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Atv & nas

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selliott

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 9, 2010
39
13
Vegas
I am hoping someone can help me with a performance question that I have.

I am looking to buy a Mac Mini server, and use that to house my iTunes library (2.5 TB and Growing). The server will be used for other things as well (pictures, calendars, e-mail, etc)

The question I have is do I need to have a Thunderbolt storage option, or will the throughput of a NAS (NAS --> Switch --> Airport Extreme --> Server) be ok? All are Gig through-puts.

This solution will be used to connect 2 Macbooks, an ATV and one Windows machine to the iTunes library via home sharing. So there will be an extra wireless hop in the mix for some devices.

Anyone have experience with something like this? Open to other options as well, if you have something that will work better please through it out there.
 
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Panch0

macrumors 6502a
Feb 23, 2010
684
9
Virginia
Bandwidth to the drive is not an issue unless you want to run multiple streams at a time. For one video stream, USB2 is fast enough to keep up. I'm not sure exactly where the tipping point would be on multiple screens, but I'm pretty sure it is more than the 4 devices you want to connect. You can stream Netflix HD video over a 6Mbps internet connection and USB2 is theoretically 480Mbps.

My question is why use a NAS? The Mini Server is already providing all of the functionality that a NAS device would and a lot more. You could easily use direct connect storage to the server using FW800, USB3, USB2 or TB (depending on the vintage of your server). This is a simpler set-up for iTunes. iTunes will work with a NAS, but keeping the NAS mounted after a shutdown is a nuisance that you can avoid with DAS.

Unless you need a NAS for reasons other than your iTunes Library, DAS is a better option.
Unless you need the speed of TB for other reasons, the price isn't justified for library storage.
 
S

selliott

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 9, 2010
39
13
Vegas
That is why I posted, I for some dumb reason got locked into NAS or TB on the Server (yet to buy, hoping for a refresh next week), I forgot about the 4 USB3 ports.

I went down that path because I have a WHS 2011 box that I am going to repurpose as a NAS, and assumed that NAS was the way to go. I can still repurpose that as a NAS but buy a 4 TB USB3 storage device and accomplish what I need to & save money.

Thanks!
 
W

waw74

macrumors 601
May 27, 2008
4,684
950
for throughput comparisons ..
straight blu-ray rip plays at 4-6 MB/s
1080 from the itunes store expect 1-2 MB/s.

both well under the 25-30 MB/s i normally see from a USB 2 drive.
my USB3 drive is 70-100 MB/s


yes, it will take longer to do the initial copy, but for day to day playback USB2 is more than adequate.
 
N

NukeIT

macrumors regular
Mar 20, 2013
233
0
I use a NAS for most of my movies and Lightroom catalog and stream just fine via gigabit to my aTV. And that's with my rMBP running iTunes wirelessly. (I am not sure if it has to bounce the signal to the rMBP or not, but without having a problem with it have never looked into it.)
 
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