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iMac and Mac Mini Storage Solution

D

downingp

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 26, 2006
640
3
I will be putting together a mac mini HTPC setup in the next couple of weeks. I currently have an iMac with a 2TB external HD attached to it that stores my iMovie data as well as my iTunes data. I also have an Airport Extreme N to be complete.
I am looking for the best way to "share" my media (mainly iTunes) between the two computers. Should I leave the external HD attached to the iMac and then share the iTunes library or should I plug the external HD into the Airport Extreme?

Thanks.
 
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The iMac will offer better performance than connecting to the Airport Extreme. However, the Airport Extreme will be the more energy efficient setup. I am able to stream one 1080p Kuro reference video from the current generation Time Capsule 3TB over 450mbps wireless-N.
 
I also wanted to add that my iMac and Mac Mini will be connected to my airport Extreme via Ethernet (not wireless)
 
1) Will either of the two Macs be left running 24/7? If so, that one would be the obvious choice to connect the media drive.
2) Which Mac will be accessing the media in question most often?

Ultimately, I think that leaving the drive connected to the iMac would be the best option.
 
warvanov said:
1) Will either of the two Macs be left running 24/7? If so, that one would be the obvious choice to connect the media drive.

2) Which Mac will be accessing the media in question most often?
Click to expand...


1) I plan on keeping the Mac mini on 24/7 and have always had my iMac on 24/7 before getting the Mac mini

2) Mac mini will probably be the main computer accessing the music but the iMac will access the home movies
 
The mini should have no problems accessing the music regardless of whether it's plugged into the back of the mini, the Airport, or the iMac.

However, on the iMac the home movies will be notably slower when connected any other way than directly to the iMac.
 
Even a wired Ethernet connection would be too slow for file transfer between airport extreme and iMac?
 
For iTunes, maybe consider iTunes match? That way any changes you make in one place will perpetuate to all of your computers and devices.
 
downingp said:
Even a wired Ethernet connection would be too slow for file transfer between airport extreme and iMac?
Click to expand...

Well whether or not it will be "too slow" is entirely a matter of your own needs and preferences. It will surely be slower than having it connected directly.
 
If I leave the external hard drive connected to my iMac, would I be able to "wake the iMac" up if the mac mini wanted to access it?
 
get a synology nas either the mini or the iMac even has 24/7 access to it. there is a huge choice from 150 to 2 k plus. the basic model is this;


http://www.buy.com/prod/synology-di...rage-server-800-mhz-type-a-usb/213481643.html

150

________________________________________________________________________
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-Network+-+Storage-_-Synology+Inc.-_-22108048

500 with a huge storage upgrade option and a lot of speed


below is the storage upgrade

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108087

500

_________________________________________________________________

I started with the cheap one still works fine.
I now own the better one. faster then fw800..

they act as shared storage for all my computers. all hard wired with cat 6 cable.
 
Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference between using an external hard drive connected to my airport extreme and Synology?
 
speed is the biggest difference.

how do you attach the hdd to the airport extreme?

mini to air via cat

imac to air via cat

air to hdd via usb? slow slow slow. but still may be good enough.

the cheap synology gives you 40MB/s
the expensive synology gets about 110 mb/s

air port extreme will struggle to top 30 MB/s so big transfers may be a problem. a viewer of a movie on the iMac and a listener of music on the mini may suffer lag.

Since you don't mention your hdd I don't know if you will connect via usb to the airport with the hdd. some hdds have net hookups and are faster then usb2.
 
philipma1957 said:
speed is the biggest difference.

how do you attach the hdd to the airport extreme?

mini to air via cat

imac to air via cat

air to hdd via usb? slow slow slow. but still may be good enough.

the cheap synology gives you 40MB/s
the expensive synology gets about 110 mb/s

air port extreme will struggle to top 30 MB/s so big transfers may be a problem. a viewer of a movie on the iMac and a listener of music on the mini may suffer lag.

Since you don't mention your hdd I don't know if you will connect via usb to the airport with the hdd. some hdds have net hookups and are faster then usb2.
Click to expand...

The external hard drive I will be using is a Seagate GoFlex 2TB USB 2.0/3.0. It would be connected to the Airport Extreme via USB and then a Cat5 cable will go directly to the iMac and Mac Mini
 
downingp said:
The external hard drive I will be using is a Seagate GoFlex 2TB USB 2.0/3.0. It would be connected to the Airport Extreme via USB and then a Cat5 cable will go directly to the iMac and Mac Mini
Click to expand...

since you have all the pieces set it up and use it.

if it is too slow then consider the sinology solution.

in fact you can do iMac/macmini to airport

then airport to seagate usb for iTunes

add-on a synology to the airport in a year as expansion.

the airport has 4 cat5 hook ups so 2 for macs 1 for sinology 1 for spare and a usb for the seagate works.
 
Ok, one last question regarding setting up my external hard drive with the airport extreme. I understand that once I consolidate my iTunes library that I was using with my iMac and point iTunes to the airport extreme drive, my playlist, play counts etc will all be intact, correct? My question is, if I setup my new mac mini to also connect to the Airport Extreme iTunes library, will my mac mini also have and keep the same playlists, play counts etc?
 
philipma1957 said:
speed is the biggest difference.

how do you attach the hdd to the airport extreme?

mini to air via cat

imac to air via cat

air to hdd via usb? slow slow slow. but still may be good enough.

the cheap synology gives you 40MB/s
the expensive synology gets about 110 mb/s

air port extreme will struggle to top 30 MB/s so big transfers may be a problem. a viewer of a movie on the iMac and a listener of music on the mini may suffer lag.

Since you don't mention your hdd I don't know if you will connect via usb to the airport with the hdd. some hdds have net hookups and are faster then usb2.
Click to expand...

You seem to just be listing specs and recommending tech. The OP is perfectly happy with the current setup over USB so using USB into the airport station would not be the limiting factor. 40 MB/s is plenty for streaming movings - USB vs other external access is beside the point.

The network bandwidth is usually the issue with streaming. If you're streaming 1080p high bitrate stuff then cat 5e and gigabit will get you an uninterrupted steam. You may see better with the apple wireless hardware but I did not have good results with 1080p and wireless.

OP - I would connect the external to the airport and just try it. That seems like a really clean solution using hardware you already have.
 
Fry-Man22

Can you comment on my post above yours about consolidating my library?
 
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