When things break, I might revisit the NAS situation, but more likely be on the market for a refurbished 2018 Mac Mini that should keep me happy for another decade. Open the app and click Continue to set it up. I’m not a big fan of its platic outer casing and drive drawers either (the inner case is metal). That said, it runs really quiet, and doesn’t take up much space either. I can unplug any of my server external drives and plug them in to another Mac on the fly. Disk management isn’t as strait forward as on a Mac. You can ssh in it, setup a VPN, run rsync, but you can’t rip a DVD, or convert video formats easily. It was a close call, as it offers a Plex, Time Machine and DropBox client, it can be configured with plenty of disk space organised in a RAID array. I briefly tried to replace my server with a Synology DS918+ last autumn, but it didn’t serve all my needs and didn’t fit properly in my backup strategy. A day will probably come when Plex/iCloud won’t support this OS version anymore, and I’ll have to (re)consider upgrading my setup.
I’ve stuck to macOS 10.12 (Sierra) for software compatibility reasons and because I didn’t require any of the new features from a server standpoint.
I prefer the Apple TV app (on my Apple TV – terrible naming) to stream movies or rentals.
Although I don’t stream from iTunes anymore, it automatically downloads my purchases for backup. It serves essentially as a backup and media server. Today, I have a late-2014 Mac Mini running macOS Sierra hooked up to my TV with a bunch of hard drives attached.
Download macOS Server or type 'macOS Server' into the search bar, top right, if that link doesnt work for you. I’ve had a macOS (Mac OS) server running at home since around 2004 when I bought a Power Mac G4 Cube off eBay, followed by a first Intel-based Mac Mini mid-2007. You get all the UNIX underpinning with all the Mac accessibility and ease of use. Before the Apple TV days (remember the iTV project?), a Mac was required to stream your content to a TV, and I’ve always preferred using a dedicated Mac over a laptop. File Server: Uses File Sharing to allow users to store and share folders and files on Mac mini. Open System Preferences, then click Sharing to access one or more of the options below. This would include the network, power, and sharing settings. Throughout the years, my server needs have revolved around media streaming and backup. The most popular server featuresFile Server, Time Machine Server, and Caching Serverare a part of macOS, so it’s easy to use your Mac mini as a server. Is A Mac mini A Good File Server If you want to have a well functioning server, you’ll want to be sure to get everything right from the start.
Well, for a bunch of reasons, one being that I enjoy nerding in server stuff and another that I love the Mac. I’m often asked why I go through the trouble of setting up and maintaining a home server, when I could buy a NAS that solves most people’s needs out of the box?