Storage Solutions for NAS Across Several Devices
Storage Solutions for NAS Across Several Devices
Afternoon lads, I’m planning to install a NAS on my home network to keep all my games safe. While I could use something like LanCache, that’s not the goal here. I need several devices to connect and play directly from the NAS using the files stored there. Each device will have a 2.5GB Ethernet connection. My NAS is built with four 16TB HDDs in RAID 5, a 8-core CPU, a 2TB M.2 SSD, a 1080p GPU, and 32GB RAM (repurposing an old gaming rig). Before we jump into the details, there’s a challenge: just storing everything locally isn’t enough because SSD prices have dropped so much. There are also over 8TB of games installed, mostly emulated titles, which makes it tricky to clean up or reinstall without hassle. My aim is to create a top-tier gaming setup where I can instantly access PlayNite from the NAS across multiple PCs and a living room setup. I’m avoiding solutions like LanCache because they complicate file management. The main problems are: downloading games still takes time, emulated games don’t save well, updates must be applied locally, compatibility with all titles is uncertain, and anti-cheat software might block access. I’m not sure if this is the simplest path, but I’ll try anyway—this could be a wild idea if it works.
Times will always be slow whether you use iSCSI or a regular SMB network, since even a 2.5 Gb LAN is faster than SATA II. I believe it’s wiser to run it as a LanCache server, which lets you remove and reinstall games quickly. Emulated content and Linux images work perfectly on an SMB share.
For emulation it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I keep all my ROMs on an SMB folder, and my Yuzu emuNAND is also on the same network share (just making sure not to run more than one copy at once). With newer titles this would cause serious problems—it’d become a major slowdown, especially during updates. But older games should still work just fine.
Thanks for the guidance! I’ll experiment with these concepts and observe the outcomes. I’ll share my progress and the results once everything is ready.
Alright lads, it has been a while but I have set it all up! It works great with almost every game I have tried with a very short list of games that have issues. Running on a 2.5gb ethernet connection seems to be more than enough to run the game straight from the nas on an SMB share. We can have multiple pcs in the house running games at the same time without any issues. For example, I played God of War Ragnarok while my wife played Horizon Forbidden West at the same time. Neither one of us noticed any difference in gameplay. Ill post up the setup I used after this in case your interested in setting it up yourself. Overall it appears to run better than off a local HDD doing it this way. Only place where an internal HDD wins is in launching the game. After that point all loading screens and overall performance is improved by running off the nas. Im sure an internal m.2 would beat the NAS on loading times, but I think that is the only way your going to beat it in terms of performance. The main issue is Easy Anti Cheat. Any game that has Easy Anti Cheat will not launch. It appears that EAC does not like games being installed on the NAS. I've tried a few tricks, like mapping out the game and all its files locally using symbolic links, but it made no difference. I think i could setup a VHD to get around it, but then I would need multiple copies of the game on the NAS for each PC in the house. If you guys can think of any work arounds to this issue, would be appreciated. Here is a list of games I have tried so far: Works: God of War Ragnarok Cyber Punk 2077 Diplomacy is not an option Horizon Forbidden West Horizon Zero Dawn Resident Evil 4 Halo mcc(Must disable EAC) Dirt 5 Deadspace Remake Make way Battlefield 5 Escape Academy Dont Starve Together (Ran this one on two pcs at the same time with no issue and played together) Lethal Company Yuzu, RPCS3, emulators in general and many more.... Does Not Work: Halo mcc (With EAC On) Lord of the Fallen (EAC blocks it) Battle Bit (EAC blocks it) Back 4 Blood (EAC blocks it)
We’re getting started with the general configuration. The NAS I built features an 8700k processor, a 1080TI for video encoding on Plex, a 2tb Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite M.2 for caching, and four 16TB Iron Wolf Pro HDDs. The operating system is Truenas Scale, installed in a RAID 5 setup with the drives included. These steps assume you’re already familiar with Truenas and will give you a high-level view of the process. We’ll also assume Steam is your main platform for downloading games.
1. Install and configure Truenas Scale on your NAS. Make sure to configure your cache, typically the 2tb M.2, to boost read performance.
2. Decide where you want your game files stored within the NAS file system.
3. Create an SMB share that points to the directory where your games reside. This allows multiple devices in the house to access them.
4. On one of the computers running the games, map a network drive to the location you’ve set for your game storage.
5. Launch Steam, navigate to Settings/Storage, and add the mapped drive (e.g., Z:/Games). Avoid using IP-based paths like //{serverIp}/gameslocation; stick to a mapped drive.
6. Install the games and enjoy your setup!
Additional tips:
- For emulators, portable mode is ideal—it keeps saves on the NAS rather than local settings, letting you resume progress across devices.
- EAC games won’t work; consider installing locally or disabling EAC for offline-only play.
- Using apps like Playnite is powerful when all files are centrally hosted. Ensure each device maps to the same drive letter for seamless access.
- Avoid NAS storage if your connection is under 1GB, Wi-Fi speeds are insufficient, you’re heavily using MOCA, or you mainly play online games—slow loading and latency issues will arise.
- Running a VM on the NAS lets Steam stay active continuously, eliminating delays before gameplay.
Overall, this configuration gives me confidence—it’s flexible, reliable, and ready for your needs!