Replace Asustor NAS with iMac?

[A1MB1G]

I'm going to be moving into a new home that will have an office on the main floor. Currently, I have an Asustor NAS that I use primarily as a Plex Media Server and downloading various Movies/Shows. However, that's all I use it for. I have tried installing homebridge on it but it's not the most user friendly thing in the world, part of me wishes i had spent the extra money and went with Synology.

Anyways, I'm not considering just buying an iMac that will be on all the time and connected to my network. Could I use it to run Plex, Torrent software and Homebridge? I was thinking this could be far more useful as i could also use it as a computer for when I'm working from home instead of at the office for the day. What kind of external drives/bays could I connect to the iMac for all my Media files while ensuring that the Apple TV or Smart TV's could access my media library? I'm assuming since they'll be connected on the same network, it shouldn't be an issue?

Any recommendations/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[dimme]

I do something similar with a mac Mini. I have 6 4TB drives attached via USB 3. the drives are in OWC and Inateck cases.

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[A1MB1G]

I do something similar with a mac Mini. I have 6 4TB drives attached via USB 3. the drives are in OWC and Inateck cases.

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Would I be better going the mac Mini route and buying an external monitor or just getting an iMac? It seems going the mac mini route might be more cost effective. Do you know if I can simply copy the media files from my existing Asustor NAS drives to another drive temporarily while then formatting the drives that I had in the NAS itself? With the change in file format, wonder what the best way to accomplish this transition would be.

 

[dimme]

I run my mini headless, I only hook up a monitor to it for the first software install and to set up screen sharing. You should not have a problem coping your files to another drive and the reformatting your NAS drives. You could copy the files over the network. With the Mini (or iMac) you could also run Virtual machines, a VPN, time machine backup for other macs. My mini is a 2012 and is still up to all these task and more. So if you wanted to go used to save $$$ that would work.

 

[A1MB1G]

I run my mini headless, I only hook up a monitor to it for the first software install and to set up screen sharing. You should not have a problem coping your files to another drive and the reformatting your NAS drives. You could copy the files over the network. With the Mini (or iMac) you could also run Virtual machines, a VPN, time machine backup for other macs. My mini is a 2012 and is still up to all these task and more. So if you wanted to go used to save $$$ that would work.

Thanks for the feedback. I would need a monitor as I may use it from time to time as a home office machine as well but it would just be the odd time.

I do like the seamless look of the iMac but price wise it’s far more expensive that a Mac mini. What would be a good specs mini for running a plex media server, torrents, homebridge etc?

Thanks

 

[dimme]

I am running a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD boot drive. I happy with the performance.

 

[A1MB1G]

I am running a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD boot drive. I happy with the performance.

Do you think this would do the trick:

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 3.1GHz 6-core Intel Core i5 with Retina 5K display

Originally released August 2020 27-inch (diagonal) Retina 5K display; 5120-by-2880 resolution with support for one billion colors True Tone technology 8GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory 256GB SSD 1080p FaceTime HD camera Radeon Pro 5300 with 4GB of GDDR6 memory

www.apple.com

It's refurbished and I could upgrade the RAM afterwards to 16GB? Not sure what type of DIMM's it actually takes or whether it's some special proprietary apple stuff since I've never updated RAM on a mac device before.

 

[A1MB1G]

I am running a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD boot drive. I happy with the performance.

There's also this option:

Refurbished Mac mini 3.0GHz 6-core Intel Core i5 - Space Grey

Originally released March 202016GB of 2666MHz DDR4 SO-DIMM memory512GB PCIe-based SSD1Four Thunderbolt 3 ports (up to 40 Gbps)Intel UHD Graphics 630Gigabit Ethernet port

www.apple.com

I could just add an external 27" monitor to this setup.

 

[dimme]

Both look good, comes down to personal preference. I pretty sure you can upgrade the imac ram.

 

[A1MB1G]

Both look good, comes down to personal preference. I pretty sure you can upgrade the imac ram.

