Hi, I plane to buy the $799 mac mini and upgrade the ram to 16gb. I want to be able to encode videos at times but mostly want to be able to stream to multiple rokus, and idevices at the same time. I will be storing my videos on external drives. Now do I leave the mini on at all times if I always want it to be ready to go or is the plex app able to "wake" it from sleep? Also do my hard drives stay on at all times also then?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac Mini and Plex
- Thread starter MyiBill
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I've got a 3 year old Mac mini that acts as a Plex server, an iTunes server, runs a Windows virtual machine for Quicken, and performs about 10 other more traditional server functions. 8TB of external drives. It runs 24/7 (including the Windows VM). I've also got two minis that are used as entertainment clients, as well as an Apple TV. They sleep when not in use.
There is really no reason to have 16GB on your server. Mine gets buy just fine, even with all its simultaneous processes, with 4GB. The other minis each have 2GB.
There is really no reason to have 16GB on your server. Mine gets buy just fine, even with all its simultaneous processes, with 4GB. The other minis each have 2GB.
Note likely. 3+ years of 24/7 and I've had to replace 2 of 6 drives (1 internal drive, 1 external drive) but in just this past year. Seems to be a fairly common drive life. The rest of the mini just keeps on running, as do my entertainment minis. However I sleep those rather than turning them off.
Doesn't that model use laptop drives? Those are more expensive per GB than desktop drives. It would save on the power usage though. Take a look at Synology. Love their products.
Yes, I was looking at the 1tb wd scorpio blue drives. Will look at the synology though.
I totally second the Synology recommendation. I purchased a DS411J, which is the last generation model, with 4 2tb drives for $400. Great purchase.
A great feature is I took the USB drives I had been using for media storage and they now backup the NAS nightly. Works like a charm.
It also has a built in audio server that I use to access my music remotely on my iPhone. Was a nice bonus.