I'm guessing this May be the correct place in the forum to post, as I need help and advice on storage, routing and back up options.
I am buying the new iMac and will also get a Mac mini. For both I am considering ssd, HD or fusion.
The benefits of SSD appear to be speed and robustness, but clearly they come at a price. I then think about fusion...but not sure of having all my personal data on an internal drive anyway, and therefore was thinking a SSD + external HD was the best option.
Then I thought, maybe I should have a central HDD system that may new mac and mini can read and write to...and also I can give access to other older iMac and macbooks.
I would then want to back up all this data on time machine, as well as taking periodic clone copies of the respective drives (or partitions thereof)
So the piece parts are:
New iMac with internal ssd
new Mac mini with internal ssd
Older iMac and MacBook
Multiple I-OS devices
AirPort Extreme or Time capsule
....what I need is then a ( or multiple) Hard drives
Sorry for the long preamble, but here are my questions:
1) is it easy to configure mac so that OS and applications are on SSD and content is on an external hard drive?
2) does this mean that when I am in an application ( housed on SSD) that it will automatically read and write to the external HDD? ( I really don't want to be copying and moving data around all the time...prefer a "it just happens" type of solution)
3) if so....how would I set the mac / application up to do so?
4) would I need the external HDD directly connected to the iMac, the Mac mini ...or both?
5) could I have a storage device/ setup, in a central hub ( eg connected to Mac mini) and then use OSX to give access to all other machines...and possibly via internet?
6) would this cause and speed issues to my iMac, which would be my main workhorse?
7) if I wanted to use time machine, does this back up the ssd as well as the data on the external HDD...and if so, where does the TC sit within the setup ( eg...does Mac mini connect to HDD, and then HDD to TC...or does TC sit in between??
8) if I wanted to remove and keep safe all personal data when away from home for long periods of time, could I just unplug the external HD from TC ( or most likely AE) and then replace when I return with no issue?
....I guess I am looking for almost a personal cloud solution, but want to ensure it's not painfully slow, and that I understand the component parts, their order in the configuration....and then how I set up the machines to function seamlessly.
Would really appreciate any guidance or experience of similar set ups, as I just keep going round and round on this and need to see the big picture...
Many thanks.
I am buying the new iMac and will also get a Mac mini. For both I am considering ssd, HD or fusion.
The benefits of SSD appear to be speed and robustness, but clearly they come at a price. I then think about fusion...but not sure of having all my personal data on an internal drive anyway, and therefore was thinking a SSD + external HD was the best option.
Then I thought, maybe I should have a central HDD system that may new mac and mini can read and write to...and also I can give access to other older iMac and macbooks.
I would then want to back up all this data on time machine, as well as taking periodic clone copies of the respective drives (or partitions thereof)
So the piece parts are:
New iMac with internal ssd
new Mac mini with internal ssd
Older iMac and MacBook
Multiple I-OS devices
AirPort Extreme or Time capsule
....what I need is then a ( or multiple) Hard drives
Sorry for the long preamble, but here are my questions:
1) is it easy to configure mac so that OS and applications are on SSD and content is on an external hard drive?
2) does this mean that when I am in an application ( housed on SSD) that it will automatically read and write to the external HDD? ( I really don't want to be copying and moving data around all the time...prefer a "it just happens" type of solution)
3) if so....how would I set the mac / application up to do so?
4) would I need the external HDD directly connected to the iMac, the Mac mini ...or both?
5) could I have a storage device/ setup, in a central hub ( eg connected to Mac mini) and then use OSX to give access to all other machines...and possibly via internet?
6) would this cause and speed issues to my iMac, which would be my main workhorse?
7) if I wanted to use time machine, does this back up the ssd as well as the data on the external HDD...and if so, where does the TC sit within the setup ( eg...does Mac mini connect to HDD, and then HDD to TC...or does TC sit in between??
8) if I wanted to remove and keep safe all personal data when away from home for long periods of time, could I just unplug the external HD from TC ( or most likely AE) and then replace when I return with no issue?
....I guess I am looking for almost a personal cloud solution, but want to ensure it's not painfully slow, and that I understand the component parts, their order in the configuration....and then how I set up the machines to function seamlessly.
Would really appreciate any guidance or experience of similar set ups, as I just keep going round and round on this and need to see the big picture...
Many thanks.