Going from FreeNAS to Windows Server 16

[therobmyers]

Ok I've been using FreeNAS for 2 years now. I only use it for PLEX. I have 2 8TB hard drives full of movies and 1 USB with FreeNAS on it. My question is can I just download and install Windows Server on that USB drive overwriting FreeNAS and it'll automatically detect the movies on it after I install PLEX and update it? Thanks. I really am scared of losing all my movies on the 8TB hard drives.

 

[ovizii]

I honestly don't think that will work at all. For one I doubt you can install Win Server onto a USB stick and then I highly doubt Windows can recognize your (probably) zfs formatted drives.

 

[Ericloewe]

I honestly don't think that will work at all. For one I doubt you can install Win Server onto a USB stick and then I highly doubt Windows can recognize your (probably) zfs formatted drives.

And Windows Server to run Plex? That's like buying an A380 to carry 10 people a day over 250km - it comes with a ton of limitations, it's very expensive to buy and operate and you're not using it for what it's meant to do.

 

[jgreco]

It won't work. Windows probably wants NTFS formatted disks, and won't recognize it. The movies are stored as files on a filesystem and ZFS and Windows simply have no overlap.

Plex on FreeBSD has been doing swimmingly well the last few years. I would guess the same is true of the FreeNAS implementation. Just curious, why the desire to switch?

 

[therobmyers]

Damn not what I was expecting. I'm just having problems with PLEX, I don't know if it's my Netgear Nighthawk router or FreeNAS. I can't update PLEX to the latest edition and it's no longer updating with posters/descriptions and every thing I've read to fix it hasn't worked. Completely stumped.

 

[chris crude]

Damn not what I was expecting. I'm just having problems with PLEX, I don't know if it's my Netgear Nighthawk router or FreeNas. I can't update PLEX to the latest edition and it's no longer updating with posters/descriptions and every thing I've read to fix it hasn't worked. Completely stumped.

If you only worry about Plex, why not setup a VM in FreeNAS and run it from Linux or Windows? I think those OS are better supported by Plex than BSD plugins and jails.

 

[Ericloewe]

Damn not what I was expecting. I'm just having problems with PLEX, I don't know if it's my Netgear Nighthawk router or FreeNAS. I can't update PLEX to the latest edition and it's no longer updating with posters/descriptions and every thing I've read to fix it hasn't worked. Completely stumped.

Not knowing the FreeNAS version, my guess is that the underlying FreeBSD version used in the jail is no longer supported either by the current version of FreeNAS or is simply too old to be supported by the Plex folks.

Either way, the solution is to update FreeNAS, create a new jail with a FreeBSD 11 environment and install Plex there. Then provide your old configuration stuff and be on your merry way.

 

[Ericloewe]

it comes with a ton of limitations

Totally missed that joke opportunity. It actually comes with 575 tons of limitations.

 

[jgreco]

Not knowing the FreeNAS version, my guess is that the underlying FreeBSD version used in the jail is no longer supported either by the current version of FreeNAS or is simply too old to be supported by the Plex folks.

Either way, the solution is to update FreeNAS, create a new jail with a FreeBSD 11 environment and install Plex there. Then provide your old configuration stuff and be on your merry way.

Generally current-ish Plex over here runs fine on FreeBSD 9.3 AMD64. Usually things like posters not updating and other metadata issues are the result of problems like disk filling or database corruption.