MP 1,1-5,1 Seeking Opinions on putting an old 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 to use as a server

[amajorguy]

Dear fellow mac owners,
I have been obsessing so much that I'm going insane! I've posted here before with questions regarding upgrades. The responses helped me to decide what to do which led to another path for obsessive questioning. So, here's another request for all ya'alls opinions.
First the back story: I was gifted with two working 2009 4,1 mac pros, one being a dual-processor both currently have Yosemite installed.
At first, I was exploring upgrading for use as a workstation; primarily for audio recording and mixing. Long story short - I decided to buy an M1 Mac Mini. That decision is made and the mac is on its way. Done.
Now I am thinking of using one of the 4,1 s as a home file server.
I don't want to put money into buying faster CPUs and expensive graphics cards. It's a server, I can look at it through screen sharing.
I have 2 internal 2 Tb drives in the dual-processor Mac Pro right now and have 2- 4 Tb external drives to add, so I won't need to buy storage any time soon.
What I do want, is to centralize some common files and get 'em off my laptops. In summary, I want to:

• Run Plex server.
• Run Devonthink Server for a paperless office scenario. (must be El Capitan or later)
• Store Music & Photos
• Manage storage for Time Machine backups for my other macs.
• Be able to access it on my LAN as well as from remote locations when I'm away from home.

Here are my questions:

• What would you do if you were me ? ( in terms of software and hardware - ie. install a server version of OS - getting up and past high sierra requires swapping graphics card and I'd rather not if I don't have to since I'll rarely have to look at this computer through a dedicated monitor, blah blah blah etc etc etc )
• Which Mac Pro should I keep - Which should I sell?
• Am I insane?

Thanks for your responses. keep in mind it's too late to ridicule me for buying the M1 .
I truly appreciate any and all opinions. Thank you

 

[chrfr]

The Mac Pros are slow and tremendously power inefficient. I'd look at doing something different.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Dear fellow mac owners,
I have been obsessing so much that I'm going insane! I've posted here before with questions regarding upgrades. The responses helped me to decide what to do which led to another path for obsessive questioning. So, here's another request for all ya'alls opinions.
First the back story: I was gifted with two working 2009 4,1 mac pros, one being a dual-processor both currently have Yosemite installed.
At first, I was exploring upgrading for use as a workstation; primarily for audio recording and mixing. Long story short - I decided to buy an M1 Mac Mini. That decision is made and the mac is on its way. Done.
Now I am thinking of using one of the 4,1 s as a home file server.
I don't want to put money into buying faster CPUs and expensive graphics cards. It's a server, I can look at it through screen sharing.
I have 2 internal 2 Tb drives in the dual-processor Mac Pro right now and have 2- 4 Tb external drives to add, so I won't need to buy storage any time soon.
What I do want, is to centralize some common files and get 'em off my laptops. In summary, I want to:

• Run Plex server.
• Run Devonthink Server for a paperless office scenario. (must be El Capitan or later)
• Store Music & Photos
• Manage storage for Time Machine backups for my other macs.
• Be able to access it on my LAN as well as from remote locations when I'm away from home.

Here are my questions:

• What would you do if you were me ? ( in terms of software and hardware - ie. install a server version of OS - getting up and past high sierra requires swapping graphics card and I'd rather not if I don't have to since I'll rarely have to look at this computer through a dedicated monitor, blah blah blah etc etc etc )
• Which Mac Pro should I keep - Which should I sell?
• Am I insane?

Thanks for your responses. keep in mind it's too late to ridicule me for buying the M1 .
I truly appreciate any and all opinions. Thank you

Both Mac Pros are slow and power inefficient for the tasks you're asking them to do. I have a Mac Pro, because I still use it with apps that need the RX580GPU, but as a server, I use my Mini for that. Having said that, the resale value of the Mac Pros are still good and you may be able to sell the 2 you have to get an Intel 2018 Mini to act as a server. It would be faster than the Mac Pro and it would also be more power efficient for server duties. It can also run the latest OS without needing to hack it either. I would investigate that option, but you can surely run a Mac Pro as a server if you're ok with your electric bill and the noise.

 

[amajorguy]

Both Mac Pros are slow and power inefficient for the tasks you're asking them to do. I have a Mac Pro, because I still use it with apps that need the RX580GPU, but as a server, I use my Mini for that. Having said that, the resale value of the Mac Pros are still good and you may be able to sell the 2 you have to get an Intel 2018 Mini to act as a server. It would be faster than the Mac Pro and it would also be more power efficient for server duties. It can also run the latest OS without needing to hack it either. I would investigate that option, but you can surely run a Mac Pro as a server if you're ok with your electric bill and the noise.

Solid advice. I truly appreciate it. I think I will sell both. I have a mid 2011 Mac Mini (server version- 2 hard drives, no CD) that the new M1 is replacing. Seems like that might be a viable choice. It's running High Sierra. Do you concur? Or should I seek a faster CPU? Thanks again.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Solid advice. I truly appreciate it. I think I will sell both. I have a mid 2011 Mac Mini (server version- 2 hard drives, no CD) that the new M1 is replacing. Seems like that might be a viable choice. It's running High Sierra. Do you concur? Or should I seek a faster CPU? Thanks again.

I run a mid 2011 Mac Mini myself as a server with a Thunderbolt hub and external drives. Fast enough to serve my other macs as well as iOS devices. The 2011 serves 1080p great, but it's not quite up to snuff with 4K if that's your plan running the Plex server. Mine is running Sierra.

 

[chrfr]

Solid advice. I truly appreciate it. I think I will sell both. I have a mid 2011 Mac Mini (server version- 2 hard drives, no CD) that the new M1 is replacing. Seems like that might be a viable choice. It's running High Sierra. Do you concur? Or should I seek a faster CPU? Thanks again.

The 2011 Mini's biggest shortcoming is that it only has USB 2.0, but it's a better choice than the older Mac Pros to do what you'd like.

 

[amajorguy]

I've made a decision. I'm selling both. I will get a newer mac mini for a file server. Thanks, everyone. What a great community. I hope that I can pay it forward by helping someone else on this forum in the future.

 

[krakman]

good information here, I concur that if you want an 'always on' fileserver an old Mac Pro is not very power efficient, although as an archival device I think it would work.

I'm currently investigating having six 10tb hdd with an ssd boot drive in order to archive old Raw files and video projects. Possibly having the HDDs formatted with ZFS or just setting up 3 pairs of mirrored drives. ?