Proposed Mac Mini server diagram

[alexjholland]

Hi Guys

Here's my proposed Mac Mini server setup, which will be used for streaming iTunes music and Plex server films around my apartment, backups and storing/accessing large files whilst away travelling.

I have an Apple TV (for playing iTunes music), PS3 and XBox (for watching Plex films), Macbook and iMac all hard-wired with Homeplugs, with many iOS devices on wireless.

The entire setup will be inside my hallway cupboard and wall-mounted/on shelves, except for the Airport Extreme, which will sit in an alcove I'm having fitted into the hallway, with the power and ethernet cables going through a hall, back into the cupboard.

What do you think?

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Also, I have a mid-2010 iMac i7 which I do video editing on.

It only has a 1TB internal disc drive, which I'm looking to switch to SSD (which will be too small to fit my movie footage on.)

Would accessing film data on the RAID drives, via USB 3.0 through the Mac Mini and my 1Gb home network be fast enough for editing in Final Cut Pro X?

Or do I need to invest in a FireWire hard drive connected directly to my iMac (which doesn't have thunderbolt) specifically for storing raw film on?

I shoot in 720p and 60fps, bringing home a couple of hundred Gb from a typical snowboard trip.

Thanks

 

[ColdCase]

You will be happier with a TB drive hanging off the mini instead of USB. USB is quirky and can be slow if you have multiple users trying to access the shared files or media.

Simple editing using a ethernet cable may be fine. It could be slow scrubbing, however. Or opening large libraries. You could try running FCP on the mini and then remote desktop to your iMac, essentially using your iMac as a remote monitor. Editing video from local SSD is sweet, however.

 

[sevoneone]

You will be happier with a TB drive hanging off the mini instead of USB. USB is quirky and can be slow if you have multiple users trying to access the shared files or media.

Simple editing using a ethernet cable may be fine. It could be slow scrubbing, however. Or opening large libraries. You could try running FCP on the mini and then remote desktop to your iMac, essentially using your iMac as a remote monitor. Editing video from local SSD is sweet, however.

TB may be better depending on your situation. USB 3.0 will keep up as long as you don't have more than a couple of people trying to access the drive at once like ColdCase mentioned.

Editing over Gigabit Ethernet is generally fine for 1080/720p footage as long as you are not doing a lot of compositing of clips or trying to do multi-cam editing. If yo do it, you want to make sure you have good Ethernet cable and your terminations are solid especially if you are terminating your own cable. Get good quality CAT6 and test with a cable tester, don't just plug in and see 1Gbps and assume all is well.