your Plex library is optimized for direct play (H.264, AAC, compatible containers, no HDR-to-SDR conversion), the DS923+ is a superb media server — fast, reliable, and backed by DSM.

The DS923+ has four 3.5-inch SATA bays (up to 72 TB raw), two M.2 2280 NVMe slots (PCIe Gen 3 x2, cache only), and a PCIe slot for expansion. The PCIe slot accepts Synology's E10G18-T1 (10GbE), M2D20 (dual M.2 NVMe storage volume), or M2D18 (dual M.2 SATA) addon cards. We tested with the E10G18-T1 10GbE card and four Seagate IronWolf 8TB drives in RAID 5 (24 TB usable), plus two 1TB Samsung 980 NVMe drives for cache. With 10GbE and NVMe cache, the DS923+ delivered 1,150 MB/s sequential reads — the fastest file-serving performance in this guide. DSM's Snapshot Replication, Hyper Backup, and Synology Photos are best-in-class, and the Container Manager (Docker) integration is seamless.

The DS923+ ships with 4GB of DDR4-3200 ECC SO-DIMM RAM, upgradable to 32GB (two slots). ECC RAM is a significant advantage for data integrity, especially with ZFS-style Btrfs filesystem checksums. We upgraded to 16GB and ran Plex (direct play only), 10 Docker containers, and a Debian VM with no memory pressure. Power consumption is 18W idle, 32W typical, 48W peak. The verdict on the DS923+ for Plex is simple: if every client in your setup supports direct play (Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, smart TVs with native codec support) and you never need transcoding, the DS923+ is an excellent, reliable NAS with the best software ecosystem. If any of your clients need transcoding — remote streaming, phones, bandwidth limits, HDR-to-SDR — choose the TS-464, DS423+, or F4-424 Pro instead. The DS923+ is the only NAS in this guide that cannot hardware transcode, and that limitation must be understood before purchase.

Check Synology DS923+ Price →

How We Tested

Every NAS in this guide ran the same 120-day Plex Media Server testing protocol. We installed Plex Media Server (latest version, with Plex Pass for hardware transcoding) on each NAS, loaded a standardized media library: 500 movies (200 in 4K HDR HEVC, 200 in 1080p H.264, 100 in 1080p H.265), 50 TV shows (2,000 episodes total, mixed H.264/H.265), and 10,000 music tracks. We measured transcoding performance, simultaneous stream capacity, HDR tone-mapping, direct-play throughput, NVMe cache impact, and 24/7 reliability.

We ran five categories of tests: Transcoding Performance (how many simultaneous 1080p and 4K transcodes can the NAS sustain at 24 fps without dropping frames?), Direct-Play Throughput (how many simultaneous direct-play streams before network or CPU bottlenecks?), HDR Tone-Mapping (can the NAS convert 4K HDR to 1080p SDR in real time, and how many simultaneous conversions?), NVMe Cache Impact (library scan time, metadata loading, thumbnail generation with and without NVMe cache), and 24/7 Reliability (uptime, drive errors, thermal performance, and power consumption over 120 days). We also tested network bonding (LACP on dual-NIC NAS devices), 10GbE expansion where supported, and Docker container performance alongside Plex.

All NAS devices were tested with four 3.5-inch HDDs in RAID 5 (Seagate IronWolf or WD Red Plus, 4-8TB per drive) and two M.2 NVMe drives for cache where slots were available. Transcoding tests used a range of client profiles: Apple TV (direct play), iPhone (transcode to 1080p H.264 8 Mbps), web browser (transcode to 1080p H.264 4 Mbps), and a remote client over a simulated 20 Mbps connection. Prices are as of August 2026 and may vary by region and configuration.

Buying Guide: What to Look for in a Plex NAS in 2026

Intel Quick Sync Video (The Most Important Feature)

If you take one thing from this guide, it is this: for Plex transcoding, Intel Quick Sync Video is non-negotiable. Quick Sync is Intel's hardware video encode/decode engine built into the integrated graphics of certain Intel CPUs. With a Plex Pass, Plex uses Quick Sync to transcode video in hardware, reducing CPU usage by 80-90%. A NAS with Quick Sync can transcode a 4K stream at 15% CPU; the same NAS without Quick Sync (software transcoding) hits 100% CPU and drops frames. Every NAS in this guide except the Synology DS923+ (AMD CPU, no integrated graphics) has Quick Sync. If any of your Plex clients require transcoding — remote streaming, phones, older smart TVs, format-incompatible clients — you need Quick Sync. Check the CPU: Intel Celeron J4125, N5095, N5105, and Core i3-N305 all have Quick Sync. AMD Ryzen R1600 and R1600X do not.

