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Using External Disk as a NAS

A

afrocleland

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 24, 2012
58
0
Glasgow
Hey there,

I use my old mac mini purely as a media server and TV box. My actual computer mac is my MBA - main disadvantage being disk space. Is there any way of me setting up an external disk attached to the Mini to act as a NAS? Possibly even use it like a time capsule? I was going to hopefully host my iPhoto and iTunes libraries on it too.

Cheers!
 
You should just be able to share the disk on your mini and mount it on your MBA.

On your Mac Mini: Go to System Preferences > Sharing > Tick the File Sharing box.

In my case this results in the attached:
Screen Shot 2013-10-10 at 18.32.39.png

On your MBA: Open a Finder window, click Go at the top of the screen > Select Connect to Server and the input the address that was displayed on the Sharing preferences tab.

The Mini should then appear in the finder window under the shared devices.....hopefully!

P.S Never done this, just guessing :)
 
stridemat said:
You should just be able to share the disk on your mini and mount it on your MBA.

On your Mac Mini: Go to System Preferences > Sharing > Tick the File Sharing box.

In my case this results in the attached:
View attachment 440104

On your MBA: Open a Finder window, click Go at the top of the screen > Select Connect to Server and the input the address that was displayed on the Sharing preferences tab.

The Mini should then appear in the finder window under the shared devices.....hopefully!

P.S Never done this, just guessing :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! I've just got that set up. Was quite easy!
Will that allow me to use the iPhoto/Tunes libraries from there? And any idea if I could set up one for a time capsule backup?
 
To use your iTunes from your mini go into iTunes settings on the mini and turn on home sharing.If I recall you might have to also setup the MBA with home sharing also, then you can access all your library on the MBA via streaming from the mini. This might also work for iPhoto but I haven't tried it.
 
afrocleland said:
Thanks for the reply! I've just got that set up. Was quite easy!
Will that allow me to use the iPhoto/Tunes libraries from there? And any idea if I could set up one for a time capsule backup?
Click to expand...

On the MBA open iTunes / iPhoto while holding the alt button and then select the the applicable library on the mini.

I have my iPhoto library on a NAS in a different room and it works.
 
stridemat said:
On the MBA open iTunes / iPhoto while holding the alt button and then select the the applicable library on the mini.

I have my iPhoto library on a NAS in a different room and it works.
Click to expand...

One more wee question... After I rebooted, I lost the connection. Can I automate it to connect when available?
 
Weaselboy said:
Yes, you can do both.



Not by default You will need to install OS X Server to do a Time Machine backup to a networked Mini like that.
Click to expand...

Would I just need server running on the Mini? The mini is quite old, so only runs unto 10.6, where as the MBA is a current model running Mavericks. Will that make a difference?
 
afrocleland said:
Would I just need server running on the Mini? The mini is quite old, so only runs unto 10.6, where as the MBA is a current model running Mavericks. Will that make a difference?
Click to expand...

Correct... you just need server edition on the Mini that the Time Machine drive is attached to.
 
Weaselboy said:
Correct... you just need server edition on the Mini that the Time Machine drive is attached to.
Click to expand...

I just tried to install Os X Server 10.6 there and it said it wasn't compatible :confused:

Maybe it's a lack of RAM? I only have 1GB. It's already running regular 10.6
 
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