Mac mini file server - need help

[Heart Break Kid]

I have a 2020 Mac mini with 10gbe upgrade and 32gb ram. Im currently using it as a pseudo file server running Mac OS server. Its doing a reasonably solid job for my use case. I have 2x 1tb NVMe SSD via thunderbolt 3 that my wife and I are using as Time Machine backups for our respective laptops. I want to expand the storage capacity of the mini. It sits in a server rack that I house my home theater and network switch in. I would love some input and clarification

Option 1 - DAS+Mac mini. I had previously tried out the OWC Thunderbay 4 Mini with 8tb SSD. Unfortunately within 18 hours, one of the SSDs failed and because it was in a JBOD format I lost everything. Obviously I had a backup so Im good, but I did end up returning the device. I was wondering if I ought to reconsider and go with OWC or another similar multi-bay external storage solution. Any advice on which one I ought to go with? Should I go with a thunderbolt 3 solution with SSDs? Should I go with HDD?

Option 2 - with the 10gbe I have on the Mini, I thought about adding a NAS to the server rack. Should I go with a dedicated NAS with 10gbe like from Synology or QNAP? If so, any advice on which one? Do I populate it with SSD or HDDs? Do I connect it directly to the MacMini via the 10gbe port and if so, how would I then connect my Mac mini to my router? Do I purchase a 10gbe switch where I would connect my router, Mac mini and NAS to?

Essentially I want to have the ability to have 8tb or more storage on which I can serve a large media collection to multiple devices on my home network. I figured I could leverage the MacMini's i7 to do any heavy duty hardware transcoding. I'm just limited on space at the moment.

Im hoping to have a solution ASAP so that if I have a DAS box, NAS box, or 1U NAS rack I can pick up drives at a discount on Black Friday.

 

[wardie]

I used to go down the NAS route for SOHO use but now do the MacMini+DAS as a file server. I just found it more flexible to run other stuff on the MM as well, and just swap around DAS drives as needed that are fast enough due to USB3.1g2 or TB3. I’ve got a small TB3 SSD drive, h/w DAS USB 3.1g2 SSD RAID drive and some much bigger USB3.0 HDDs. HDDs for TM server and backup of the network drives themselves.

What are your speed and size requirements? That probably constrains choices. I’m wondering why you need NVMe SSD drives for TimeMachine backups? I just do those to a large slow HDD< runs in the background who cares about ultra fast speed for that? I don’t, you may do.

 

[Heart Break Kid]

I used to go down the NAS route for SOHO use but now do the MacMini+DAS as a file server. I just found it more flexible to run other stuff on the MM as well, and just swap around DAS drives as needed that are fast enough due to USB3.1g2 or TB3. I’ve got a small TB3 SSD drive, h/w DAS USB 3.1g2 SSD RAID drive and some much bigger USB3.0 HDDs. HDDs for TM server and backup of the network drives themselves.

What are your speed and size requirements? That probably constrains choices. I’m wondering why you need NVMe SSD drives for TimeMachine backups? I just do those to a large slow HDD< runs in the background who cares about ultra fast speed for that? I don’t, you may do.

Its not that I need NVME for time machine...its jut that they were on sale recently and I picked them up on the cheap . I was hoping to get somewhere north of 10tb so I can have more than enough for my entire media collection plus medical library (wife and I are both physicians)

 

[wardie]

Its not that I need NVME for time machine...its jut that they were on sale recently and I picked them up on the cheap . I was hoping to get somewhere north of 10tb so I can have more than enough for my entire media collection plus medical library (wife and I are both physicians)

Unless you have a killer speed requirement I’d just buy say a 12GB DAS USB3 HDD as the file storage, using MacMini file sharing and a matching one as a backup, setup automatically for backups (e.g. CCC or TM etc).

 

[Meatsuit]

I will preface with I hate iTunes. Happy to see it go. Long time Plex user.
For a Mac media server, Plex is a much better option. iTunes does not play well with others. Plex has apps for Android, iOS, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, and Roku. Plex Media Server can run on Windows, Mac, NAS, and Linux boxes. Your media can reside in multiple locations. The one limitation is you can not play Apple protected content unless you strip their DRM. Not an issue for me. iTunes does not exist on its latest OS. It is a pretty horrible option, especially if your someone with a mixed OS and Device environment.

 

[Heart Break Kid]

I will preface with I hate iTunes. Happy to see it go. Long time Plex user.
For a Mac media server, Plex is a much better option. iTunes does not play well with others. Plex has apps for Android, iOS, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, and Roku. Plex Media Server can run on Windows, Mac, NAS, and Linux boxes. Your media can reside in multiple locations. The one limitation is you can not play Apple protected content unless you strip their DRM. Not an issue for me. iTunes does not exist on its latest OS. It is a pretty horrible option, especially if your someone with a mixed OS and Device environment.

I tend to agree with you. The only problem I have is that I have purchased hundreds of dollars worth of movies from iTunes Store. Obviously moving forward I will probably lean on buying DVDs and ripping them as Im not sure what alternative exists for non-DRM digital downloads that dont involve piracy

I did opt to go with the Mac mini + OWC Thunder Bay 4 mini in a raid 5 setup. I was going to leave the 2x 1tb NVME thunderbolt 3 drives to continue acting as time machine backups for now. I will likely populate the thunder bay with SSDs but Im not sure if I need NAS specific ones or if I ought to go with just plain ol' desktop/laptop variant. I know the $/tb favors HDD, but with the enclosure only supporting a max 16tb and me planning on using it to serve up some HD --> 4k content I thought the SSDs would be an investment on the front end but future proof myself. Obviously, if Im a complete idiot feel free to correct me lol