Ended up ordering the iMac. Probably not the best time to order as new ones are apparently on the horizon and could have got this cheaper but oh well, will upgrade the ram when I get it. Looking forward to setting up the Plex Media Server on it. Do you happen to have a link to the cases you use for your SSD drives? I have two 6TB SSD drives I currently use in the Asustor NAS I will be using with the iMac. Any nice cases/bays I can put them in to match my slim and clean office aesthetics?

 

[dimme]

This is what I am using

OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual eSATA

Mercury Elite Pro Dual features both high-speed USB 3.1 Gen 1 & eSATA ports to offer the connectivity, versatility, and extreme speeds.

www.owcdigital.com

Inateck 3.5 Hard Drive Enclosure, Aluminum USB 3.0 Sata HDD Enclosure, FE3001

Accelerate Your Backup with Turbo Speed FE3001 connects your HDD to your PC via Super speed USB 3. 0. The built-in top-grade ASM1153E chipset not only supports UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) with a faster data transfer rate targeted for SSD, but also supports Serial ATA bus up to 6Gbps Signal ...

www.amazon.com

https://www.anker.com/products/vari...g_hub_purchase&utm_content=AnkerHub&utm_term={12231402696}_{117620347656}_{495828514211}&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyoeCBhCTARIsAOfpKxhj8j-KsCMwIXbKrO2V0Y4pvk0Haprshvymg7MlMoCNeLCdxQJrS9oaAu0cEALw_wcB

 

[A1MB1G]

This is what I am using

OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual eSATA

Mercury Elite Pro Dual features both high-speed USB 3.1 Gen 1 & eSATA ports to offer the connectivity, versatility, and extreme speeds.

www.owcdigital.com

Inateck 3.5 Hard Drive Enclosure, Aluminum USB 3.0 Sata HDD Enclosure, FE3001

Accelerate Your Backup with Turbo Speed FE3001 connects your HDD to your PC via Super speed USB 3. 0. The built-in top-grade ASM1153E chipset not only supports UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) with a faster data transfer rate targeted for SSD, but also supports Serial ATA bus up to 6Gbps Signal ...

www.amazon.com

https://www.anker.com/products/vari...g_hub_purchase&utm_content=AnkerHub&utm_term={12231402696}_{117620347656}_{495828514211}&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyoeCBhCTARIsAOfpKxhj8j-KsCMwIXbKrO2V0Y4pvk0Haprshvymg7MlMoCNeLCdxQJrS9oaAu0cEALw_wcB

That's great, thanks for sharing. So I'm assuming that you're using the HUB as a means to connect all the drives to and then from the hub to your mac mini with the one cable? Any issues you've run into with this setup? Are you using RAID for more important data that you need to preserve over time?

 

[dimme]

I have the OWC and another drive connected directly the others are connected to the hub as they are backup drives. No RAID I run backups via Carbon Copy Cloner, to the backups and also I plug in a few 2.5" drives once in a while for off site back of some critical files.

 

[A1MB1G]

I have the OWC and another drive connected directly the others are connected to the hub as they are backup drives. No RAID I run backups via Carbon Copy Cloner, to the backups and also I plug in a few 2.5" drives once in a while for off site back of some critical files.

Forgot to ask you, is there a certain type of high capacity drive you would recommend for the purpose of using for media files (Plex Server) and/or backup purposes? I was thinking of getting two drives with the same capacity and mirroring them so I always have at least one backup of the entire drive. It's been years since I've purchased a drive so not sure what to look for these days. lol

 

[dimme]

Forgot to ask you, is there a certain type of high capacity drive you would recommend for the purpose of using for media files (Plex Server) and/or backup purposes? I was thinking of getting two drives with the same capacity and mirroring them so I always have at least one backup of the entire drive. It's been years since I've purchased a drive so not sure what to look for these days. lol

I usually use drives made for NAS's. WD red or senate iron wolf. For me 4TB is the sweet spot.

 

[A1MB1G]

I usually use drives made for NAS's. WD red or senate iron wolf. For me 4TB is the sweet spot.

I think I may just keep my NAS as is and simply use it for the storage features and connect the iMac to it over the network but still use the iMac as a plex media server.