mac mini 1 as backup?

[Eric Rathhaus]

Recently received mac mini m2, but I already have a mac mini m1. My western digital backup drive just crashed, and I wonder if I could use the m1 mini as the external back up drive for the new m2 mini?

 

[GMShadow]

You can set up the M1 Mini as a Time Machine server, yes.

 

[Boyd01]

You certainly can do that, but it would be way over-kill IMO. I use a 2012 Mini as a Time Machine server and a 2014 Mini as a media server and they are even more powerful than needed for these tasks. You can get used 2012 Mini's with a warranty from OWC (MacSales) for $135 or used 2014 Mini's for under $100.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with using the M1 mini since you already have it and it will be supported for longer. The 2012 Mini only goes up to Catalina and the 2014 stops at Monterey.

BTW, maybe Apple has changed things in newer versions of MacOS, but I found setting up a Time Machine server completely un-intuitive on Catalina and had to use Google for instructions. The function is there, but the menu is pretty well hidden. 🙂

 

[Eric Rathhaus]

Thanks. I will only get about $400 trade in for my current mini. I've had two backup drives crash in the last couple of years and probably need to move away from physical drive to SSD. My m1 mini has loads of space on its SSD.

 

[August West]

I was running a cheap WD 2.5" 5400 RPM external drive as my 2012 mini time machine backup for years but when I updated to an M2 mini earlier this year I decided to ditch all of the spinny drives and replace them with SSD drives. After getting it setup it was one of those I asked myself "why didn't I do this a long time ago?". The TM Finder window opens instantly with no waiting forever with the spinning busy icon spins away and scrolling back through the backups is seamless.

 

[VitoBotta]

You would use... a working M1 mini just for backups? Wow I guess you are not worried about money