Help me learn to build a backup/storage server out of a 2015 i5 iMac

[sunvalleylaw]

I want to try to limit or eliminate my cloud reliance. Not completely for streaming media, and I won't probably try to stream 4K video hosted on it or attached storage or anything, but for back ups of business and work related documents, photos, videos mostly from phone, audio (Lossless, ALAC, FLAC, MP3) and garage band and Logic Pro projects. I have been referred to TailScale by my local computer club, and am interested in anything else I can do. And whatever else is popular. Would love to get rid of paid drop box. paid apple iCloud (or at least limit it), paid Google Drive, etc. Would think it would be nice to use SSD storage if possible but wondering what the benefits of RAID are if any by comparison.

I also have a late 2014 Mac mini I could use in alternative, or whatever. Just trying to use stuff I already have, and trying to be relatively energy efficient, quiet, etc.

 

[phunguss]

Not sure how expandable the 2014 Mac Mini is compared to older things. The mPCIE slot in an Apple TV Gen 1 can take a 4 port SATA controller, as well as most of the Intel Mac Mini before the aluminum phase (2006 era?). Or if you have a Classic Mac Pro laying around, there are lots of SAS Raid cards that work well and I have a 3,1 and 4,1 with 14 drives in them. I heard SSD supposedly does not have a long shelf life if left unpowered (3-5 years), standard spinners are better for long term storage.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I thought about getting a 5,1 or something and see some on Facebook marketplace, but I also was reading that they consume a lot of energy and create a lot of heat and also was trying to use stuff that I have as much as possible. But thank you for those suggestions. I probably do have extra Apple TV units around also.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Well that mini has four usb3 that max at 625mbps (super speed/thunderbolt) so good access/throughput out of those. It could be as simple as running one with a couple high capacity external usb drives connected to them & within the macOS, enable file sharing, media streaming & backups (timemachine) and then disable sleep & include automatic restart for power outage scenarios.

I’d also ultimately run it headless so connect to your network via Ethernet by your router.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Well that mini has four usb3 that max at 625mbps (super speed/thunderbolt) so good access/throughput out of those. It could be as simple as running one with a couple high capacity external usb drives connected to them & within the macOS, enable file sharing, media streaming & backups (timemachine) and then disable sleep & include automatic restart for power outage scenarios.

I’d also ultimately run it headless so connect to your network via Ethernet by your router.

Ok, that sounds easier than I thought. Now I just will figure out my storage, and try to set it up.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, now I just need to figure out what storage I want to connect to it, some sort of NAS thing, or just some SSD.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Yeah, now I just need to figure out what storage I want to connect to it, some sort of NAS thing, or just some SSD.

I’d start with what you might already have so there’s zero cost outside of your time - any spinners or ssds in an enclosure or prefab external hdd could be used up front. Use that to test your set up & access etc. & once you have it the way you want it, that might be good enough for your needs. If it is, you can fly with that. If you need something more robust like a multi drive NAS with raid redundancy & scalability etc, you can invest in that path too but starting out as proof v1 you can take what you already own and use disk utility in macOS on that mini to connect your external drives and build a software raid 1 mirrored array that would be accessible on your network to serve files.