And by "file server" I mean an external hard drive attached to my Mini that can be shared among all users in my house. As far as the actual hard drive goes, I was thinking of something along the lines of a two drive enclosure so one drive can clone to the other as a backup. But my biggest curiosity was HOW to share it. Do I just enable all users to be able to see it? How do they log into it? Do I need to do something different?

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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

I love Synology devices. But you could probably get something cheaper/more simple either by plugging an external hard drive into your router (if it has that functionality), or just by sharing a drive that's connected to one of your Macs.

Maybe I do just need to suck it up and get a two bay NAS to connect to my switch. Then I can keep it in the closet with the rest of the network stuff.

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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2018 08:29AM by bazookaman.

you can use basically any attached drive and just share it and turn on file sharing for that computer.

I just bought a Synology 418play to handle file sharing along with running Plex. They have several two disk versions that are fairly reasonably priced (I think). I have been impressed so far.

I have a Synology NAS that I love. I use their Surveillance Station to monitor several ip cameras. Each NAS comes with 2 camera licenses. The iOS app to remotely view the cameras is free. The Synology NAS's can run apps that add a ton of functionality to them. I've been very happy with mine.

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Mr645
you can use basically any attached drive and just share it and turn on file sharing for that computer.

This. It doesnt have to be as complicated as you are making it out to be.

Plug in any drive, turn on file sharing... done.

So many options for storage. No idea how much data you want to share, which could impact the answer.

If its relatively small, it could go on your internal drive. You could get a pair of portable drives and have one TM/CCC to the other. You could pickup a Apple Timecapsule. So. many. options.

If you have never needed a "server" drive before, a multi hundred dollar NAS seems like overkill?

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2018 10:58AM by jdc.

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jdc

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Mr645
you can use basically any attached drive and just share it and turn on file sharing for that computer.

This. It doesnt have to be as complicated as you are making it out to be.

Plug in any drive, turn on file sharing... done.

So many options for storage. No idea how much data you want to share, which could impact the answer.

If its relatively small, it could go on your internal drive. You could get a pair of portable drives and have one TM/CCC to the other. You could pickup a Apple Timecapsule. So. many. options.

If you have never needed a "server" drive before, a multi hundred dollar NAS seems like overkill?

Well thats why i'm asking. If turning on file sharing for a connected drive is all i need to do, thats fine. I already have several externals connected to my mini. So i figured having something separate would be better. I even have an old OWC two bay enclosure I could drop two drives in. But like i said, having another external hanging off the mini would be bothersome.

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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

do you keep that mini ON all the time? if not, having a hard drive connected to a router or a separate NAS box may be more convenient.

If you have more than one external, maybe combine them into one large drive? =)

5TB portable drives are $100ish and no bigger than a deck of cards, totally silent, plus no powerbrick. Even 2 would be smaller than one 3.5" drive.

fwiw, I used a FW800 drive connected to an iMac as a "file server" for years in my studio -- in the early 2000's -- and we accessed graphic files directly from it over a gigabit network... worked awesome.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

All the drives connected to the Mini (always on) serve unique functions and I don't really want to combine any of them.I think I'll start with two new 4tb drives. One for data. One for backup. Then I can put them into an external enclosure (that I already have) and see how that goes. If I have to I can always move them to a NAS enclosure later.

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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

Dang, I just looked up bare 3.5 4TB drives... I had no idea the were that expensive! $100 for the cheapest WD you can find.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

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jdc
Dang, I just looked up bare 3.5 4TB drives... I had no idea the were that expensive! $100 for the cheapest WD you can find.

Yep.

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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity