Shield TV Adoptable Storage vs External w spinning HDD drive?

by sappypappy

Planning on getting a 16gb Shield to take over as my Plex server for my aging Nuc since it can handle 4k files easily. Of course I will need to expand its storage capabilities big time & have a nice 7200 rpm terabyte HDD I could hook to it via a USB 3.0 powered enclosure.

But I'm wondering if anyone has experience with using a fast HDD as adoptable storage experiencing any slow downs in general since it combines with the internal onboard storage. Would it be better to just mount it as an external separate drive?

I do have a fast 2.5" SSD I could use, but it's only 256gb. I'm afraid I'd burn through that pretty fast, but if it makes a big difference I'll use it. Thoughts?

Fantastins

You'd think it'd combine them, but Plex don't. Not yet. Maybe with experience 7?

pawdog

I didn't have success with Plex on the Shield, playing back 4k remuxes directly on the Shield, when the Shield was also the server. It kind of felt like I was asking just a tiny bit too much. It may have been that there was not enough space left on the internal drive. I didn't mess around with it too much because I started getting low disk space notices and had to abandon the experiment.

LordCryofax

Why not plug in both and use the SSD for adoptive storage (apps and database), and the HD for external storage of movies/TV shows/DVR?

xxirish83x

I’ve been using an external wd passport 4tb for a few months now. Experience has been great. Can use plex on device and plex in in another room streaming from device no problem. Would recommend

kenkiller

Use a ssd as adoptable storage for any games or app you might want to install. For Plex, use any networked storage or even any hdd already installed in your desktop. Ethernet connected storage is fast enough for 4K media.

bartholemues

In general I've found running the 16GB Shield with a 4TB HDD adapted to be pretty irritating. It's just so buggy; apps crash constantly, plex media server never starts by itself, the drive isn't picked up on a normal restart (have to unplug it, restart, then plug it back in), broken voice search, video stuttering and more.

It's just got constant issues really and is making me considering moving back to a much simpler Roku set up with external PMS that just works. I can't recommend the Shield as a PMS personally much as I love the responsiveness when it's actually working.