Internal vs external SSD storage on the M2 Pro Mac Mini

[MacDownunder]

I understand that streaming is a great way to go.

Why not - given the volume of files look at Plex on a NAS - this will give you the video side and you wont have to move the files with each computer change. Plex player is available for desktops, smart TVs Apple tv, IOS, Android
Some NAS manufacturers have itunes server software that might solve the music side for you too?
A futher side benefit is you can also run time machine servers from NAS devices too - possibly giving you another service that could be useful

 

[ovbacon]

I have my "time machine" back-up drive partitioned so that there is a piece that is read and writable and so can be tested.

 

[mavis]

Why not - given the volume of files look at Plex on a NAS - this will give you the video side and you wont have to move the files with each computer change. Plex player is available for desktops, smart TVs Apple tv, IOS, Android
Some NAS manufacturers have itunes server software that might solve the music side for you too?
A futher side benefit is you can also run time machine servers from NAS devices too - possibly giving you another service that could be useful

I have my NAS+Plex set up to simply read my iTunes (Apple TV) media folders (which reside on my NAS, with symlinks in place of the default file locations on my macOS drive). This way, I simply drag new files to my Apple TV app on my Mac, which are then added to my Apple TV library and Plex, simultaneously. This allows me to watch on the AppleTV using the shared library feature, or Plex (actually, I use Infuse to access my Plex server as Infuse allows me to easily add subtitles for anything - in Japanese or English, which is great for my kids' friends who only speak Japanese).

Setting up Plex to read your iTunes media folders allows you to stay within the Apple ecosystem (AppleTV, home sharing, etc) and get the advantages of Plex, all at the same time, with ZERO added work after the initial setup.

As far as the OP's question, I bought a Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 NVMe enclosure/dock to house a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB, and I get 3000Mbps read/write with the added advantage of being able to daisy chain TB3 devices if needed, and it also gives me two 10Gbps USB-A ports (as opposed to the M2 Mac Mini's built-in 5Gbps USB-A ports) for additional devices. Win, win, AFAIC.

 

[MacDownunder]

I have my NAS+Plex set up to simply read my iTunes (Apple TV) media folders (which reside on my NAS, with symlinks in place of the default file locations on my macOS drive). This way, I simply drag new files to my Apple TV app on my Mac, which are then added to my Apple TV library and Plex, simultaneously.

Setting up Plex to read your iTunes media folders allows you to stay within the Apple ecosystem (AppleTV, home sharing, etc) and get the advantages of Plex, all at the same time, with ZERO added work after the initial setup.

Bit confused - do you have symlinks from NAS->Mac or from Mac->NAS?
If NAS->Mac what NAS do you work with - I am QNAP Based and I wasn't aware I could map a directory from NAS to another device directory on network

 

[mavis]

Bit confused - do you have symlinks from NAS->Mac or from Mac->NAS?
If NAS->Mac what NAS do you work with - I am QNAP Based and I wasn't aware I could map a directory from NAS to another device directory on network

Symlinks on the Mac, pointing to the iTunes Media folders on my NAS rather than simply being local directories. And on my NAS, I have it set to mount those same iTunes Media directories in the Plex directory, at boot. So on my Mac, I drag media files to the TV app, which then copies those files into the appropriate iTunes Media folders on my NAS. Plex (also running on the NAS) immediately sees those files, since the iTunes Media folders are mounted in the default Plex directory.

Hope that helps.

Basically, my entire media library is accessible through both the TV app on my Mac (and AppleTV, using Home Sharing, as well as iPhone or iPad syncing, if I want) and is ALSO accessible through Plex, which allows me to access the entire library remotely (and download for local storage, on my devices, using Infuse). I embed metadata using iFlicks 3 before dropping the files into the TV app, and of course Plex can also fetch metadata automatically.

 

[StoneJack]

Externak m2 drive in usb3 case is a way to go.