help for nas newb!

Issac

Hello!

I've moved into a new house and have decided to sort my networking/storage situation while I'm at it. I know very little about nas other than the basics of how they work so any help / advice would be greatly appreciated!

I have a locked down laptop from work so need a place to store my photos (have a pretty big collection). I use Google photo so ideally would like the nas to sync to that. Other than that just the usual docs and stuff people need to back up.

I want to run kodi and some other media apps as well. Currently I use my phone and cast to a chromecadt but that's a pain if someone calls/texts me. I was thinking of just getting an android box and running that separately from the nas but to would be great to have an all in one or at least be able to start downloading a movie prior to watching it. Would a raspberry pie be better teamed with the nas? Again don't know how this works but would be willing to learn!

Any recommendations? I was looking at the synology 215j as an option and teaming that with the android box/rp. Would it be better to have the media streaming side of things seperate so I can upgrade each independently?

Thanks!

ED E

Edit out reference to any illegal content sharing services there before the mods lock this thread and hit you with an infraction.

You have a chromecast, you dont need an android box tbh. Content can live on your NAS and you use your phone just to start the streams, calls wont interrupt playback.

If you chose a bespoke NAS solution like a Synology its usually cheaper but your limited to the apps Synology/partners provide for it (unless you want to start using the linux CLI). The alternative is a self build where you can run windows on the box and anything you want (like plex, google drive client). Something to consider.

Issac

Thanks! Edited the post. Never thought about mentioning streaming services!

So if I get a standard NAS (synology or the like) I can get my phone to get apps to point to a folder on the nas. From there I can get the chromecast to link to those files? How would it link? Would the chromecast transcode the files? What would the interface be? I assume my phone? If it is my phone then why would calls/texys not affect things?

Would the synology 215j allow me to do all that?

Sorry for all the questions!

ED E

DLNA does all the magic.

The Synology hosts a DLNA server, the phone is a client and so it the chromecast. When you hit cast on your phone it instructs the chromecast to take that stream from the server, so the content doesnt need to "bounce" through the phone.

DLNA is nice, but it doesnt have live transcoding like plex does. So if playback is a problem you could use a Pi that accesses the nas like a network drive and manages playback itself. Pi2+ would be perfect for that, but only really needed if the chromecast struggles with something.