Media server with remote access

[Clyde.Bruckman]

Looking at creating a media server with an old Mac mini with remote access when im out to que downloads.

Would this mini be perfect?

Apple Mac Mini (Late 2012) - A1347 (2.6GHz i7 4-core, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD).

Asking price is £180 GBP is that nuts for an 11 year old machine?

Thinking I could up the SSD at a later point or just connect and external.

thanks

 

[michelg1970]

Looking at creating a media server with an old Mac mini with remote access when im out to que downloads.

Would this mini be perfect?

​

Apple Mac Mini (Late 2012) - A1347 (2.6GHz i7 4-core, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD).

Asking price is £180 GBP is that nuts for an 11 year old machine?

Thinking I could up the SSD at a later point or just connect and external.

thanks

What will you be streaming on your network Clyde?

Back in 2012 I had a 4-core i7 Mac mini as server for Plex movies and as central home backup location (using directory service). I replaced this in 2016 with a NAS (QNAP) that I still use today. The 2.0 GHZ quad core Celeron and its 4 GB processor is still sufficient to stream movies in 1920 x 1080 but it can't do 4K movies.

I would say that the MM you mention would be sufficient for streaming 4K but am not sure if it can and if it wouldn't be sounding like a hair dryer (which both you and me don't need).

Software compatibility is of course another issue....

 

[dimme]

I think the 2012 mini would be plenty powerful and you could also run a VPN on it for remote access. The only drawback is that mini is stuck at 10.15.7. Unless you want to run open core patcher (OCLP) on it. I have a 2012 mini I use as my server it's been running great for almost 10 years and I hope to get many more out of it. I have not tried OCLP on it I have been testing OCLP on a 2013 MBP and so far it been great. One nice thing about the 2012 mini is the user can update the ram and also the SSD.

 

[Clyde.Bruckman]

What will you be streaming on your network Clyde?

Back in 2012 I had a 4-core i7 Mac mini as server for Plex movies and as central home backup location (using directory service). I replaced this in 2016 with a NAS (QNAP) that I still use today. The 2.0 GHZ quad core Celeron and its 4 GB processor is still sufficient to stream movies in 1920 x 1080 but it can't do 4K movies.

I would say that the MM you mention would be sufficient for streaming 4K but am not sure if it can and if it wouldn't be sounding like a hair dryer (which both you and me don't need).

Software compatibility is of course another issue....

Thanks Mich! It would be ideal to have the option of 4k- hoping this being the top end Mac mini in 2012 it mite cut it without sounding like its running itself into the ground.

I think the 2012 mini would be plenty powerful and you could also run a VPN on it for remote access. The only drawback is that mini is stuck at 10.15.7. Unless you want to run open core patcher (OCLP) on it. I have a 2012 mini I use as my server it's been running great for almost 10 years and I hope to get many more out of it. I have not tried OCLP on it I have been testing OCLP on a 2013 MBP and so far it been great. One nice thing about the 2012 mini is the user can update the ram and also the SSD.

Thanks Dimme - good to hear theres a lot of life to be had in these lil machines

Software wise it seems to be covered for running a Plex server as it comes with Catalina ( OS X 10.11 El Capitan or newer needed to run it)

Is it a security issue running an old OS like Catalina if set to remote access? I think I would have it running local for a while anyway.

at £180 GBP I am tempted to take a punt on it as a project and worst case would hope it mite retain that value 6 months down the line and sell it on.


Think thats an acceptable price?

 

[dimme]

Thanks Mich! It would be ideal to have the option of 4k- hoping this being the top end Mac mini in 2012 it mite cut it without sounding like its running itself into the ground.


Thanks Dimme - good to hear theres a lot of life to be had in these lil machines

Software wise it seems to be covered for running a Plex server as it comes with Catalina ( OS X 10.11 El Capitan or newer needed to run it)

Is it a security issue running an old OS like Catalina if set to remote access? I think I would have it running local for a while anyway.

at £180 GBP I am tempted to take a punt on it as a project and worst case would hope it mite retain that value 6 months down the line and sell it on.


Think thats an acceptable price?

For remote access I run a VPN server on a raspberry pi. Security wise it's a step up that remote access. I have had intrusions with remote access over the years but they have been rare. I would think the older OS would be fine, but I am not a security expert, just paranoid.

 

[Clyde.Bruckman]

For remote access I run a VPN server on a raspberry pi. Security wise it's a step up that remote access. I have had intrusions with remote access over the years but they have been rare. I would think the older OS would be fine, but I am not a security expert, just paranoid.

I too get paranoid. What alerts you to the intrusions?

 

[michelg1970]

Why not just use your new MM and spend the 180 pounds on an external USB-C drive to store your media? The MM can run VPN.

My NAS is from 2015 (QNAP) and if only you see the number of failed login attempts using the admin account (disabled)...

I want to use my NAS as local storage and let the (new) MM run Plex (from the NAS media sharepoint), VPN and backup to the NAS (Time Machine).

 

[dimme]

I too get paranoid. What alerts you to the intrusions?

I found the web browser open to some online store (don't remember which one).