Best inexpensive network drive

Hey folks

Thanks for being so supportive. Working on putting together a solution for my parents house. I already have a pretty slick setup in my house, but they’re under a bit more of a budget.

I picked up an HDHR Prime from eBay already. They’re putting Apple TV’s on each set for consumption. The biggest challenge I have is finding a decent network drive that will support as many features of Channels DVR as possible but still not break the bank. I found the My Cloud EX2 bare for $90, and the My Cloud Home Duo for $250 with a dual 2TB setup. Which device is better? Or is there one in that range that is even better?

They need 2TB of storage, and the potential for channels to be steamed outside the house on occasion.

Thanks!!!

You can buy refurbished 4tb pr2100 for around $200 on eBay. Much better at transcoding

IIRC this has an ARM processor and will not work for transcoding out of home.

Supports one transcoded stream but is quite slow and won't lead to a good experience with commercial detection etc.

Thanks @tmm1, what are your thoughts on the PR2100? Better option? Trying to get everything ordered in time to go help my parents get set up.

The PR2100 is a great option with an Intel CPU. If you can find one for $200 that's a great deal.

Different route, for my parents I bought a small windows PC off eBay. i7 3770s OptiPlex USFF for around $200, with SSD and Win10, add a large external if you want. Great hardware but not completely an appliance.

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@Richard_smith posted in another thread that Ebay has used/refurb PR2100 for ~$200

Sales tax holidays coming up:

Original link: https://www.apple.com/shop/campaigns/tax-holiday

Couple more options for <$100 more (New)

Comparison of CPU performance

                   WD PR2100	 Qnap 251+/451+	  ACEPC GK1
                   Ebay - Refurb Adorama 251+    Coupcou.com

I have the ACEPC GK1 discussed in thread:

Thanks so much. My setup is on a couple Intel NUCs with a drobo. I think I’ll do some more research but you’ve given me some things to think about.

Here’s a comparison for the top 3 suggestions in this thread

Deleted Qnap-251+
Added the Dell i7 @DiscoveryDad suggested

Suggestion order is PR2100, ACEPC, Dell i7