Mac mini NAS/RAID

[pnewelljr]

I am looking to use a Mac mini as a NAS, and have a couple questions around storage.

I was hoping to boot off of a RAID array to help ensure uptime, but I was curious if it is possible to do this using one internal and one external drive?

I'm considering the following hardware:

• Mac Mini - 256GB - 16GB - 10 gigabit
• OWC Express 4M2
  • 1x 256GB NVMe module
  • 3x 2TB NVMe module

I was then going to use the built in RAID functionality in macOS to create two RAID arrays:

1. (BOOT) RAID 1 - 256GB (internal) + 256GB NVMe module
2. RAID 0 - 3x 2TB NVMe module

I think I am looking for general feedback and potentially others' experiences before investing, and also if booting off a RAID 1 array that mixes internal/external drives is wise, or even possible, with the goal being ensured uptime.

 

[mrkapqa]

what are your use-cases? i don§t trust NVME very much to store data safely, they seem so tiny; maybe one small power hurricane, and all data is lost?

I was also thinking of building a NAS after my OWC Newertech Stack Minimax attached HDD gave signs of weakness after not long over 2 years being attached to an old macmini (only recently found out that i bought the wrong HDD, shingled drive, instead should have bought a traditional magnetic drive for continous use).
Already the HDD for NAS use are expensive; let alone use NVME for RAID.0;
but i think would like to use a Raid5 System for first NAS, if thats it what it takes.

 

[glenthompson]

Instead of trying to implement RAID for the boot drive, why not just clone the drive so you have a backup copy. On current Macs you can't boot from the external drive if the internal is completely dead. For the other drives, RAID 0 doesn't provide any data protection. Only advantage is seeing it as one contiguous space. Major downside is that losing one drive takes out all your data.

I run an older Mini with multiple spinning drives attached, all in JBOD configuration. Used as a backup destination, archival storage, and media server. Spinning drives are more than adequate for my needs and it saves a bunch of money. The Mini does boot off an external SSD as the internal spinning drive was just too slow for Catalina.

 

[chikorita157]

I am looking to use a Mac mini as a NAS, and have a couple questions around storage.

I was hoping to boot off of a RAID array to help ensure uptime, but I was curious if it is possible to do this using one internal and one external drive?

I'm considering the following hardware:

• Mac Mini - 256GB - 16GB - 10 gigabit
• OWC Express 4M2
  • 1x 256GB NVMe module
  • 3x 2TB NVMe module

I was then going to use the built in RAID functionality in macOS to create two RAID arrays:

1. (BOOT) RAID 1 - 256GB (internal) + 256GB NVMe module
2. RAID 0 - 3x 2TB NVMe module

I think I am looking for general feedback and potentially others' experiences before investing, and also if booting off a RAID 1 array that mixes internal/external drives is wise, or even possible, with the goal being ensured uptime.

I don’t think you can boot from a SoftRAID volume. You can only use it as storage. Use a separate volume for backing up the startup volume using Carbon Copy Cloner or Time Machine.

Instead, you should use a RAID 10 for redundant storage with 4x 2TB NVME drives. If one of the SSD of the SSDs fail, you can simply replace one and rebuild it quickly. RAID 5 is also an option since the SSD size is small to make the rebuild times less compared to hard drives.

Also, RAID is not a backup, you should also consider using a cloud backup solution in addition. You can use Backblaze to backup the RAID storage since Backblaze considers macOS a desktop OS.

As for my setup, I use a 512GB/16 GB M1 Mac Mini with a Thunderbay 4 with 4x 3TB drives in RAID 10 for backups and a iSCSI volume about 32 TB for regular NAS storage. That volume is accessed through 10 GB Ethernet to a custom TrueNAS build with 4x 16 TB enterprise HDs in RAIDZ2.

 

[unblocktheplane]

17 inches of headroom in your Mini. Suggest a 5TB Seagate Barracuda HDD to replace its disk. For a media server, even hi-def, speed is not important. Sure, you can attach a NAS of any size. My only complaint is I can't find a remote to work Minnie running VLC.