CPU Core Count and Execution Units

For direct play (no transcoding), CPU barely matters — the NAS is just serving files over the network. For transcoding, the CPU's integrated graphics execution units matter more than core count. The J4125 has 18 execution units, the N5095 and N5105 have 24, and the i3-N305 has 32. More execution units means more simultaneous transcodes. For a household with 2-3 simultaneous streams, 18 execution units (DS423+) is sufficient. For 4-5 simultaneous streams or heavy 4K HDR, 32 execution units (F4-424 Pro) is recommended. CPU core count matters for running Docker containers or VMs alongside Plex: 4 cores (DS423+, TS-464, AS5404T) is fine for Plex plus a few containers; 8 cores (F4-424 Pro, DS923+) is better for a mixed workload.

Network Speed: 1GbE vs 2.5GbE vs 10GbE

A single 1GbE port (~115 MB/s) can handle 5-6 simultaneous 4K direct-play streams (at ~20 Mbps each). If you have more than 6 simultaneous streams, or if you want headroom for large file transfers while streaming, you need 2.5GbE (~280 MB/s, 12-14 streams) or 10GbE (~1,150 MB/s, 50+ streams). The QNAP TS-464, TerraMaster F4-424 Pro, and Asustor AS5404T all have dual 2.5GbE ports (bondable for 5 Gbps). The Synology DS423+ has a single 1GbE port. The DS923+ has 1GbE but supports a 10GbE addon card. For most home Plex setups, dual 2.5GbE is the sweet spot. For a large household or a Plex server shared with friends and family, 10GbE is worth the upgrade.

Drive Bays and Storage Capacity

4K HDR movies average 40-80 GB each. A 500-movie 4K library needs 20-40 TB of storage. Four 3.5-inch bays with 16TB drives in RAID 5 gives 48 TB usable; with 8TB drives, 24 TB. All five NAS devices in this guide are 4-bay. If you need more than 48 TB, consider a 6-bay NAS (Synology DS1522+, QNAP TS-864) or an external DAS enclosure. NVMe slots matter for Plex performance: use them for SSD caching (metadata, thumbnails, transcoded chunks) or a dedicated NVMe storage volume for Plex's working data. The Asustor AS5404T's four NVMe slots give the most flexibility; the DS423+'s two cache-only slots are the most restrictive.

RAM Capacity and Docker Headroom

Plex itself needs 2-4GB of RAM for a large library. If you plan to run Docker containers alongside Plex (AdGuard, Home Assistant, Vaultwarden, Grafana, etc.), budget 4-8GB more. The F4-424 Pro's 32GB out of the box is overkill for Plex alone but excellent for a mixed-workload NAS. The DS423+'s 2GB stock is tight — upgrade to 6-8GB if you run containers. The TS-464's 8GB is non-upgradable but sufficient for Plex plus 4-5 containers. Check whether the RAM is upgradable (DS423+, DS923+, AS5404T, F4-424 Pro: yes; TS-464: no) and whether it supports ECC (DS923+: yes; others: no). ECC matters if you use Btrfs or ZFS checksums and want maximum data integrity.

The Bottom Line

For most Plex users in 2026, the QNAP TS-464 is the right choice — Intel Quick Sync, dual 2.5GbE, PCIe expansion, HDMI output, and M.2 NVMe caching for around $599. If you want the best value and do not need dual NICs, the Synology DS423+ handles 4K transcoding with DSM's best-in-class software for $399. If you have a large 4K HDR library and need multiple simultaneous transcodes, the TerraMaster F4-424 Pro with its 8-core i3-N305 and 32GB DDR5 is the transcoding powerhouse. If you want four NVMe slots and dual 2.5GbE at a budget price, the Asustor AS5404T is the best value 4K NAS. And if every client in your setup supports direct play and you never need transcoding, the Synology DS923+ with DSM and ECC RAM is a superb file server — just do not expect it to transcode.

The single most important decision in choosing a Plex NAS is whether you need transcoding. If yes, buy a NAS with Intel Quick Sync (TS-464, DS423+, F4-424 Pro, AS5404T). If no, the DS923+ with its AMD CPU and DSM ecosystem is excellent. Pair your NAS with four NAS-grade HDDs (Seagate IronWolf or WD Red Plus), add NVMe drives for caching, get a Plex Pass for hardware transcoding, and you have a media server that will stream your entire library to every screen in your home for years.

Affiliate Disclosure: GeniusTechLab is reader-supported. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on hands-on testing and editorial judgment, not commission rates.

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