Hello all,
I am a moderately savvy mac user, and am comfortable with slightly to moderately complex computer solutions. I need a storage space and photo/media library access solution. Some details:
We have 3 household computers with three separate photo/music/video libraries. Space is running out on the main work horse Macbook Pro, and the Macbook air is storage limited as is the mini. We would like to share those libraries, and for 90% of our use the computers live in the same house on the same network. I have iTunes Match, so music is less of an issue, but I would like to have a central place to store my music library in case Apple's servers get taken over by terrorists and Bruce Willis has to blow up the facilities. One of the computers is a mac mini that has about 300 movies which it serves to a couple Apple TVs/whatever in different rooms. This has been very effective but is limited by the hard drive size of the mini and is vulnerable to drive failure (yes it is backed up via time machine).
Our network runs off a second gen Apple TimeCapsule (yes Apple drew me in to the whole ecosystem.) All of the computers in the house need to connect via wireless.
I understand there are issues running an iTunes library off of NAS, so I have discarded that option, unless someone tells me otherwise. I COULD connect an NAS directly to the time capsule. If this IS an option, please recommend quality NAS solutions.
My main question is: can I use a nice FW800 or Thunderbolt external drive connected directly to the mini as a library server for itunes and aperture, as we currently use it for the movies through itunes? Could other computers connect to that external drive the way they can to the mini's internal?
Should I upgrade to the new Time Capsule to take advantage of its improved wireless (noting that none of the computers have ac wireless)?
As I see it, the strength of the external drive is that I can have basically unlimited storage and can get a RAID or other similarly "safe" option. I would want at least 2TB of usable storage to start.
Other options - sell the mini and replace it with an older mac pro and use that computer as a server with much more space. Obviously less cost effective and adds another less efficient machine. Other thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
I am a moderately savvy mac user, and am comfortable with slightly to moderately complex computer solutions. I need a storage space and photo/media library access solution. Some details:
We have 3 household computers with three separate photo/music/video libraries. Space is running out on the main work horse Macbook Pro, and the Macbook air is storage limited as is the mini. We would like to share those libraries, and for 90% of our use the computers live in the same house on the same network. I have iTunes Match, so music is less of an issue, but I would like to have a central place to store my music library in case Apple's servers get taken over by terrorists and Bruce Willis has to blow up the facilities. One of the computers is a mac mini that has about 300 movies which it serves to a couple Apple TVs/whatever in different rooms. This has been very effective but is limited by the hard drive size of the mini and is vulnerable to drive failure (yes it is backed up via time machine).
Our network runs off a second gen Apple TimeCapsule (yes Apple drew me in to the whole ecosystem.) All of the computers in the house need to connect via wireless.
I understand there are issues running an iTunes library off of NAS, so I have discarded that option, unless someone tells me otherwise. I COULD connect an NAS directly to the time capsule. If this IS an option, please recommend quality NAS solutions.
My main question is: can I use a nice FW800 or Thunderbolt external drive connected directly to the mini as a library server for itunes and aperture, as we currently use it for the movies through itunes? Could other computers connect to that external drive the way they can to the mini's internal?
Should I upgrade to the new Time Capsule to take advantage of its improved wireless (noting that none of the computers have ac wireless)?
As I see it, the strength of the external drive is that I can have basically unlimited storage and can get a RAID or other similarly "safe" option. I would want at least 2TB of usable storage to start.
Other options - sell the mini and replace it with an older mac pro and use that computer as a server with much more space. Obviously less cost effective and adds another less efficient machine. Other thoughts?
Thanks in advance.