I'm fairly the confident the answer is yes though I'm curious on this. What about the possibility of getting a new Mac Mini to install two Intel SSDs (one for storage, and another for backup)? Could it be done and would it be worth it?
Yes, that should be able to be done. However, it's not worth it to use SSD as storage or backup due its high cost. You are better off with one SSD for OS X and apps (80GB is enough) and then keep the other 500GB drive there as storage. Then use the other 500GB for backups