Mac Mini as media server and wireless RAID backup?

[Astroboy907]

I'm looking into purchasing a mac mini as a media server for our TV, which would work well from what I understand. However, I wan't to use it as a base for wireless file backups for my laptop. I would really like to backup to a 2 drive mirrored setup in case one drive fails, so my question is, can I set up three external drives to this computer, one for media, and two to mirror a backup? If so, is it possible to backup to the drive and have it automatically mirror the data for me? Or do I have to get a dedicated RAID box?

 

[Gav2k]

Dedicated raid box would be better suited for your needs.

 

[Astroboy907]

Dedicated raid box would be better suited for your needs.

Could you help explain why exactly? I'm a newbie to raid and the like. I'm guessing its due to the limits of software raid?

 

[opinio]

Dedicated raid box would be better suited for your needs.

You can just run two drives in Apple RAID in mirrored format. Don't need an enclosure.

 

[opinio]

Could you help explain why exactly? I'm a newbie to raid and the like. I'm guessing its due to the limits of software raid?

I have two dedicated RAID boxes (OWC and GMAX). They both run about 10% slower than Apple Software RAID.

 

[Astroboy907]

I have two dedicated RAID boxes (OWC and GMAX). They both run about 10% slower than Apple Software RAID.

Slower or faster? If its just 10% difference it likely won't matter to me. All I am interested in is backing up over wifi and media sharing. I have an AirPort Extreme also, I don't suppose I could simply raid the drive to that without a controller. Sounds promising though, it's just a pet project I've been wanting to do for a while.

 

[opinio]

Slower or faster? If its just 10% difference it likely won't matter to me. All I am interested in is backing up over wifi and media sharing. I have an AirPort Extreme also, I don't suppose I could simply raid the drive to that without a controller. Sounds promising though, it's just a pet project I've been wanting to do for a while.

My setup is that I have a mac mini running 24/7. I have two segate 4TB USB3.0 drives plugged into two of the USB ports on the mini. You open disk utility and click the RAID tab. Then drag the two USB drives into the window and proceed. Then you have a single drive appear in finder or on the desktop. In my case I run RAID 0 striped which is very fast. Therefore my drive is 8TB But in your case you run RAID-1 mirrored.

As I run RAID-0 I also need to run backup strategies.

I have run that RAID for a year now with no problems. Even if I plug it into another mac (obviously with two ports) it still is picked up immediately. The only thing I suggest you only unplug/plug it while the Mac is off. As the RAID relies on two or more drives you want the Mac to pick them both up on boot, not hot plugged. It is not an issue, just my preference.

If you do not like it then you can always drop the bare drives into a hardware RAID enclosure.

 

[Astroboy907]

My setup is that I have a mac mini running 24/7. I have two segate 4TB USB3.0 drives plugged into two of the USB ports on the mini. You open disk utility and click the RAID tab. Then drag the two USB drives into the window and proceed. Then you have a single drive appear in finder or on the desktop. In my case I run RAID 0 striped which is very fast. Therefore my drive is 8TB But in your case you run RAID-1 mirrored.

As I run RAID-0 I also need to run backup strategies.

I have run that RAID for a year now with no problems. Even if I plug it into another mac (obviously with two ports) it still is picked up immediately. The only thing I suggest you only unplug/plug it while the Mac is off. As the RAID relies on two or more drives you want the Mac to pick them both up on boot, not hot plugged. It is not an issue, just my preference.

If you do not like it then you can always drop the bare drives into a hardware RAID enclosure.

Sounds good so far. I finally picked up an older mac mini so I guess the only thing is to get another external drive the same size. I'm assuming I should match size/brand/speed of the drive right? Right now its a WD MyBook 3tb, so I'll eventually get another one, maybe not just right now.