Intel Mac mini as a hub to M1 Mac mini?

[satchmo]

So the Intel Mac mini's have a ton of USB ports which is sorely missing on the M1.

I've looked at those Satechi hubs that have a similar footprint and can slide underneath. These run about $100 and is certainly an option.

But it got me thinking, why not just find a used Intel Mac mini instead and essentially use it as a hub.
Strip out any OS and simply add an SSD.

Although I'm not sure if a 2010-2021 Mac mini can be had for $100.

 

[bsamcash]

I’m not sure this would be possible without investing much more into the project than the price of a hub or dock.

 

[Amethyst1]

But it got me thinking, why not just find a used Intel Mac mini instead and essentially use it as a hub.
Strip out any OS and simply add an SSD.

And what would a Mac without any form of an OS do? Exactly nothing. That’s not gonna work.

 

[satchmo]

And what would a Mac without any form of an OS do? Exactly nothing. That’s not gonna work.

Can't I could treat it simply as an external hard drive with ports?

But if I need to have an OS on it, then it's essentially just an extra computer residing on the same WI-FI network. Which in itself not entirely a bad option either.

I’m not sure this would be possible without investing much more into the project than the price of a hub or dock.

There are some cheap 2010 Mac minis (some with slot-loading drive too), that can be had for about $100 or so on eBay.

 

[bsamcash]

There are some cheap 2010 Mac minis (some with slot-loading drive too), that can be had for about $100 or so on eBay.

Sure, with older ports. But you would also have to source a controller board that would allow you to bridge those ports to an external device.

 

[jazz1]

Yeah, I love my M1 MacMini, but the lack of ports made me buy an OWC dock. I like it a lot, but it wasn't cheap.

OWC 11-Port Thunderbolt Dock for Mac & Thunderbolt PCs

Expand your workstation with the OWC 11-Port Thunderbolt 4 Dock. Connect all your peripherals, displays, & devices with ease. Simplify your setup now!

eshop.macsales.com

Let us know if the project works out. I've got room to stack! Any port in a storm ?

 

[Amethyst1]

Can't I could treat it simply as an external hard drive with ports?

You can make it act like an external Thunderbolt hard drive via Target Disk Mode. That doesn’t even require an OS. But you won’t get access to any of its ports that way.

 

[ElectronGuru]

Can't I could treat it simply as an external hard drive with ports?

But if I need to have an OS on it, then it's essentially just an extra computer residing on the same WI-FI network. Which in itself not entirely a bad option either.



There are some cheap 2010 Mac minis (some with slot-loading drive too), that can be had for about $100 or so on eBay.

I have an 18 and a 10. Main issue on the 10 is usb is all 2.0. So you’d need to hook the physical ports up to something else. Sounds like a recipe for pain.

What I can’t figure out are the hubs. It’s been 3 years and I should be able to load up BestBuy.com and choose from dozens of little boxes that feed one usbc into 5. And nothing else. But instead everything is more of a dock for laptops. I don’t need another hdmi!

Hopefully the new MacBooks will take the pressure off the multi port requirement

 

[joevt]

You can make it act like an external Thunderbolt hard drive via Target Disk Mode. That doesn’t even require an OS. But you won’t get access to any of its ports that way.

I think Thunderbolt target disk mode will expose all attached drives including USB, Thunderbolt, FireWire, SATA - basically any block device that is seen by UEFI.

 

[Amethyst1]

I think Thunderbolt target disk mode will expose all attached drives including USB, Thunderbolt, FireWire, SATA - basically any block device that is seen by UEFI.

That would be cool. I’m going to test this.

 

[WP31]

Keeping an eye on this - I've got an old 2010 MM that I keep running in the background as a cache device for the house but nothing else. Let us know if you figure it out satchmo.

 

[joevt]

I think Thunderbolt target disk mode will expose all attached drives including USB, Thunderbolt, FireWire, SATA - basically any block device that is seen by UEFI.

I tried this and it seems Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode only exposes the two internal drives of my iMac14,2. It did not show a USB connected drive or a Thunderbolt connected NVMe.

I tried the same using Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode from my Macmini8,1. It had the same limits - only the internal SSD is exposed. This is disappointing - there should be no difference between the internal drives and the external drives except that the external drives can be disconnected, but we know UEFI apps can support hot plug - just look at the Startup Manager (hold option at boot).

Well, I guess since the drives are external, they can be connected directly to the other Mac instead of going through Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode.

 

[joevt]

I tried this and it seems Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode only exposes the two internal drives of my iMac14,2. It did not show a USB connected drive or a Thunderbolt connected NVMe.

I tried the same using Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode from my Macmini8,1. It had the same limits - only the internal SSD is exposed. This is disappointing - there should be no difference between the internal drives and the external drives except that the external drives can be disconnected, but we know UEFI apps can support hot plug - just look at the Startup Manager (hold option at boot).

Well, I guess since the drives are external, they can be connected directly to the other Mac instead of going through Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode.

I downloaded the Apple EFI DDK from Xcode and found this:

#define TDM_APPROVED_GUID \
    { \
        0x5c38ea59, 0x554b, 0x431c, 0xb3, 0xf5, 0xcd, 0x6e, 0xe3, 0xd4, 0x8a, 0x3e \
    }

The Apple EFI DDK ReadMe.pdf says that TDMApprovedGuid is "a GUID published by a driver of a mass storage device that wants to be made available when the machine is in Target Disk Mode."

So I guess one code write a driver that just attaches that protocol to any BlockIO device to make it available during Target Disk Mode. I believe Target Disk Mode happens after drivers are loaded from the DriverOrder list (Driver####), just like the Startup Manager, so it should work...